So what are the plans after 12th? This is a typical question Indian relatives love to ask!!…but this is also a question that the students themselves are caught prying into many a time!!
With the mind-boggling array of choices available, the answer is not easy and there is no one right answer! So, what does this bring us to? This brings us to a road that has crossroads and those crossroads have several bylanes. Even after zeroing down on certain options, the students still may find themselves in the clouds of doubt, there could be a lot of confusion and worries and rightly so.
In this blog, we outline how to ease out the decision-making process itself and what are the points to consider while zeroing on your options and who to seek help from in the whole process. This is step one. And subsequently, we will talk about the various options both in mainstream and even not so popular ones to help you substantiate your decision.
The students need to take a well – informed decision regarding this most crucial aspect of their lives. Parents and Teachers together can help a great deal by guiding the students to the choices available, outlining their strengths and weaknesses…after all parents and teachers know these young adults the best! However, care should be taken not to overwhelm the child with their expectations and unfulfilled aspirations!!
We have been in the field of teaching and counselling for the past 10 years and have regularly guided many students from different states of India and abroad as well. Also, we have seen that students (Indian students mostly) are to a very large extent influenced by their parents who play a big role while making this career choice. Of course! students these days are very aware and are no doubt very discerning but they do tend to make their career decisions purely based on what is trending in the job market or which is currently the highest paying job/industry. Over so many years it has been observed, that the trends in any industry change every 2-5 years. What remains crucial to know is that competition is increasing in every field. Especially in the Indian Context Academics and Marks Obtained continue to be a great reflector of one’s capability.
So what works?
After completing the highly demanding and exceedingly competitive Indian high school ( 10+2) curriculum, present undergraduate ( Bachelor’s degree) options available to students in India can be counted on one’s fingertips. The popular options usually are Engineering, Architecture, Medicine, Arts or Commerce. Yes, there are many sub-streams and plenty of other options, yet the majority of the students find themselves forced towards these few career opportunities.
Of course, many students start by google-ing to find the relevant information, but please do remember -in the world of Google, information is as much power as it is harmful.
Experience over Knowledge
Parents or students must consult teachers, tutors, mentors to find the right scale of personality, skills and ambition. One who has a good grasp on current trends as well as is clued into unconventional possibilities as well. We have witnessed many a success stories wherein a student chose an unconventional stream for his time and ended up becoming a success which paved a path for many other younger students to consider that stream as a very viable option!
However, one advice to parents that we always give is to try and get privy to the fact that the child is not making the career choice or selecting the college under peer pressure or just because his/her other friends are doing it. What works for one, may not work for others!
Find your Guiding Star
Our experienced tutors and mentors at Edugraff can conduct a series of assessments and aptitude tests to ascertain the right profile of the students based on their interests and abilities enabling the students to realize where their true potential lies. You need to see what pulls you and be guided by that line of thought to find your True North! ( your destination)
It’s true we keep learning…BUT!
After all, the students can choose only one course of study and they need to be sure about what they choose as it comes with at least 3 to 4 years of investment period!! It may be too late to retract back if after One year a student realised that he or she has made a wrong choice and a change at this point will come with its challenges and drawbacks. Additionally, all the future career options or post-graduation subject schemes will also directly or indirectly depend upon the graduation subjects. So, it’s better to take a judicious decision on this matter after considering all pros and cons of the available options.
In Closing…
In summary, it is a big decision and the resultant direction to be followed has to be a beautiful concoction of advice, aptitude, wisdom, goals, rants and of course a lot of preparation!!
Do follow the next blogs to see individual streams and options available in line with your aspirations for the next level of studies and career aspirations….will be back real soon!!
Editorial team – Edugraff