This is an age old question that most students ponder upon. It could be due to the pressure from parents or pressure from peers or even just your own thought process. When you complete 9th or 10th grade, this question usually comes up for the first time - you don't pay attention because you know you have plenty of time to think and decide. This question comes up this early because you are forced to give a thought for your future, which is your immediate future - 11th and 12th Grade; to understand if you would pursue a science or commerce stream.
In India, this sort of pressure from the parents to decide what career or future you are planning on pursuing was an extremely important decision as it determined the status of the family and also went to the point of deciding your marriage! At one point, you could see Engineering and Medicine as one of the top careers that were sought after irrespective of whether the candidate was eligible or had the mindset to take it upon herself/ himself. This trend has begun slowing down due to the large number of unemployed engineers or medicine drop-outs that have come to being. Any/every parent is looking at the best career for his/her child and can definitely share they inputs from what they have seen across your educational years, but the decision of the career path to be chosen must solely lie with the student. This decision is what a student should think about and make and own the responsibility to. At no point should he/she blame the parent for the career path that has been chosen. A large number of parents even until this day force the child to take up a career course that the student itself is least interested in or knows that it is going to be something they are least interested in. At an age when these decisions are to be made, there is a large number of students who are clueless on what to do in their future due to the lack of exposure that they have about the real world and what they can look at as a future. This awareness can be brought about through career counselling and seminars that throw light on different opportunities and jobs that you can take up as a career and also from the exposure the parents give to a child on how and where you can look for a future in .
We are now in the 21st Century in the year 2022. The perception of this year or time was much different from what it was perceived to be, at an earlier point in time. We are however in the age of technology where we find it hard to cope up with the changes that are constantly taking place in the field of technology. It has integrated and got into each and every aspect of our lives that currently, it is nearly impossible to function in a city with out having technology to be a part of your day to day routine. Owning a smart phone is the most primary and essential part of integrating your life with technology. From your sleep pattern, to your daily travel routine, to your music, your bank, your social connect, your work, your news etc, the list goes on. What ever career you are planning for yourself, please understand that without technology none of it would move forward. In order to get a clearer idea, I have listed down some points to help you understand which path you could lean towards to see a future in. Also keep in mind that your career can be pointing in one direction on day and completely switch to something else after some time. The point of this article it to help you gain some sort of clarity of where you can start. Once you are in the real world you may end up changing or switch roles when you see an opportunity to do so.
For Commerce Background students
B.Com - Bachelor of Commerce
This is a stream that paves way for anyone to get employed in larger companies that are into all types of businesses. If you have a flair for numbers and organising stats, B.COM is a good basic course to start with. It strengthens and gives exposure in the accountancy aspect of work. You can work with larger firms in the accounts section, tax, banking, financial services, insurance, manufacturing firms, auditing firms and much more. B.Com courses now come with a lot of add on courses where you can get a little more in detail and specifically pick the industry you want to get into B.Com - Logistics, B.Com - GST & Income Tax, B.Com - Tourism and Travel Management and so on.
BBA - Bachelor of Business Administration
Likewise another option if you are not too keen on numbers and want to emphasise more on development at the workplace and help in building the company and its people, BBA is an ideal option. It gives a learning base on various management principals and guides an individual on how a business runs, what are the departments that are ideally needed to ensure smooth functioning of a company and teaches various principals that are tried and tested methods for the smooth functioning and growth of an organization. It is also an ideal stepping stone for those who want to venture into entrepreneurship. BBA also currently comes in industry specific courses wherein you can learn the course and focus on one particular industry or subsection - BBA - Hotel Management, BBA - Entrepreneurship, BBA - Aviation, BBA - Hospitality Management etc.
For Science Background Students
Engineering - for those of you who have a keen interest in building products or get into the field of innovating new ones, be it small or large, this is the field for you to understand the basics of how various industries use physics, chemistry and math to achieve the product or project outcomes they are aiming at. In India there is a Common Entrance Test(CET) to check if you have the aptitude and knowledge to learn and understand the course for 4 years. Engineering is a vast field that could foray into multiple types of engineering streams - Computer Science, Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics & Communications, Civil, Chemical, IT, Petroleum, Aeronautical etc. The list goes on as there are multiple options to get into, each stream has its own industry to cater to - you can check the career options for each of them and then decide if you are ready to put in 4 years to study and get into that particular field.
Medicine - If you are keen on serving people, be it through general medicine, dental, cosmetics, dermatology etc, this is the field for you. These type of courses require the aptitude to take up and endure at least 4-12 years of education as you are learning a particular set of skills that are needed when you are working with a human life as your profession. One small mistake can cost an individual his/her life. Under this itself there are multiple options under MBBS - Bachelor of Medicine; Bachelor of Surgery
BA - Bachelor of Arts
If you are looking at a course that will help you move forward in the academic field, justice and legal work or even get into government positions to help in forming leaders for the nation or you yourself want to get into a position where you could bring around change, this is the right field for you. If teaching or research is something you are keenly interested in this is an ideal stepping stone into that career. If you are looking at getting into the Law and Justice system, this is the right course to help you get there. BA throws light on various subjects from which you can choose and move forward. Journalism is also an apt career you could purse after your BA.
B.Sc - Bachelor in Science
If you are interested in pursuing science and want to continue learning and perhaps at some point contribute back to the society through teaching or research, BSc is an apt course to opt for. However BSc over the last decade has started providing multiple job oriented courses in particular departments specific to one career stream alone that help an individual pursue a career in certain fields that require you to have a basic degree specific to an industry. BSc currently has a vast number of options as multiple industries fall back on this 3 year program to ensure that candidates have the basic knowledge and information to join a particular institution/organization. Some of the most known BSc courses currently are - BSc - IT, BSc - Computer Science, BSc - Nursing, BSc - Agriculture and Diary Science, Physiotherapy, Microbiology, Instrumentation, Geology, Environmental Science, Food Technology etc the list goes on.
All of these courses mentioned above are courses that someone can pursue after having completed their 12th. The choice lies with the students on what he/she is comfortable in going forward with. Under each stream there are multiple options of which only a few have been mentioned by me. If you search in detail through Google, the option you will find are endless.
For any student reading this - this is your future, spend time and energy researching before getting into any field. The more you research the more clarity you may attain as to which area you are most drawn towards. Google is your biggest tool that you have at your fingertips - USE IT! If money is a driving factor for you initially, google the careers that give you the best payout and then evaluate if you are up for it. Over time you will learn however that money is needed in life, but is not everything. That is a journey each individual goes through and must go though to understand.
I trust and hope that this was a quick and easy read to give you a small glimpse into what you can choose for your future. Wish you all the best!