Career Options after XII

INTRODUCTION

So if your are at the brink of making one of the most important decisions in life, that is, which career to opt for, chose one that is in keeping with your interests, attitude, aptitude and skills. Remember, its what you like doing that will help you succeed in life; not what you do not like, but think you must do it because everyone else is doing so and becoming successful.

Some of the career options that are gaining precedence over the traditional undergraduate courses like BA, B.Com, B.Sc etc are, Business Management, Hotel Management, Designing, Law, Information Technology, Journalism & Mass Communication and Hospitality & Tourism.

Traditional Undergraduate Courses >>

New Age Courses >>

Traditional Undergraduate Courses

For those of you who have decided on the traditional programs like BA, B.Com, B.Sc, Engineering and Medical, a list of top colleges in the country will come in handy for you in arriving at a decision:

Watch this space for updates on admissions.

New Age Courses

Some of the popular new age career options that students take up are:

Law: The legal profession is one of the most sought after professions in the world and India is not far behind. The minimum qualification to go for a course in law (LLB) is 10+2. The duration of the course is of 5 years and is sponsored by the Bar Council Of India.

As far as career options are concerned, the usual perception is that of a lawyer in the courts of the country, there are several other options like, Corporate Counsel/Consultancy, Law Firms, Business, Legal Process Outsourcing and Social Work.

The top law schools in the country are:

1. National Law School (Bangalore)
   
   
2. NALSAR (Hyderabad)
   
   
3. NUJS (Kolkata)
   
   
4. NLIU (Bhopal)
   
   
5. Government Law College (Mumbai)
   
   
6. Faculty of Law, BHA
   
   
7. University College of Law (Bangalore)
   
   
8. Symbiosis Law College (Pune)
   
   
9. Faculty of Law, AMU (Aligarh)
   
   
10. Bangalore Institute of Legal Studies

Entry to these schools is through a written test that is conducted by the respective institutes.

Hotel & Hospitality Management

A career on the hospitality industry has gained prominence in recent years due to the boom in the Indian Tourism Industry and offers good opportunities in several areas like Food Production, Food and Beverage Service, Front Office, Operations and House Keeping, Marketing and Sales, Finance and Accounting, Human Resources, Computer Applications and so on. Good interpersonal and communication skills coupled with a degree/diploma from a reputed institute hold great value in order to get started with a career in this industry. Apart from working in the hotel industry, one can also look at working with:

• Restaurants/Fast Food Joints
  
  
• Recreation and Health Clubs
  
  
• Cruise Lines
  
  
• Hospital Administration and Catering
  
  
• Institutional and Industrial Catering
  
  
• Airline Catering
  
  
• Teaching
  
  
• Food, confectionary, beverage production industries
  
  
• Government owned catering departments like railways, armed forces, ministerial conventions etc.

The best course for the purpose is the Bachelor of Science Program in Hospitality and Hotel Administration offered by National Council for Hotel Management (NCHMCT) and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). Others are:

1. Indian Institute of Hotel Management, Aurangabad (In association with the Taj Group of Hotels)
   
   
2. Oberoi School of Hotel Management, Delhi
   
   
3. Welcome Group Graduate School of Hotel Administration, Manipal
   
   
4. International Institute of Hotel Management Calcutta
   
   
5. Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, Mumbai
   
   
6. Indian Institute of Science and Management, Ranchi

Fashion & Design

A career that involves a lot of creativity and innovation, fashion and design is one of the many career options that students are attracted to. Career opportunities span around, Garment Manufacturing, Fashion Designing, Merchandizing, Industrial Designing, Fashion Communication, Accessory Designing, Fashion Technology and so on. Some of the prominent institutes in the field are:

1. National Institute of Fashion Technology (www.niftindia.com): The institute offers undergraduate/post graduate courses in fashion and apparel design, accessories design, textile design, fashion communication and fashion technology. The institute has branches in 6 cities viz, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai.
   
   
2. National Institute of Design (www.nid.edu): The institute offers undergraduate courses in communication design, industrial design and textile design.
   
   
3. Pearl Academy of Fashion (www.pearlacademy.com): The institute offers undergraduate courses in fashion merchandizing, garment manufacturing, fashion retail, fashion design, textile design, communication design and jewellery design. It has centres in Jaipur, Chennai, Ludhiana, Bangladesh and UAE.
   
   
4. National Institute of Fashion Design (www.nifd.net): The institute offers B.Sc Degree in fashion, interior and textile design.
   
   
   

Information Technology

Bachelor of Computer Science (BSc Comp Sc), Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT) and Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA) are some of the common programs offered by colleges/universities across the country. The program has gained prominence in recent years especially due to the boom in the information technology industry. While engineering graduates were the hot favourites of IT companies a few years back, top IT companies like Infosys, Wipro, TCS and Satyam are today recruiting non-engineering graduates to meet the increasing demand. This has therefore become one of the most sought after career options for those who wish to continue with science but unable to make it to an engineering college. Some of the popular courses are those offered by:

1. Delhi University
   
   
2. Indraprastha University
   
   
3. Symbiosis, Pune
   
   
4. Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Ranchi

Journalism & Mass Communication

Journalism is concerned with collection and dissemination of news through the print media as well as the electronic media. This involves various areas of works like reporting, writing, editing, photographing, broadcasting or cablecasting news items etc. Recent developments in the filed of journalism especially because of the upsurge in the number of television news channels have made journalism and mass communication a very attractive career option. Some of the popular undergraduate courses that one can pursue are:

1. Bachelor of Mass Media (BMM) with a specialization in Journalism offered by colleges like St. Xavier's, KC, Jai Hind, National, and St. Andrew's through the Mumbai University.
   
   
2. Indraprastha University, Delhi offers a bachelors degree in journalism
   
   
3. International Institute of Journalism and Mass Communication, Lucknow offers a three year bachelors degree program in journalism.
   
   
4. School of Broadcasting and Communications, Mumbai offers bachelors programs in journalism and mass communication