Year after year, when an academic year comes to the end we can feel the passing of the baton from the seniors to the juniors. This happens across campuses and as it happens every year, it is a routine for those in the academics and the administration. In the case of professional courses, the majority of the outgoing batch students will be stepping into reality of life leaving behind the ‘comfortable’ routine of a decade and more of school going. Some of them would have secured a job offer while in campus; a few would be planning further studies in their chosen field; and some would want to make amends to their error in having chosen a wrong career. And a sizable number would gape into the future with no clear cut intention, drifting in the current like a jelly fish. This is an annual phenomenon in all professional campuses.

The juniors who take the baton from the outgoing batch would do themselves a world of good if they observe and learn from the experience of their predecessors. What happens to the passing out batch this year will be a microcosm of what you can expect next year. Your seniors are a unique set of people who had encountered situations as close as it can get to the ones you are experiencing now. They were also at your emotional and intellectual level a year before. Their hindsight and observations would be of immense value to you. To know the road your seniors traversed – to prepare yourself for the adversities in those paths - it is very important that you engage with your seniors and it is not going to happen unless you take the initiative. That has to happen sooner than later. The last lap of the course you run in the next few months will have a significant bearing on your life after college. In many professional courses like engineering, the campus recruitments start in the seventh semester. For these students the campus recruitments would begin in another 2 to 3 months and if you are to catch that bus it is time to act – time to hone your skills – prepare for the aptitude tests, GDs and the interviews. It would be good to keep in mind that of the 10 lakh plus engineering students that move out of colleges in India each year, the industry absorbs only close to 3 lakh students in the best of the years. For those of you who are yet to think about what you are to do in June 2013, it is high time you thought about that. It is time to be aware of the career options after your degree. Think positive but think realistic. In the case of the ones who already have a goal, it is time to execute the plan. How you spend the coming year will decide the direction your life takes after college.