Techniche 5th issue (Read-Only) - College of Technology, Pantnagar

Techaway Page 17
Well let’s try and see the importance of this phrase in our careers!
Siddharth Verma, Agricultural Engineering, Batch- 2004, is an alumnus
of the College of Technology, Pantnagar. He qualified for IIM -A
and achieved an overall score of 1430 in GRE. He is currently pursuing
his MS from the University of Illinois– Urbana Champaigne,
USA. Here he discusses his success mantra with us.
Unless you try to do something beyond what you have
already mastered, you will never grow.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
T he allegorical phrase “(to) raise the bar” or “Raising the bar” is I
guess one of easiest and the most apparent in its meaning. It is used
to convey the idea of steadily setting the standards higher, to
achieve excellence in any field.
We all have expectations! Some of our own, some of our parents’, teachers’ and also of our friends. We constantly
try hard to fulfill these expectations and achieve our goals. But it’s not as simple as it sounds. Thousands of choices,
so many avenues, and our friends from other colleges’ usually doing something “awesome” and above all the unending
bombardment of wanted and mostly unwanted “Advice” from all quarters surely does add to the already existing
“confusion”. There is a phase in every engineering student’s life where he or she is very unsure of what to do and
what not to do, i.e. which career path to choose! Whether to opt for a job, try to bell the much dreaded CAT, wander
into still hazy territories of GRE or to slog it out for the GATE.
The solution to this big dilemma is very intrinsic. You yourself are the best judge of your abilities, potential, interests
and aptitude. Now comes the importance of the phrase “Raise the bar”. I don’t know what the reason is, but a
majority of us in Pantnagar are very pessimistic about ourselves. Initially even I felt the same. But now I feel it’s
high time we completely transform the way we think about our career choices! Most of us choose one of a Job, CAT,
GRE or GATE as our career path. With so much of competitiveness all around we just cannot risk our careers by
substantially limiting the opportunities that can be explored. A big radical change is needed in the way we think.
Why can’t we take up two out of CAT, GRE and GATE, if not all three? Their schedules are perfectly suited to be
easily prepared for! And mind you, Students all over India have been doing this. So this is not something insanely
impossible that I’m trying to suggest! Reading this will raise a certain eyebrows…..but I’ll try and dispel the doubts.
Firstly, we need to be optimistic and not think we cannot do this. If we limit our thinking and believe we cannot,
surely we will not be able to do it!
Secondly any kind of knowledge is good knowledge. The preparation for CAT and GRE is essentially same in terms
of subjects. “CAT English” and “GRE English” might be different in terms of application but at the end of the day
they both are and will be “English”. This will also help for appearing in the job interviews. Thirdly a bit of systematic
planning and smart approach is all that’s required to help you to “Raise the bar” of performance and achievements.
In today’s world everyone from HR managers, B-schools and foreign Universities are looking for people who have a
good “profile”. So if we invest our time in pursuing a sport, doing internships in our vacations and presenting papers
at different Tech-fests and conferences, we can surely go a long way in building a good “profile”. And such things
can make a huge difference in your selection in a B-school or getting a substantial scholarship from a foreign University.
So, there are a lot of things waiting to be done. Get up and get going!! And lastly it’s never too late to start!
So go ahead and “Raise your bar”.