College Queries

I am amazed to see a lot of people enquire about colleges over the internet itself. Apart from students checking out websites and registering for the entrance exams, they get in touch with the Alumni or students of the colleges through forums and chat rooms or in my case through blogs. Their interest is ofcourse to know about the college from the students point of view rather than the publicity or newspaper ads put up by the colleges.

The enquiries are pretty general. A few are as mentioned below:

• How many company placements are done when one finishes the college?
• How good are the faculty and departments in the college?
• What are the facilities provided by the college once a student takes admission?
• Infrastructure of the college is worth while or not?
• If attaining any rank in the entrance exam which branch will one get?
• How is the cultural environment in the college?
• What is there to do during the lesiure hours in college?

As for my college, Vellore Institute of Technology has been performing beautifully in the admission front. In the last few years the number of applications forms for college admission was as follows. In 2004 admissions only 8000 application forms were purchased. In 2005, the number jumped to 44,000 where as the amount of application forms this year went upto 87,000. The price of the application form is not cheap either. The current application form for B.Tech degree admissions is Rs 650 will for B.Sc is Rs 350. The college does make a lot of money off these but they even play their part in putting up more examination centers around India. Even in our college case, this time the centers had increased upto 17 locations all around India.

The education sector has reached a whole new level. Everything can be done through the internet and the colleges in USA and UK are one of the best examples. They provide for prospectus and details from the websites. They go into full details to explain what are the procedures. In India, the colleges put up websites just for publicity and in some cases donot give enough details, making people to write emails for more enquiry. Colleges and Universities should make it way more easier for parents and students to enquire as the admission process is really tiring. More development should be done so that future applicants and prospective students find it easier and more comfortable in applying.