Education, Careers & Professional News
Professional Courses Enjoy Upper Hand Over DU
Say this to the hundreds thronging myriad Delhi University (DU) colleges every day in search of a seat, and they will not believe you.
But there is, indeed, life beyond Delhi University colleges.
So much so, that students are willing to forego even a seat in the prestigious St Stephens College, for the sake of professionalism that the university lacks in popular perception.
Take the case of Arjun Mittal. Arjun got through St Stephens in the B.Sc (computer science) programme. But he is all set to join BITS Pilani to study the same subject.
It is a more professional institute. St Stephens does have a much better reputation, and I know I will miss out on having the life-long advantage of being called a Stephanian. But DU after all, is not that great when it comes to professional courses. Recruitment opportunities would be much better at BITS.
Arjun, obviously is one extreme of the DU kaleidoscope. But for many others, universities other than DU have emerged as timely saviours. Kapil Taneja, who secured 68% in his class XII board examinations, had applied to Motilal Nehru College, Ramlal Anand College and Atmaram Sanatan Dharma College. He did not get through anywhere.
Kapil finally took admission in the BBA programme in Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University and he cannot help gushing. Even if I had got admission in DU, it would have been in one of the lower end courses. This is so much better. Professional courses rarely get as good as IP university. They have the best teaching modules and the best placement facilities. I am very happy, he says.
Money, for these students is obviously not an issue. Kapil will be paying an annual fee of Rs 41,000 for the three-year course, approximately 10 times the money an average DU college would have charged him. Jitin Singhal, who has enrolled in the integrated fiveyear law programme in Amity Law School, is going to pay a whopping Rs 40,000 for each semester.
Jitin had also got admission in Deshbandhu College with Maths (hons). The 73 percenters take on opting out of DU: I have always wanted to do law. But DU does have an integrated course. Doing the post-graduate law programme here would essentially mean that I lose a year.
There are still other students, who enrol in DU, but deliberately choose to stay away from the regular college life.
Pooja Sagar has taken admission in the BA programme with the non-collegiate board of the university. With a 65% in her Class XII examination, Pooja would have easily made it to several DU colleges in the second cut-off list itself.
But, she says: I was not sure whether I would be able to handle the rough and tumble of college life, the very thought of ragging puts me off. So I decided to study from home.