High school to college is an important transition, perhaps one of the most important transitions in life. After preparing hard for competitive exams, you are entering a new phase in your education, career, and life. You have anxiety as well as excitement. How to deal with it and how to prepare for college life? I am sharing three main learnings from my personal experience.

Score Vs Passion: My college selection was also based on a competitive exam i.e. JEE. I got selected to study at IIT Delhi and went there. The department I chose was based on my rank rather than any particular interest (I studied mechanical engineering). Why? Because we are not told about what happens in engineering but we just prepare for it. So my first advice to the learners is that you should pick up something you enjoy rather than what you get based on the score. I have not seen any profession in which all people are successful, and no profession in which nobody is successful. If we like what we don, that’s what matters.

Peer Group for Purpose: The most important factor that determines the quality of college life and the future direction is the kind of peer group. There are all kinds of people in college and it is good to make friends. But you should be conscious of choosing the peer group of friends who are closest to you because they will set the direction of your life. The lifestyle, learning habits, addiction, internships, extracurricular activities, and many more decisions in college are influenced by the peers. You can and should choose the people closest to you based on your own purpose in life.

Mentorship: College is a time when you get to interact with many seniors and elders from various walks of life. At Rishihood, we continuously organize guest interactions with senior people from fields like entrepreneurship, technology, social work, politics, government, performing arts, etc so that you get wide exposure. In addition, the faculty members provide close mentorship to the learners. A residential campus environment is very useful here because you get much more time and a sincere environment to learn. My third and final advice is to choose a residential campus so that you get maximum mentorship. I got a lot from my mentors outside the classroom during my days at IIT Delhi.

Therefore, if you have just given CUET and are confused about college applications and your future, you can use the three tips of choosing your passion, creating the right peer group, and finding a good atmosphere for mentorship.

All the best!

– Shri Sahil Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO, Rishihood University