When I was told to write an article about absolutely anything that students would connect to, I donned my thinking cap. Being an engineering student who can almost hear her death knell (yes it’s my penultimate year of being subjected to the torment and torture of the Mumbai University), I decided to pay an ode to all those valorous fellow Mu-ites of mine who would be venturing into their final year.
Behold comrades! It’s finally time to enter the big bad world of B.E. It’s quite implausible how the past three years flew by in a jiffy! It seems like yesterday when we sweated real bad through the entire admission procedure followed by the even more grueling counseling rounds, grappling with the oh-not-so-good feeling of not securing admission into a college of your choice or branch of your stature (yes, choice was hardly a priority back then!), for the luckier ones (let me rephrase that, smarter ones), that ecstatic feeling of getting into a college that you always dreamt of! It was a potpourri of emotions back then. Just out of junior college, reeking of exhaustion, thanks to the myriad of competitive exams and the never ending saga of test series, one lands into this crazy, hyperactive, demented, obscure planet called an engineering college.

The newbies of the engineering world i.e. the first year students would vouch for the fact that first semester exams should be a classified form of fear like arachnophobia or xenophobia. Clearing those semester exams seems like a herculean task. And then you get accustomed to the circus of life…those numerous assignments (which augment your copy paste skills by leaps and bounds), endless practical sessions (experiments which work only during exams, and for the less fortunate not even then!) and that one fateful notebook that one uses for all subjects not even bothering to partition it into different sections, subject wise. And that’s how, the bruised and battered you complete three years of engineering and finally when the final year blows the trumpet, you seem to take life with a pinch of salt and sugar alike.

The final year arrives with its own set of promises and expectations. On the emotional front, it makes you vulnerable. It aggravates your emotional quotient. It makes you both serious about your career and future endeavors and yet the realization that this could very well be the last year of enjoying life without succumbing to the pressures of the corporate world or the demanding schedules of a higher education, dawns upon you. Final year is like a multi phase, high end mission, minus the ammunition. Phase one begins with the P-word. (Yes Einstein! You nailed it! Campus placements). The precursor for this new life comes in the form of internships and a variety of training programs that students undergo in their post third year vacations. That is the first symptom of being bitten by the B.E bug. Internships in the vacations are followed by the barrage of aptitude tests, nerve wrecking interviews (which I presume are just a more sophisticated version of vivas, teachers replaced with suit-wearing business honchos) and finally that awesome moment of being placed!
Phase two comprises of the final year project (this phase begins before the commencement of phase one and ends after the completion of phase three. It’s pretty perennial, so to speak!). It is one thing that really needs you to put your heart, soul and brains into it. The entire experience of developing the project, right from the inception of the idea to the final product is the encompassment of the knowledge one gathers in these three years of engineering. Application of theory, the basic essence of being an engineer is manifested in this endeavour. In short, a great learning experience in terms brushing your concepts, honing your technical skills, pushing every nerve of your functioning cerebrum to its limit, learning how to work in a team (actually working and not just providing glamour/moral support to the genuinely working people in your group).
Phase three is giving me jitters already. Most engineering students opt for an MS, MTech/ME or an MBA. A large chunk of MS aspirants are already done with their GRE by the end of third year but the actual process begins after the exam ends. The entire application process seems to be extremely taxing by the looks of it. But then again, it’s an experience which will be worth the time and effort. Every moment spent in writing an SOP will be a form of self revelation, retrospection and self discovery. This is, without a doubt, something to look forward to. As far as MTech is concerned, GATE is definitely a blessing in disguise for people who love their technical stuff. And for those who were more than satisfied (read between the lines: fed up), with the four years technical bombardment or those really interested in a more non-technical way of life and would want to venture into management opt for CAT/GMAT and/or all those exams as a requisite for the top notch management colleges in India and abroad. All this for that ‘results and admits season’ which is very much capable of giving any student a concussion without the blow!

The final year or as I put it, ‘final destination’ has a lot to offer in terms of personality development. It is that phase where you grow up in the true sense. You learn to rise like a phoenix from the ashes despite the no. of failures that push you down and learn to keep your head high with pride barring ego in moments of success. Most importantly, the dawn of your final year, the beginning of the end, makes you love your friends more than ever. The realization that all those out of the world moments, those laughs, talks, endless discussions about absolutely worthless things, even in the worst of situations having that helping hand, that look of concern, that moral support, celebrations in times of joy, those impromptu canteen treats for the lamest of occasions, badgering in the not-so-good times and practically every memory related to college life will just be a memory henceforth, is hard to digest! But all good things do come to an end. And these are the best of things! Don’t be bowed down the pressures of the final year but make the most of it! Take up a hobby, do things which you always wanted to, spend time with friends and family, party hard, get sloshed and fly high! Let the final year of college be an experience worth reminiscing, a collection of impeccable memories that make you laugh and cry because, allow me to go cliché for once, these days won’t come back.