Tempted by buying a seat in a good college through donations- think again!

Well, anyone could give a ‘right’ answer to the question- “Should you give huge donations to get into a college of higher ‘brand value’” with a strict “No”. But that’s probably not how an aspiring student is evaluating this option. Let’s take a look at what goes on in his mind. What does the ‘white angel’ and the ‘black devil’ in his mind has to say.

Black devil: Well, my dad can easily buy me a seat in XYZ engineering college. It shows a good placement record and that’s all I want!

White angel (in deep thoughts): Is it only for the placements that I am doing engineering? What is the motive for me to go through 4 years of this programme? What do I aim to become? What do I aim to learn? If it’s only money then I can easily join my dad’s business or do an easy course and then do an MBA.

Black devil: Money is important and apart from that this college has a 100% placement record. Just look at the number of companies that have visited the campus.

White angel: That’s ok. But what is the average package that a student gets? The college does have a 100% placement record but if the package is just 15000/month then is it worth paying the donation? Is the college advertisement just fooling me?

Black devil: The advertisement is not fooling you, you fool! College placements are very important. How else will you get a job if you go to some other college where the placement record is not as good and not many companies come over for recruitments?

White angel: I think it will be my capabilities and skills that will get me a good job as compared to a ‘good placement record’ of an institute. There’s no dearth of jobs in the market if I am an ‘employable engineer’. I could apply for an off-campus placement as well through naukri.com, monster.com or eLitmus.com.  I don’t want my parents to go bankrupt by paying a huge donation. It’s up to my abilities and hard work to get a job that I want.

Well, here it seems that the white angel reasoned it out with his counterpart and chooses not to ‘buy’ a seat for himself or let the ‘glitter’ fool him to believe that it was ‘gold’. In my opinion too, it is very important for the students to reason it out with their own selves and think why they are choosing this career path. If it is only for money or to gain ‘social respect’ of becoming an engineer then it’s a different story altogether. But if the reason is that you’re passionate about this field and you’re sure to prove your mettle, then don’t be bogged down by looking at just the placement record. Offline placements are increasing at an exponential rate and all that the companies want are ‘employable engineers’. So go out and tread on the path of making yourself one. Settle with the college that you’ve got and focus on building your skills & capabilities. Remember that every accomplishment starts with the decision to try! Good luck!
This post was published by Nishant Sinha, co-founder of askIITians.