The College Admission Project: Different Shades

My college-admission research project started as a list, evolved to become a branched tree, grew some more roots and shoots and know resembles no known shape.  One of the branches was about talking to different people, to learn about different perspectives.

One of the interesting ones was that on ‘Management Quota’.

In our times (a quarter century ago) they were called ‘Donation seats’ and people going to Karnataka and Maharashtra for Engineering and Medical studies would hesitate to name their college. They would always be forced to explain that they were going to a ‘private college’ paying the insane but regular fees in response to the inevitable ‘Oh, Donation college!’ smirks.

Now there are private colleges in every state and not getting though JEE (now there are three of the JEE tests too), does not mean the end of the world.

There are hundreds of other colleges, many of them offering better education than some government colleges. They maintain quality by admitting a percentage of students through competitive entrance exams. They adhere to legislation by keeping a required percentage of seats for centralized entrance processes. And they manage their expenses by allocating a percentage of seats through highly prized Management Quota (not Donation) seats.

And then some seats are converted stealthily from one category to another.

“Well, we have worked hard all our life. Shouldn’t our children get some advantage because of it?”

“There are no seats in those colleges because of reservation, so what’s the option for people like us.”

“Yes, we too follow the required reservations. But then how many from the reserved quota would pay these fees?”

“Yeah. It was a steep amount. But since the placements are so good, the kids can recover it in the first couple of years’ CTCs.”

There was another option which came up in ‘our times’. The nearly bankrupt countries breaking out of the erstwhile Soviet Union started cashing on the Indian parent’s ability/desperation for Doctors/Engineers.

In spite of what the financial rating agencies say, the Indian Economy has evolved much since then. Universities from all over the world are setting up stalls at ‘Education Fairs’ (and no I didn’t make up that term) to woo our worthy students; and their parents who want to do their best for the children’s education.

Child's Play? Memories of 'Nursery' Admissions

Sixteen years ago, as a young mother, I went through the Nursery school admission process.

The playschools coached us and the kids. They held special seminars before the admission season where experts came to give talks (and everyone from book publishers to health food and insurance companies sponsored the events). 

The school principal almost ‘forbade’ me to go to my hometown for my younger kids’ birth (in February) because the elder kid’s admission ‘season’ began in October of that year.

If you think I was ‘hyper’ to give in to the pressure, let me tell you that:

• One of the schools used to give out only a limited number of forms on a first-come, first-serve basis; starting from 8:00 am in the morning. People queued up from the previous night.
• A family we heard of, had converted to another religion to get their kids admitted in a sought-after school.
• People shift residences to meet the address criteria of well-known schools. To counter this, one of the schools wanted prospective parents to provide proof of residence for the previous five years. (Maybe that inspired the idea behind one of the most contentious bills in our country).
• here were coaching classes for three-year-olds and special sessions for parents. This was eighteen years ago, now I hear the kids don’t have any tests/interviews. Maybe the parents go through extra-special-sessions now.
• One of the schools had written tests for parents. Both parents had to appear for the same test, sitting in different rooms-I guess the answers were then compared. I wonder what they did after that.
• Application Forms asked for our qualifications, qualifications of maternal grandfather and grandmother, paternal grand grandfather and grandmother only.
• One form asked us to list the most important people we knew in the fields of education, music, sports, arts, etc.
• Most forms asked, “How can you contribute to the school?”
• I guess the question asking, “What make of cars your family owns?” wasn’t even surprising.

We went through that whole experience and managed to get the kid into a great school. We kept photocopies of all filled-in forms because I was pregnant and would need to start preparing for the other one soon.

Wow! This was such an awesome exercise in confidence building.

Of course, I can handle college admission. I can handle it twice too.