The people who are most pitiable on earth (or at the least in Tamilnadu) are the students who are about to enter college. All the news that are permitted to enter their ears is crap about idiotic colleges and stupid courses. Why the hell do others bother so much about your college and course? There will be a sudden traffic of advice constantly coming in until you doubt your sanity.

Coming to the point, there will be loads and loads of crap about ECE and top institutions (say,PSG.In my case it was CEG and PSG).However, when you get into one of the “TOP” institutions with an ECE seat in hand and castles built in heart,you are in for a surprising-shocking-devastating whatever.All will not be well.There will be three reasons that will be listed for ECE being advised as a cream course and certain colleges as top institutions.

For ECE:

1. It is the trend and you have good placements(OMG,Come and see for yourself)

2.You can have a blend of software and hardware and hence you have more options in placements(Definitely not!!)

3.Good choice for higher studies(This point is too mute to be explained.Higher studies option is there for any course)

For Colleges:

1.Good coaching(An example will suffice.All I learnt in LabVIEW from my respectful teacher is how to arrange the blocks on the front panel and the block diagram with an aesthetic sense and nothing else.Now I find out what a great role LabVIEW has in the automation industry from my uncle.Good coaching huh?)

2.Placements(This depends on the college,its placement officer and the alumni strength of the college. For my college,I am quite satisfied with this factor)

3.Exposure(This depends partly upon the student and her/his interests.Even if you study in a local college,if you have real interest you can do well without the cream exposure. I have seen live examples for this in my family and many others too)

Let me tell you,when my interviewer asked me “Why did you choose ECE?” or “Being in ECE, why are you choosing this software company?” I will feel like-“If you want the truth,don’t ask me”. Yet,my career being at stake,all I could manage was a weak smile and blabber about something related to linking hardware and software.Most of the ECE students have to go for software companies,because the few core companies that come wont need more than the top 8-10 students at the maximum.Why on earth,should I take an ECE course for getting placed in a software company competing with CSE,IT,Software Engg people. I could as well have taken up CSE or the like.

When I was asked “Why did you choose PSG?”, my mind went even more blank and I managed with just the usual “one of the top institution” crap. Honestly I don’t have an answer to these questions.I took ECE in PSG because I was expected to do so.I wish that I had been in more control in deciding my career path. 🙁 So,whatever is in the minds of post-higher secondary advisers is just notions that have been proved wrong by our lives.Hoping earnestly that this should change. 😐