THE PARADOX OF CHOICE

With the sudden windfall in opportunities, it is an exciting (and confusing) time to be a college student in India

- SNEHA BHURA

Midway through her preparation for the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET), Rajeshwari Shahurajshelke from Aurangabad, Maharashtra, realised she did not quite want to pursue MBBS. More inclined towards creative pursuits, she saw herself becoming an author or a journalist. She was veering towards considering English literature. When she gave her NEET exams this July anyway, she realised she had missed out on registering for English in several colleges in Mumbai and Pune. The Maharashtra State Board results were out in March when she was drowned in preparations for NEET. And prominent arts colleges had completed admission processes in June.

But, Shahurajshelke has not lost hope. In August she will be giving her Common University Entrance Test (CUET). Her top preference right now is for getting into the University of Delhi (DU). “CUET has been a blessing as I can still hope to major in English from a good college,” says Shahurajshelke, a science-stream student. “I went to a dummy college near Aurangabad where students attend class only to give exams. In fact, few students know about CUET in Aurangabad. If the old system of cut-off-lists on the basis of board exam marks was still there, I would have been left with only private colleges as my option right now. I did not study for my boards as I was busy preparing for medicals. I got 83 per cent. With this percentage, and that, too, from a dummy institution, would I have stood a chance for a seat in a top DU college?

Shahurajshelke is certain that her CUET papers in August will be easy to manage even though she knows the competition will be intense. “But it is still better this year when fewer students are participating in CUET,” she says.