While most educators agree that learning should not be restricted to just the syllabus and textbooks, and that students must venture beyond them, the big question is ‘how’. Many educational institutions in India, unfortunately, do not provide an environment or the recourses to facilitate learning beyond the classroom. Either way, here are some ways you can ensure that you build a good profile and also increase the gamut of your experiences.
Gain Experience/Intern: One of the best ways to build a profile is to intern. Use your summer, winter breaks to seek internship opportunities. These internships need not necessarily be in the area of your study. Any internship that you think is interesting enough and presents you an opportunity to learn, is good. Some of the websites that you could use for your internship search are
Volunteer your time for a cause
If you care about a social cause, why not spend few hours a month helping some NGO or social organization towards that cause. There are many organizations looking for help and your few hours a month can make a significant difference in someone’s life.
To do so, you may contact an NGO directly or look at sites like https://www.ivolunteer.in/
Also take a look at AIESEC https://aiesec.org/
Events & Competitions
There are several intercollegiate events and competitions that take place throughout the year. Pick your interest and participate in as many as you can. You need not win. Just participate. Find out about team events and competitions, make a team of some like-minded friends and just participate.
Learn a new skills
Learn a new skill. it could be technical skill (like a new computer software or a programming language), or something that you always wanted to learn – say a musical instrument or a dance. You could learn to edit and create videos and gradually learn film making. You could also learn about digital marking or photography and Photoshop. You could learn about investing in the stock markets, cooking/baking, or public speaking. While the list is endless, some of these skills can be learnt online as well.
Learn a new language
It is always a good idea to learn a new language, and with online apps like ‘Duolingo’, it’s not very difficult these days.
Improve your subject knowledge
While your teachers and your textbooks would teach you the subject, delving deeper is always a good option. With hundreds of online resources available (some of them are even free), improving your knowledge about a subject would not only help you in your future years and career, but you would also broaden your general understanding of the topic.
Look at online sites such as
Coursera https://www.coursera.org/
MIT Open Learning Initiative http://oli.cmu.edu/
Open Learn https://www.open.edu/openlearn/
UCI Open http://ocw.uci.edu/courses
and many others
And while you do all this, make sure you do not neglect your college academics and your GPA 🙂
Jothsna is the co-founder of Academy One, a career guidance and study abroad counseling venture. Prior to founding Academy One in 2005, Jothsna worked as an IT and business consultant with companies like Motorola and Trajen Inc. in the USA. She holds an engineering degree in computer science from Andhra University and a MS from the University of Texas. She also received her MBA from the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University, USA.