College hunt – Career deciding factors

After a student passes higher secondary, they often dream about the college where they can excel in their passion and fulfil their dreams. That is the time when the student believes that they can do anything provided they get a motivating and appropriate college. No educational institute is bad, but the matching of what a college can provide and what the student seeks is of prime importance. Students often have several constraints while choosing the right college, however, the search should not end at the beginning. A student needs to work aggressively to find the right institute for them since this is one step that can either make or mar their future career.

A graduate level educational facility is the place where a student spends most fruitful years of his life. This is the place where he becomes mature and understands what he seeks from his career life. A college provides the right direction to the student to achieve the aims. The most crucial task then becomes on how to choose the right college after the higher secondary. There are various constraints that are put on the student to limit his search apart from what a college can actually return to the student.

# Geographical Location and financial constraints

For many students, geographical location of the college is one of the major constraint in fulfilling their dreams. The families want their children to take up a college which is near to their residing place. Also, one of the major factor that comes into play is of financial support. For the colleges which are far apart, parents need to have a strong financial background which not all the parents can provide to the student. Thus, many parents support taking up colleges in the nearby places. These reasons limit the student to select the most appropriate college and rather take up the one which balances their dreams as well as financial situation.

This is the story of many students across the country. Not all the students are able to settle in new places and take up the college which is of their own choice and can appropriately fit into their career aspirations. However, the life does not end there. A student can make the years spend in the selected college equally fruitful if he is passionate to bring value to his career life. Once the right decisions are taken, they can be fulfilling for the whole life time. A student can enhance his skills while in the college with the help of professors, career counsellors and peers.

Major Factors to consider while selecting the college:

Course curriculum: There may be many areas which could be the point of consideration. For e.g. if we take proximity, there may be reasons where you want to stay closer to your house but there can be n number of others factors which could affect your career like the courses available in a particular college. You need to deeply examine the courses that are available and the modules which those courses cover. These days, most of the colleges release their course curriculum even before the start of the session. This helps students to understand what is expected from the course and if they are fit to pursue that course. In addition to that, there is need to verify if you are eligible for the selected course. Most of the courses have some well-defined pre-requisites which a student needs to fulfill. The student needs to check them before applying for the course.

Fee structure: Another major factor that comes in front of the student is the fees of the course. The student needs to understand whether he or his parents would be able to finance him throughout the tenure of the course. In addition to the course fees, there are charges for hostels, food, stationary which are to be kept in mind before starting the college. Many a times, these expenses make a larger portion of the overall expenses. So, the student needs to plan the course and college according to the expenses that will be incurred over the course of 3-4 years which is the duration of the course.

Reputation of the college: One of the main reason for doing graduation for a student is to secure a job after that. If the college is not reputed enough, then there comes constraint in getting a job afterwards. However, some of the students may neglect this factor based on their own aspirations.

# If you wish you can, you definitely will!!!

A huge pain is required to search the college and if someone really wants to choose the right one, he will definitely do it. Sometimes we are totally oblivious about the college name where desired course is available. Hence a rigorous search needs to be carried out in order to meet the requirements. It becomes really very difficult for a student to search for such colleges who has just passed his higher education and hence there is a demand to find someone who can help one in finding the right place. Career counselling is one of the medium where one can choose its path. Students can take the help of expert career counsellors who can guide them on how to plan the right path to fulfill their passion.