Another Brick In The Wall??

Little less than a nightmarish situation faces me! The change in NIT admissions has shrouded my ambitions in darkness. The options before me no longer seem so black and white.....but marred by heavy and worrying shades of grey. The new stipulation that no NIT besides that of your home state may allot clearly demarcated seats for your state seems to have thrown all my plans into disorder! Simply put, though NIT-Calicut will reserve 50% of its seats for Keralites, my State Rank will not get me any desirable branch! Equally disturbing, beyond Calicut, all other NIT's will make available to me 50% of their seats, provided that my All India rank is upto par. This, in effect, will have 2 foreseeable impacts....

One being simply that certain branches in certain NITs which did not have seats under the Kerala quota, will now possibly be available to me! What, on the other hand, must be noted, is that the admission procedure is now a simple free-for-all based on All India Ranks......and considering the community-based reservations in place, that 50% is reduced significantly, along with my chances of entering these NITs whose doors were previously.

The second, is more significant, perhaps, in my context. With the elimination of state quotas, several students who've secured decent state ranks in AIEEE, who mite've secured good seats based on the previous criteria, might now find themselves facing the prospect of journeying halfway across the country, if not more. Though some mite take it in their stride, others will prefer to remain in their comfort zone. This might lead to the last-rank cut-offs for courses in Kerala colleges to increase marginally, or perhaps even significantly, which will dampen a lot of hopes, especially mine!

Ultimately, what this has left me with, is a sense of directionlessness! Prior to the procedural changes, I'd had a respectable idea of the colleges and courses available to me based on my ranks in the various exams. Yet with this revelation, uncertainty appears to have taken grip. The decision, though morally correct, is horribly timed, and in a way, deceitful.......It is unfair to change admission rules to such respected institutions weeks after the results have already been declared! Whether this benefits me or not, this opinion will not change! No possibility can be ruled out, and the scenario can be observed from so many angles that it boggles the mind to fathom them! I suppose, in such circumstances, there is little one can do, except for praying,researching, and praying a little more! The task of deciding the course of at the very least, the next four years of my life, is daunting, and to have so many variables in the mix is to flirt with disaster. The line between a trend-setter and a brick in the wall is thin, which is why I'm so desperate to decide where my heart lies! An alliance of passion and aptitude is the key to professional success and satisfaction. Perhaps, the pursuit of such an idealistic goal, is, in itself, an education!