Why NOT to take a drop?

Divya Jyoti

When results start pouring in and you feel you haven't done well, like you deserved better or maybe you have calibre to be better. Then slowly everyone starts agreeing with you and you start thinking about taking a drop: WAIT take a deep breath and read.

My story:

I come from a business oriented family and no one even in my far off relatives is an engineer. The only cousins who tried engineering never made it to the "Eligible for central counselling" bracket. They took a drop only to get admission in some local college. The rich ones amongst my cousins and kids of family friends paid and are in manipal, BITS dubai, VIT. Just name it. Me, got 26k in 2008, everyone told my dad to get me into some good private college as at that rank NITs are dream stuff. Fortunately I had a decent peer group and as they waited for further rounds, I waited too. After form 2, I finally agreed to enroll in some ok-ok private college[which was in a different city] just for security. Form 3 came and I got allotted NIT T meta. Family problems hence couldn't report there. Come 2009, I'm EML 13,617 and EEE 33,849. Yet I do not have an allotment and I do not want to go to that college where people with EEE marks 19 are also given admission under open category.

Why I ask you to NOT take a drop:

See, after 12th everything seems more optimistic than it really is. You blame your school, your peer group, your laziness and a million other things for not having done well. You tell yourself that if given another chance you'll work hard and next year get a better rank. Honestly, simply by sitting for one year, ranks do not magically become better. Its very frustating to hear your friends go to these myriad good colleges and tell you about ragging, hostels, mess food, girls there, societies, fests and blah blah blah. And you're stuck in some kind of a hellhole doing for a third year the same course you did for the past 2years.

God forbid, if your parents are as doubtful about your capabilities as mine were about mine, then they'll ask you to do all kinds of ridiculous things. They'll ask you to get a good average in college university exams[ 70+], they'll drag you to more social events in your drop year than all the events you've attended in your entire lifetime, they'll count the expenditure on your fees, books etc for this private college everyday and so on. Plus, taking a half drop if you're studying in a private college is suicide. 75% theory attendance, 80% practical attendance, 25% marks internal[in which you can be failed if you talk back to your teacher], 8am-5pm schedule etc make life such a drudgery. You can't even think about joining a test series, FORGET about full-time coaching for a drop. The worst part is maybe your concepts are good but the problem is that there's no one to solve your doubts or discuss their doubts with you. Until and unless you have will power made of reinforced cement, don't put yourself in the above explained scenario.

Just think, after one year of cribbing about "how horrible this private college is" you write your entrances and don't perform well in them and have to go back to the same college, how will you face the dumb crowd? You've lost a year of fun, not taken part in any college activity, not made a group gang or whatever. Not a good scenario to be in. If you haven't taken a half-drop but a full one, it'll be a panic attack everyday in your life. It is scary enough being stranded without a good college after 12th, imagine what torture it would be to be stranded without a good college after taking a drop? Plus, IIMs and even reputed colleges question about your "drop year". Plus, its the tag, once a dropper always a dropper. Trust me, whatever you may think but taking a drop and not getting an NIT or IIT is not worth it. You see all these dumb college people of yours enjoying their life, and what are you doing? Being tortured 3rd year in a row.

When taking a drop is justified:

Maybe I scared you a little too much. There are times when taking a drop is the right thing to do. When you spoil your paper out of sheer nervousness, or when you just KNOW you'll crack it. Maybe you missed an entrance by a hairline difference. I know someone who got a rank of 1lakh 85thousand something in EEE, next year: 1800 something IIT. But remember things like that are exceptions, not the norm. Truth is, its very difficult to maintain your old rank, making it better is a long LONG shot. Look at my stats, 26k 2008, 23k 2009 IIT, 33k 2009 EEE[because i had my college submissions so lost out on last 1 week, but i can't tell CCB people that]. Whatever decision you take, think it through and don't be in any kind of pressure. Best of luck. But do remember Murphy's law:

"If anything can go wrong, it will"

Divya Jyoti.

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