Cracking JEE: Just Another Milestone Gone Past
Kudos to everyone who finally succeeded in cracking the JEE. Bask in the sweet glory and the attention you’ll be showered with for a few days. Revel in pride. It’s your time! Go enjoy it for a few days.
And then the admission process begins.
Checking out preferable colleges, searching for a suitable branch, counselling sessions, fee complications, occasional impromptu celebrations, counselling and even more of that dreary counselling. These are all an important part of this phase, and now that you are all grown up, you should be able to handle all of this. And this merely doesn’t stop here.
The New Phase Of Our Matured Lives
Many among you will also move to other towns and cities for your new college and might live in hostels. Many of you who, like me, have never been to any hostel before, may find yourself feeling the homesickness, especially after the sight of the mess “food”, if only you consider it as one. Getting matured also consists of learning to “Deal With It” for all kinds of situations that might come in front of you. And what better way to learn it than living the hostel life? It teaches you to deal with the food (of course), a weird roommate, some genuinely prodigal fellows whose intelligence you’ll never be able to match, and almost everything that might make you seem insignificant in your own eyes. But you eventually learn to deal with everything, and will definitely come out stronger from the other side.
The Academic Game Has Just Begun
Having said all this, I would now like to mention the real reason for writing this article: academics, and subsequently, jobs or entrepreneurship. Academics certainly is different and perhaps a bit difficult in colleges, and I learnt about it in a hard way. I considered myself average in physics and mathematics, only until I was slapped square and hard in the jaw by the results of my term exams. Having settled for an eight pointer in the introductory courses like these two, wasn’t really a great way to start the year. You see, hostel life has a virtue which may turn into a huge disadvantage: you can do practically anything. Wasting a night on snooker might seem like a good idea to you, but actually it isn’t. Similarly, there’s always this pressure to excel in the next semester, but then there also is Skyrim! And down we go in the rabbit hole. Even sorting out the courses you want to choose or opt for can become messy if you miss the deadline for the course declaration. There is also the case of taking up extra courses, either for your own sake or for the institution’s. And then the internships, and the projects, and so many things as well.
How To Deal With The Challenges
The strategy for efficiently dealing with all these aforementioned challenges is to remain calm and composed, becoming calculative, and then deciding upon the best possible course of action; rather than becoming overwhelmed by this roller coaster ride of the newly started college life. Also remember that this strategy is fluid; some things might not make any sense then, but subsequent developments would definitely make the same things indispensable. So take a deep breath and contemplate on your future, and accordingly plan your course of action. Being indifferent about a thing as important as academics, is certainly not the right way to live your college life.
The Way Ahead: Placements or Start-Ups
It is from the college, that we march towards the next landmark of our life: getting our first jobs. Many of you will be lucky to have on-campus placement opportunities in front of you. For those of you who aren’t as lucky, will scout about the same either through the internet or off-campus. Here, you essentially require a really impressive C.V. coupled with a great presentation skill for getting through the interview process. Everything needs to be meticulously planned and accounted for the same, and perhaps preparing for the interview may also remind you of your pre-JEE days. As for the guys for whom the ultimate goal is a successful startup, they’ll have to convince the investors and get the fundings. In this case, they might face even more challenging tasks than the ones for the job interviews, and they should be total pros in presentation skills too. Although none of the things as mentioned above are easy in any sense of the word, but you sure can overcome any obstacle by believing in yourself and working hard for it.
Of course, this article doesn’t aim at scaring you from the daunting task of becoming a fully functional adult. On the contrary, enjoy whatever time you have today to the fullest. And now that most of you are at the verge of becoming adults, go watch Rick and Morty. But remember, even though you have won the first battle of JEE, the war has just begun. There’s so much to look forward to and to feel proud of in this life. Cracking JEE was just the beginning folks!
Best of luck!
Ps- Cracking JEE is indeed a great start to life. However, as evident from the article, the challenges actually begin there. However, there are almost two months to chill and relax before that, for which you can go through our guide on how to chill after JEE.
