Engineering or Medical or General Studies Course after 12th Standard

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E-Pao! Education - Engineering or Medical or General Studies Course after 12th Standard

By: Shanjoy Mairembam *

Most Students who recently passed 12th Standard will be interested to know what to do if unable to go for Engineering or Medical course as their future course of study. They would also wish to get an effective & detail career plan from someone, like the help that is given by astrologers for one's life. Let's try to be more practical and enthusiastic in approaching this concern. This article will not be giving in-detail explanations about a particular career stream after 12th Standard, but some idea to decide further studies.

We study 10th standard, then, 12th standard, then, in college, and then in university in certain fields of academic education. At last, we started feeling why do one needs to study all such courses and prepare for exams every time with much pressures. And after all such hardships, one just becomes a white elephant at the end of our academic education.

If money is what we all need for living, then, we should have quit long back while undergoing education in schools or colleges and should have started a business right away. To be frank, what is required out of education, is to infuse this real fact that one should create an idea to find/create a job that will feed one's livelihood in the long run.

When the stomach is not complaining about hungry; or when there is money enough to take care of health-care, home, or, basic needs of living; an individual starts thinking about other creative ideas or concerns. We can still say that we study Physics to know how does gravitational force of Earth is keeping all the living beings to feel as if we are on a flat surface, or we study chemistry to know what chemicals & elements exactly are comprised of in the things around us, or we study biology to know how the various internal organs of an organism function, or we study history to know how does the current human civilization has come about, and so on.

Thus, though we can justify why we study certain courses, the reality is that we just need a job at last, to help us to compete in the struggle of survival in the society. So, let's not study some subjects or some courses just like that though they are indeed interesting or wonderful. Let's understand from the very early stage that what we learn today should be what is going to create job for us to survive in future, or satisfaction for choosing that particular career in one's lifetime.

To pass the entrance exams for professional courses like Engineering, Medical or others, are indeed easy though they demand one's excellence in major subjects of 11th & 12th standard subjects. Students should know that the skills on such subjects are more important & critical to those who are going to study General studies (like B.Sc, B.Com, B.A, etc.).

The reason is - the study will go on broader scope which will in fact lead to understanding of the subject to create new ideas across a vast horizon. For developing such creativity on one's mind, a student needs more effort & knowledge than those who are going ahead in the professional courses.

After completion of General Studies' courses, one has to find a job by them alone or create the job by them alone. So, every student who is passing out 12th Standard should not take General Studies (like B.Sc, B.Com, B.A, etc.), as the last option if one can't get through other professional courses like BE, MBBS, LLB, B.Pharm, etc.

We do know that a student who passed out as B.E graduate will earn huge income if he/she starts career in Software industries. We do know that the profession of a Doctor is respectable everywhere, though after passing out MBBS the student has to still undergo a lot of hardship & study again for longer years (10-15 yrs) to develop excellence to treat patients.

Thus, every professional course after 12th Standard has its own course of way with regards to earning capacity, image of the job, work-culture, life-style, satisfaction, etc. Students should be aware of all such concerns attached to the choice of career. After the choice of a particular career, one has to do the job one supposed to do either this way or that way or any other way.

So, there is no point in discussing this profession is good or that profession is good. As par the current familiarity with regards to possible careers in one's life, 12th passed out students aim in more number for Engineering, Medical, and Arm Forces (NDA) courses, etc. One point worth reminding is that - there are a number of jobs that we don't really think about while we study 10th or 12th Standard or college classes like -

1) People who are working as clerk in most offices
2) People who are working as Directors in many offices like (post office, tourism dept, military, etc).

So, the idea to convey is that even though we have studied physics or chemistry or zoology or botany or English or physiology or history or geography in colleges or universities; an individual has to work as something else at last when the study in universities or colleges are completed.

The work of a police officer is something different from what one has learnt in schools or college or universities in various subjects. Thus, every student passing out 12th Standard & even rest of the students in various standards in schools or colleges or universities should be aware of the fact that we need to think of the need to develop one's skill for the requirements of various jobs available along with academic career.

