Top 3 things I wish, I focused-on while in College

College phase offers a collage of learning and life experiences. It is a beautiful phase of life! College is a space for students to (re)set, clarify one's vision for life ahead and commandeer her/himself towards realizing it. The sheer diversity of this college phase (and that is why it is more like a collage) is such that there are many different dimensions and facets to it. It is possible that each student finds different things endearing in the college phase. And that is why, in this article, we are attempting to bring together two diverse and perhaps also differeing take on the top 3 things they (recent past graduates) see mattering for folks in college today.

College life is fun, but the focus on other activities should not pretermit the actual purpose of going to college. Here are the 3 things that top the To-Do list in college life in terms of getting better career opportunities. 

Mridhula is a recent graduate of BA Sociology (H) from Sri Venkateswara College, a prominent college under Delhi University and Mani Sankar is an alumnus of IIT Bombay (where he pursued B. Tech, Mechanical Engineering) and Faculty of Management Studies, New Delhi (from where he graduated with MBA in General Management).

Mridhula shares her 3 top of the mind activities she would recommend from her own experience to those of you in the colleges now.

Internships are very important nowadays. Based on the present scenario and the neck-to-neck competition that lies among students/candidates seeking jobs, it has become a must to have prior working experience. By doing internships/fellowships, a  student can easily adapt to the working environment when placed with any organization. Also, the employers seek for those candidates who have a preliminary idea of working culture and those having extra qualifications like internships in various fields. 

Double Degree is the ongoing trend today. Doing a double degree/ foreign language/ diploma/ certificate/online courses always has an advantage. The students who complete various courses or get multiple degrees parallelly along with their regular grade are given the first preference while hiring as compared to those who complete only one degree in the course of 3-4 years. There are various open universities and online courses for the students to complete these kinds of courses in 3-6 months as well. Additional courses increase the scope of getting the best of opportunities.

Placement Cell is one of the most beneficial clubs a college can have. Along with various cultural and social societies, being a part of the placement cell is very essential. This will ensure that no opportunity is missed and regular updates on the companies conducting interviews will be updated to you. There will be no chance of missing out any offer that is coming to your college. Being a part of such a club right from the first year will be worthwhile as the interview process and application process will be familiar and can be easily tackled when it’s your chance to get hired.

Mani Sankar while sharing his experiential reflections suggests the following priority areas / actvities: (a) Importance of Academics, (b) Communication skills and (c) Extra-curricular activities. Let us see what he has to elaborate on these three herein below. 

Importance of Academics

It is often understated in majority of the premier institutions. Academics is the single most important activity that defines the start of your career. It is often true that what we study in the textbooks is not completely utilized in the outside world. But, it always prepares you with some basic knowledge that might come handy in some situations. Grades create a first impression about anyone’s commitment to work hard. All said and done, it is not easy to be a ranker in your university. That reflects the amount of hard work one can put up in the work. Majority of the top consulting firms have a strict bar on academic grades. Hence, focusing a majority of the time on academics is very good for the candidate. This is true for any stag of education.

Communication skills

Knowledge helps a person in delivering a work with utmost quality, communication skills help him/her in conveying it to other people. Good communication skills can help you extensively land your dream job/admission in a college. A lot of students tend to neglect this until they have to face their first interview, it is always important to sharpen one’s communication skills much before their interviews. A daily dose of reading and writing can always help building good communication skills in the longer run.

Extra-Curricular Activities

“All work no play makes jack a dull boy” – This might be a very old statement but is certainly true. Majority of the colleges/Universities in our country provide certain sports/art facilities which the students can use to learn and master them. It is important to utilize those facilities while they last in our lives. Spending some time on the hobbies would work as an effective stress buster thereby improving your sharpness in the day to day activities.