Intricacies of choosing a course

Updated on: Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Students and parents must be highly cautious when they are eagerly waiting to get into engineering, medical and arts and science courses of their choice offered through some elite or tyro educational institutions.

Possessing good understanding and awareness about the numerous opportunities that are available in other streams than engineering and medicine will facilitate students narrow down their choice of courses they want to pursue.

It is very important for all the students to have a clear understanding about the distinction between science, engineering and technology.

In brief, science observes how things behave in nature and attempts to give an acceptable explanation.

Engineering is the application of science.

Technology is application of engineering and science with numerous options thrown open for achieving the end result.

It becomes easier for students to decide why they want to study a particular subject if they have this clear understanding of the distinct nature of each field.

Until recently, many students were lured to IT-related courses. Currently, the trend reveals a shifted from IT to core disciplines such as civil, mechanical, electrical and electronics, etc.

Irrationally, parents put more pressure on their children to choose a particular course not because their children are good and have desire, but because someone else have done well and excelled choosing that particular course.

At this juncture, students should realise that whatever course and career they choose, unless they work hard and study well, they will not excel in that field of study.

Students joining engineering courses should be aware that engineering course is tough and challenging. Lot of mathematics is involved, and students must try to relate mathematics taught with engineering applications.

It has been observed that bright students coming out from school often get dejected when they are introduced to newer subjects in engineering curriculum such as engineering graphics and engineering mechanics in the first year of study and design subjects in the later years.

Whenever such new subjects are introduced lot of imagination and perspective thinking is required on the part of students. Beyond that, students should have a vision for their future. In this competitive age, a postgraduate degree is obligatory to strengthen one's domain knowledge.

Two years of work experience would go long way for those aspiring to pursue a management degree, as this would provide them with real-life case studies and industry knowledge.

Ph.D will be the natural option for those students keen on further research or teaching.

The role of a teacher is very important. Students studying professional courses have a tendency to neglect science subjects, only to later realise the importance of science when they do their post graduation.

Hard work and perseverance is the formula for success. Intelligent and prudent use of the Internet has its many advantages for the student community.

Intricacies of choosing a course

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