The recent statistical reports indicate an unreasonable hike in the number of college dropouts, astonishingly a majority of these students come from the engineering domain, which eventually offers lucrative career opportunities. The most probable reason for taking this step is a lack of interest in the domain you are pursuing.
In engineering itself, we have more than fifteen distinct branches, you can study chemical, mechanical, electrical, computer science, and so on. The straightforward idea suggests that you should pick your branch according to your interest, but often students tend to take this crucial call under peer pressure, family recommendations, financial crisis, and so on.
Dropping out of College? Think twice…
A few students join engineering just because they have taken science, they are not passionate about engineering. This usually happens in cases of tier-2 or tier-3 students.
Engineering Colleges are classified as Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 :
- Tier 1 includes the premium Government institutes such as IITs, Top NITs including Trichy, Surathkal, Warangal, Calicut, etc.
- Tier 2 includes some of the private colleges such as Thapar and SRM Universities.
- Tier 3 includes the local state colleges and universities, the infrastructure, placement opportunities are quite fair in comparison to the parameters laid down for Tier 2 colleges.
There are numerous false notations among students that might ultimately lead them to situations. Students often presume that the attendance criteria are not taken seriously by colleges, or they can score well by being inconsistent towards studies and so on. It is an obvious fact that during the recruitment process companies tend to focus on a skill-set that includes technologies such as web development, mobile development, machine learning, and so on.
Rather than your college GPA or per cent, the branch of engineering you come from such as electrical, mechanical, civil, etc. Many students often wonder why they even need to go to college or Why can’t they simply drop out of college and focus on their upskilling?
Although, this question seems to be fair as college takes four precious years of our life and a lot of hard-earned money. You need to understand that dropping out of college is a one-way route, there is no going back from here.
If you miss a lot of classes or take a prolonged leave without any break, you will have to suffer severe consequences as most of the colleges have a threshold of seventy-five attendance per semester. Many colleges even don’t allow you to rejoin the college once you quit.
What will you Miss out on if You Decide to Drop out of College?
Many students do not have clarity while pursuing B.Tech, BCA or any other degree than what they actually want in life. This is one important factor that leads to dropping out. Once you pass out from college you have multiple options for pursuing higher studies such as M.Tech, MBA, MS or jobs such as Tech Jobs, Management jobs, but once you drop out from college all these options are closed.
If you don’t have an undergraduate degree with a decent score you can even send applications for a Master’s degree. Most of the recruiters do not even send test links to non-undergraduates. You won’t even clear the preliminary round without a college degree. Most of the universities issue a degree if you have 35 percent but for applying for jobs and higher studies, the threshold is around sixty percent.
You need to be sure before dropping out that technology is what you want to dedicate your life to. Do not drop out even if you have a second thought for a second, you need to be absolutely confident for becoming a self-learner.
Dropping out diminishes your opportunities, even if you think of going to the US or any other foreign country for a job, your visa might get rejected as an undergraduate is considered one of the essential criteria for a job.
Most of the tech-enthusiasts receive lucrative on-campus placements, with high salary packages and other perks like health insurance, company stock, accommodation allowances, provident funds, etc. If you drop out this opportunity will merely slip out of your hands.
Banks usually give education or other loans after going through your academic credibility, your loan application might get rejected.
College gives you a network of people that come from different domains and eventually go to different fields. You will miss out meeting hundreds of people who could help or guide you at some point in life. Your batchmates and seniors can help you with referrals when you apply for any position, this increases your chances of getting hired.
If you want to launch a start-up you can always approach your batchmates for co-foundership or sponsorship.
For doing tech projects, you can always ask your professors for Mentorship, their experience can be profusely used by you for enhancing your skills.
You need to be extremely thick skinned, you need to be ready to face social humiliations as society is still not cool about dropping out from college. In usual cases, even parents don’t support such crucial decisions. You need to be focused, confident, ignorant towards others and have faith in your own skills.
A college journey is necessary for your personality development, when you work on a group project you learn what is teamwork, when you make submissions on time, you learn what is time management. Every day college activities bring out a better person in you. Therefore, quitting college is skipping an essential chapter of your life.
What are the extreme reasons for you to drop out?
- One of the most common reasons stated by students for dropping out from college is that they find college monotonous, they don’t enjoy what is being taught there and that’s why they end up acquiring lower grades. They just want to escape from a situation as they are usually unfamiliar with the actual scenario.
- Prior to dropping out, you need to be absolutely sure about what you are going to do. If you don’t have any idea about your alternate plan, don’t even think of dropping out.
- Many students claim that they are going to drop out as they want to start a company. This is also a very unreasonable claim, as becoming an entrepreneur involves high risk. Entrepreneurship is known for being uncertain and unpredictable. If you start a business without acquiring the minimum qualification, it might affect your enterprise in future.
What are the different situations in which you can decide to drop out?
There are some reasons that are worth leaving college:
- If you have a business enterprise or start-up that has a considerable number of users and investors. You are earning a good profit and intend to expand your business, then you can think of quitting college as you have something in your hand that can at least get you a living.
- If you find college boring, then you must have an alternative skill that you ace. You might be extremely well-versed with competitive coding, web development, Android development or any other skill that can rely upon for getting a job.
- Although, the bad reasons and good reasons sound similar, yet there is a note-worthy difference. The good reasons are based on insights and are certain whereas, the bad reasons are just driven by assumptions and over-confidence.
- You can drop out for a year, if your college allows you to take a year off. A year is sufficient to explore any business or tech domain, if you get promising results you can drop out, else you can rejoin college and complete your degree.
The NEP Policy
According to the New Education Policy issued in the year 2020, there have been certain amendments to promote and acknowledge even partial completion of any degree program :
- Candidates who wish to exit after the 1st year will be awarded a Certificate in the field of study.
- Candidates who wish to exit after the 2nd year will be awarded a Diploma in the field of study.
- Candidates who complete the three-years course will be awarded a degree.
Things you need to do if you decide to drop out:
If you ultimately decide that you are going to drop out from college, keep the following things in mind:
- Have a timed schedule, so that you don’t end up fleeting time here and there, watching web series on Netflix.
- Create a network of people that you can count on by joining forums or internships.
- Don’t stay inactive, join a boot camp or any other developers community. This will give you a proper schedule and a network of people also.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Look for an entry-level job.
2. Start freelancing.
3. Go for online courses.
4. Participate in hackathons and coding contests.
5. Join forums and boot camps.
6. Create your job-portfolio.
You can work for start-ups as an intern or a freelancer. Many start-ups hire remote interns and pay them well. Later, they are even offered full time opportunities. You can participate in numerous hackathons, coding contests, online competitions that come up with very high prize money and goodies.
There are a few companies, mainly start-ups that hire candidates based on the skill-set only. They do not care about your GPA or degree. Many companies even hire freelancers and remote-interns, they are offered a handsome stipend irrespective of their education level.
You must definitely reconsider your decision if your parents are not being supportive. Give them some time and try to convince them instead of making abrupt decisions as you need their support through this, as dropping out is not a very easy task.
Yes, a part-time course is a very good idea if you are involved in business, a job, or any other tech activity. getting a part-time degree is much more appreciated than staying as a non-undergraduate.
Conclusion
We have put the consequences of dropping out of college clearly in front of you. Still, if you decide to drop out that should imply just one thing that you have a worthy reason for doing this. Don’t make abrupt decisions, always keep your close ones in the loop. Do not make assumptions, always consider facts and possibilities both, both concluding your decision.
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By Vanshika Singolia
