First you have all those autonomous colleges with their own norms. They wait for no one. I applied to Christ University and in about a week I get my interview date. Im in bangalore, messing up the interview beyond compare. I come back to Cochin and in two days, voila! I'm in. I have the honour and privilege of being a Christ-ian (or whatever they call themselves)(i just realised i said christian) . but there's a catch. I have to pay straight out 50 thousand rupees(the first year fees) within five days or my admission stands cancelled. Now, i haven't got ANY of my results at this time. My board results would be out only in about a month or so. But they have no problems with that, now do they. Just hand over that fifty grand and the deed is done. if Christ was my only, or first option, this wouldnt have caused any trouble. The thing is, i really dont want to go to christ. it's just a sort of backup. But what use is a backup if it's not there when you need it, right? And i'm not the only one, y' know. students all around face the same dilemma. Most of them actually pay the money because whatever said and done, it's a seat in a good college. After about 4 days of "what to do what to do" i decided i was smart enough to ace my board exams and thereby, have a good chance of getting into my preferred college (St. Xaviers bombay, who incidentally, dont open applications until 1 and a half months from then) so i saved 50 thousand rupees. one down. god knows how many to go.
And then it was a flurry of entrance exams because I, like a dog, am writing my engineering entrances even though i kind of would hate doing engineering. (unless i got into NIT calicut, which was a fat chance really) thats the problem with being a science kid. people think you've gon crazy if you dont do engineering or medicine. the things i hear people say when i say "B.A. Economics" includes "why child, why?", "you're kidding me right?", "good marks in science obviously means u take engineering" and so on and so forth. it's frustrating really. because i began to doubt myself at one point. whether i was really doing the right thing.
and then the results came. and what.. ?no way. i get a 90 plus average. and i'm like hold up! Delhi University!! so thats another window i'm bound to crash my face into before i manage to fly out.
it's crazy with DD's and application forms and certificates, and ATTESTED certificates.. and it's just plain crazy. i lose track of days and hours and myself most of the time. which is really a gift i can do without at this point in my life. but it bears its ugly head at the opportune moment, like a good three headed dog.
Xaviers has started some new e-admission form that i personally think is really really crap. Becuase i sweated my ass off trying to figure the whole thing out.
- entire thing is done online. no printouts. no postage. e-genius. :P
- the entire thing has to be done in one sitting. which means that if you accidentally quit, or mess up. that's it. start over. i did this at least 7 times.
- errors in your admission form (like format errors) are only reported AFTER you pay by credit card. convenient isnt it? (yes, it happened to me)
- you're supposed to scan ur documents and attach them. i scanned my documents only to find that my scanned originals were no good since i needed scanned "attested photocopies" . i honestly dont know the difference between the two. but that's another trip to the copiers since i dont have a scanner. i come back, and one of my copies is upside down and yes! i dont have photoshop. im back at the copiers to fix it.
- they encrypt your page with a signature and the dialogue boxes are loaded with jargon that the layman would stutter over. thankfully, i had the genius of pressing ok or next no matter what was on the screen. guess what, it worked :P
i liked that about delhi university. one form for some twenty-thirty colleges. brilliant. SO much less trouble. (except the stupid OMR bubbling!!) but honestly. it makes life so much easier. can't everyone do that. can't we all just get along?
