A business school is much different from a regular graduation college. The campus environment, classrooms and curriculum, everything is different. Here you will see students coming from different backgrounds. You can find a graduate student who is looking to start his career with assurance. On the other hand, you can also meet an experienced professional who is looking to make a career change or progression in his career whereas you can meet with an entrepreneur who wants to excel his business.

Everyone who attends business school has different dreams and strategies to enter the corporate world. Your success in the business school will depend not only on your academics but also on your people skills. This is a major difference that students face. Business/Human Management and Administration is all about managing people and resources. You have to have a strong ability to network and make the connections as it will help you grow faster.

Keeping aside growth and subjects, the teaching methods implemented in decent business schools are quite different too. A lot of emphasis is paid on case studies, projects and presentations. Eventually, working on the overall growth. A PGPM or MBA student needs to devote time in preparation for the class and not just in completing assignments.

But all these challenges are external. When you are studying in a B-school there are a lot of internal challenges as well. One of the most important challenges is to choose electives after the first year. Although if I talk about my college which is IBS Gurgaon, they help their students a lot by providing the right information about each domain, subjects in each course, career opportunities after each course and much more.

But at the end of the day an individual has to decide his or her path and finally make the best decisions. I have seen a lot of my friends struggling in this process. Mind boggling is because of the fear that what if they end up making a wrong choice. Considering the fact that your whole career depends on one single step it becomes all the more important to choose electives as per one’s interest.

Talking about myself, I always wanted to choose HR as I really want to work in a company’s human resources department that focuses on the hiring, training and growth of employees. Fortunately, my college gave me all the information about this domain and made me realize what I actually want in my career. Career development opportunities, job security, career flexibility, good salary and of course the job satisfaction is most important to me. Professors at my college who have specialized in this field shared all the details of the HR domain, which helped me in deciding the same.

If I have to give advice to my fellow mates or anyone who is dealing with this same confusion then I would say there needs to be a balance between what you like and what is useful. Some steps that could be taken are-

• KNOW YOUR INTEREST- We all have certain goals and aspirations. Corporate world is a huge space for people where everyone is working on different aspects. So first you need to understand your interest and choose the area where you want to work and grow.

• FOCUS ON YOUR INTERESTS – There are few areas which interest you and where you want to build your career. It is important to know the difference and decide where you want to build your career. For instance, I was always drawn towards marketing as well and scored decent marks but I never wanted to build my career there.

• CONSULT A SPECIALIST OR ADVISOR- An academic advisor can help you figure out the best electives to take for your particular educational journey and career goals. For example, an advisor can identify a minor that may complement your career path and electives that can double as prerequisites for that minor.

• EXPLORE JOB OPPORTUNITIES IN THAT AREA- In order to decide the electives better, explore different job opportunities in all the domains and then decide in which field you want to work.

College electives exemplify the ideal educational experience — you get to choose what you want to learn without restrictions. Sometimes it is difficult to choose the apt course but with right guidance and support one can take a right call and move forward in the desired field.