There are 3600 engineering colleges in the country and year upon year well over ten lakh students apply for a seat in these colleges. Despite the compounded number of 10 lakh engineering seats available in the country, there is stiff competition among students as most of them only apply to the top 500. The reason for this is due to the vast number of colleges that do not provide the students with the necessary factual knowledge along with the practical exposure. It has also been noticed that many colleges do not possess the necessary infrastructural needs while others do not have proper faculty as per the industry requirements. This causes an applicant to seat ratio of 10,000: 1 for the top draw institutes, while engineering seats in some college are left unoccupied.
The candidate\\\\\\\'s choice is determined by the cut-off marks dictated by the reputation of the college with respect to the quality and certainty of placements from campus. Despite the 10 lakhs of seats being present for the enormous number of students hoping to pursue engineering, the number of seats in reputed colleges is very limited. Since the number of seats in reputed colleges is way below the number of bright contenders, the competition for a seat in a good engineering college is intense.
When a student decides to pursue engineering, he/she must always look at various other factors such as the school\\\\\\\'s reputation, ranking, faculty, curriculum, placements, fees, infrastructure and location. In doing so, most students will be able to select the best engineering college with all the given factors. There are a lot of times when students select historic engineering colleges or brand names rather than considering new colleges as they are more interested with the brand value of the institute. The reputation of most historic engineering colleges is largely determined by its heritage rather than its continued excellence in terms of faculty, curriculum, fee structure, infrastructure and location. However, as long as it continues to attract bright students, recruiters continue to hire students. While there are many who look at the historic engineering college there are many who consider the newer colleges as well. However when a student is considering the newer colleges to pursue engineering, it is important to check on all the aspects necessary to provide them a good education such as the faculty, curriculum, fee structure and infrastructure by going to the colleges and speaking to the seniors or alumni. More importantly, students can also delve into the genuineness of the collaborations by the colleges with the industry, various other institutions and foreign universities that is mentioned in the brochures. But more importantly, students must keep an eye out for the placement record that the colleges normally boast about and see if it is true or false.
Placement Profile Is Very Important
While factors such as infrastructure, quality of faculty and other are important, students must ensure that they see the placement profile of the various engineering colleges they are looking to pursue their engineering course before selecting one. Most of the time students believe that by pursuing an engineering degree they will be able to get a job with an upper management position thus earning a bigger salary. However this is not true as most of the students are offered a variety of engineering jobs despite the engineering course they plan to pursue. Apart from IT, students are also able to get jobs in a wide variety of industries and sectors which include banking and finance, insurance, patents, retail, sales and marketing (including industrial sales), media, customer service and support and various others.
Although the placement profile maybe an important factor to select a course at a leading engineering college, students can also take a look at pursuing their engineering degree abroad as it may lead to a job with a better paycheck. For those who can afford it, the advantages of studying abroad are an updated curriculum sensitive to industry needs and an outlook towards the future, practical and hands-on, and a holistic bent covering the humanities, languages and communication in addition to technical training leading to a well-rounded education and personality development.
While it is important to look at the various factors while selecting a course and college, a student must first be clear on his/her intentions to pursue engineering. A student must take up an engineering degree if he/she is academically competent to handle the rigor, is committed and sufficiently interested in the content and opportunities it can generate.
Jayanti Ghose is a Career & Education Consultant who pioneered the concept of concept of career counseling in the premier schools and colleges all over India. She has authored many books on education and careers which includes \\\\\\\'How to Plan Your Career\\\\\\\', \\\\\\\'A Handbook of Jobs and Careers\\\\\\\' (Publications Division, Govt. of India) and many more. She has been awarded the \\\\\\\'Role Model & Career Specialist Award\\\\\\\' on the occasion of Asia\\\\\\\'s Best B-School Awards in July 2010 at Singapore.
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