Although SRCC is a dream college for thousands of students across the country, it was never there in my list. The reason for the same is my not so great academic background in the past. However with my hard work and planning, combined with a bit of luck helped me score 98% and I got admitted in B.A. (Hons.) Economics at Shri Ram College of Commerce. Like every other school student, even I had a certain impression about the best college for commerce in India; about the faculty, infrastructure, facilities, examinations, extra-curricular activities and opportunities. However, SRCC turned this 180 ͦfor me. In order to summarise it, the best thing that SRCC has to offer is :
Diverse options for Societies/Clubs to be a part of that changes your personality upside down and you literally learn the most from this. (There are more than 50 student run organisations active in SRCC)
Diversity in terms of the students you interact with. SRCC has students coming from all over India and thus helps you learn and understand how to work and prosper in such a team with diverse background, culture & thinking.
Diversity in terms of competition that you are going to face. In school, the students majorly compete for getting the highest marks. Here in this college you fight for marks, you fight for securing the best internship, you fight for becoming the President of the society that you were a part of, you fight for getting into that international program, to win that prestigious competition, to get that dream job and many more. (Well some people do lose themselves in this competition but that’s entirely dependent on the way you handle it)
Diversity in the kind of goals that people have here. You fill wind people hustling for Govt. Jobs, Corporate Jobs, Masters in Economics or Commerce, MBA, Chartered Financial Analyst, Financial Risk Manager, Actuarial, Chartered Accountant, Blogging, Acting, Singing, Dancing, Photography and obviously starting their own Business. It becomes easier for you to find people with similar goals that can help you in achieving your dream.
Telling you in brief about what my college life revolved around: In my 1st year I was a regular student attending classes and focusing on getting into as much societies as possible. I had 88% attendance in my 1st semester (& only 3% by the 5th one)& got into 8-10 good societies of SRCC. I started narrowing down the organisation that I want to be a part of and by the end of year (after grilling interviews taken by 18 people), I was heading the Placement Cell’s Public Relations team. 2nd year focused on enhancing my skills and securing an internship from campus. Being a Placement Cell member gave me huge corporate exposure, decision making skills, policy designing, soft skills & ways to handle the best Recruiters in India (But you also need to work you ass off from 8 to 8 for the Cell) Meanwhile I was lucky enough to also receive an internship offer from the highest paying company that year i.e. Standard Chartered Bank and I was also selected as the Event head for Business Conclave which is India’s largest undergraduate management festival. 3rd year started off with my 1st proper corporate experience at SCB’s head office in Mumbai & along with that I was promoted as the Secretary General of the Placement Cell and now heading a team of 100+ members. Days went with intense amount of work that I used to get up at 8 AM in the morning and I was busy till 4 AM the next day with no clue about food and sleep.In August the Placement Season (the deadliest thing in College) begins for final year students when the entire atmosphere of college changes into intense competitive mode of getting that A1 job. I was able to crack the very first company in which I was shortlisted for the interview round i.e. Bain & Company, which is one of top 3 (Also known as Big3) Management Consulting firms in the entire world. Post this, majority of my time went in leading the Placement Cell and ensuring that maximum students are getting placed this year, and now waiting for my final semester exams to happen, thanks to the courtesy of DU. Now all of these achievements may sound too rosy but you don’t know the background work, the sacrifices and the amount of efforts required to make all of this (and a lot of other things that I didn’t mention) happen.
To the entire community of students reading it, don’t be disheartened if you don’t get in your dream college. I know you have imagined yourself as a student of that particular college, you have worked hard for it, but as the wise saying goes Something Better Is Waiting For You. My experience from my college life has taught me this thing that everything is there in front of you, you just need to see it, plan for it, work on it and then there’s nothing that can stop you. My advice to anyone reading this, it doesn’t matter if it is not your dream college where you get into, make your own college better than the dream. Open your own cell, start a business, create competitions, engage with recruiters, enhance your skills, work hard, find good supportive people who have the same fire within them & I’m 200% sure that you can do better than any SRite.
In the end, I just want to thank SRCC for transforming me from a shy introvert to a confident guy ready to get up on stage and address an audience of 500+, to set up meetings with Partners of big firms, to be able to give a presentation in front of international heads of a firm and for giving me an amazing set of seniors/mentors & friends who have filled me with gratitude, humbleness and a fire to achieve heights. SRCC, I can never thank you enough for everything.
