Thread:Admission Time: Colleges, lies and half-truths (1)

It’s that time of the year when the higher secondary board results are out and every student scrambles to get into the best of colleges on offer. It’s the season when colleges earn the most by charging exorbitant fees and dole out astonishing numbers that may range from being the best college under the moon to 100% placement figures. The Real Picture: Every college terms itself the best in business. So how do you segregate the wheat from the chaff? It’s a basic fact that not everyone can be the best. Secondly, most colleges keep a cut off of more than 90% aggregate for admission into their courses. Does that mean the person who got 89% or even 69% has no hope in life or is inferior? Where do they go for admissions? Thirdly, the truth is work experience and creativity is valued by all companies today more than theory studies, but almost all the colleges are heavily theory based in the curriculum no matter what they may offer in their prospectus. Fourth, barring the few IITs and IIMs, hardly any college is able to get 100% placement every year for all courses. After all, theory based courses can only make you Book Ready and not Job Ready! Look Before You Leap: Know your future career prospects clearly. Know the course you plan to do and if it will really be worthwhile in your work life. It’s like learning to ride a bike. You can spend all your life reading books on how to ride a bike. Or you can just climb on one and learn it within a day. That’s the power of practical experience. The Other Side:Learn to look beyond the horizon. Look beyond regular colleges to find out if a course is there for you that will make you job ready along with necessary theory base. There are institutions known for doing exactly that. Sikkim Manipal University of Distance Education (SMU-DE) is one such institution. Its UGC and DEC recognized and the courses have been approved as on par with any regular college. It allows students to work while they study and get both the work experience and the degree with the required knowledge skills. What’s different? It’s an institution which does not guarantee placements. But more than 3 lakh students will tell you that they have never found it difficult to get a job immediately after passing out. SMU-DE allows the student to attend classes online, have industry mentor chats, practical classes at the nearest Learning Centre and the added advantage of doing all this at your own time. Moreover it’s an institution that has never differentiated between students and course fees are kept low giving everyone an opportunity to learn. Just log onto www.smude.edu.in and you can feel the difference yourself! How and When to Apply? The admission to all its 41 programs is opening on June 10, 2010 for the Fall 2010 session. The procedure is easy. Applications to various courses are available at over 710+ SMU-DE Learning Centres covering 310 cities across India. For details, log on to www.smude.edu.in or just Call:1800-266-7979 (toll free). You can even write to them at info@smude.edu.in Remember that making the right choice will make or break your future. After all we have only one life to live for and it always pays to be Job ready.