It's time to stop thinking of the jobs provided by the Govt of India as the only option. There are both plus & minus points to think of private jobs or of govt jobs. Things & Time have changed many concepts. There are many industries & institutions coming up creating various challenging jobs for almost all the courses of academic education.

Today's private industries do give same privilege like that of govt jobs, like pension, medical benefits, etc. Even all those who study Engineering or Medical or Legal or Architecture, and many others can't be given job by the government of India. We have courses like M.C.A, B.Sc (Computer), and M.B.A, etc whose professionals have no direct suitable jobs and simply, no place in govt ministries. So, students should not look in the course one is studying from the perspective of government jobs.

Lifestyle, self-satisfaction, financial growth, security, and many others are far better in private jobs other than that of government jobs. Government jobs will kill one's patience and self-dignity, as Govt jobs are full of corruptions & malpractices. Government jobs will lower one's skills & eagerness to enhance one's knowledge.

A few of government jobs will be interesting, but the works are not free from interruption from third parties. Instead private jobs or jobs newly created by self will be full of passion and adventurous. In short, most of the academic courses will just not help someone to get a govt job; rather it is better to study courses that will allow us to earn for living.

Well, there is a personal suggestion for those who are unable to clear entrance exams for Engineering or Medical courses (i.e. professional courses which are high in demand after 12th standard). As industries of all spectrums are growing up, there is a huge requirement of managers capable of taking tough decisions that are critical for the successful working of the companies.

So, Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a good option to study, and also to make fast & hefty earning after study. We will discuss much on what and how about MBA in other articles. But, the point to make here is that one should study General Courses like B.Sc or B.A or B.Com with the clear perspective of what one is supposed to do after completion; since such courses find nearly impossible to get a decent job for living.

We have seen Engineers, doctors and even IAS/IPS officers going ahead for MBA after working for a long time or after completion of studies. As the basic criteria for studying MBA is just a graduate, one can still think of completing B.Sc or B.A. or B.Com or any comfortable degree course which will be also helpful in carrying on MBA studies in latter course.

Just spending 3 years for general studies like B.Sc, B.Com, etc and doing MBA is still worth, than doing MBA after Engineering (4 years) or Medical (5 & ½ years), etc. There is always plus & minus for choosing MBA course from various undergraduate courses. And there are also reasons for taking up MBA courses after working for long years in various fields or after studying specific specialised professional courses.

But, the idea wished to be conveyed here is that - there are still many courses far better than just BE or MBBS. So, 12th passed out students needn't worry if they are not able to go for such professional courses. The ultimate requirement in one's career is nothing but, ability to earn enough money and status to control the rest. For this simple concept, one needs not to be a doctor or an engineer.

If one has missed the admission to colleges of such professional courses, it is not suggested to waste valuable years just to wait for the next year's entrance examinations. Instead of bringing goodness to one's high expectations after trying & trying to clear such professional entrance exams, such behaviour will make an individual to start loosing one's enthusiasm to carry on living, or to go to college to study.

At last, situations may arise in such a way that one starts to feel sensing inferiority to old fellow classmates, or one starts to indulge in drugs addictions & bad habits, or anything not expected in life.

So, dear students including those who have passed out 12th standard, it is intelligent to think about other career options rather than blaming self or hurting self physically or mentally - just because someone has been unable to clear the entrance exams for Engineering or Medical course.

In fact, if one has to do so, one should have thought from the very first day of 11th standard.

It's too late to think about Engineering or Medical entrances after clearing 12th exam and it is better to think of other options like MBA, IAS, etc (which is in fact to be done after a graduate course, and hence choose a simple & easy to learn graduate course with the plan of future professional academic study).

Shanjoy Mairembam , a software Engg, contributes regularly to e-pao.net
He can be contacted at [email protected]
This article was webcasted on May 23rd, 2006

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