Mistakes Students Make While Choosing a Design College in India

Introduction:

Choosing a design college in India, like choosing any other college, is a process that must be well thought out and planned carefully. Although the numbers are rising today, design colleges in India don’t actually number anywhere close to engineering colleges. Even general colleges outnumber design colleges in India. Therefore, one needs to be very meticulous when choosing the right design college.

It begins with the right course or specialization. You need to figure out where your passion lies. Is it gaming, automobiles, phones & apps, or interior decoration, among others?

Similarly, you need to choose

1. Game Design
2. Transportation Design
3. Interaction Design, or
4. Interior and Space Design

Once you have your area of interest figured out, it will be easier to narrow down the colleges that cater to it. Of those colleges, you need to choose the best ones and try to find a way to get admission in them.

Despite its lengthy nature, the process of selecting the right design college seems straightforward enough. But tons of students still end up making a lot of mistakes during this process. Let’s look at the various mistakes students make during the process and how one can avoid them.

Why Choosing the Right Design College Is Critical?

Choosing the right design college is absolutely critical, since your career and your future depend on it. Once you choose the right design college, you can rest assured that your education will be good and that there is a safety net of proper placement options available after passing out. All you need to do is study properly in college.

Moreover, a good design college that’s right for you will provide you with basic amenities and more. It will conduct workshops, seminars, industry visits, and allow internships in good companies, among many other extra-curiculuar activity. It will bring expert faculty members, possibly from within the industry or with industry knowledge, to teach specific subjects.

This will help students learn the concepts better, all the while remaining very close to the newest trends in the corporate world. This way, they will be able to blend the world of academia and corporate into one.

Top 10 Mistakes in choosing a design college in India

These are the top mistakes, in no particular order, that students make while choosing a design college:

1. Ignoring the Curriculum and Faculty

If you choose a college without properly evaluating its syllabus or the industry experience of faculty members, it can lead to studying outdated techniques.

2. Overlooking Placement Records

If you fail to verify genuine placement records, industry partners, and alumni job roles, that’s a mistake.

3. Underestimating the Portfolio

If you assume that only entrance tests matter and not the portfolio, you’d be making a mistake in your research for choosing a design college.

4. Prioritizing Location Over Quality

A lot of students, especially in India, tend to choose colleges that are near their homes. This happens a lot due to the pressure of Indian parents. However, that would be a mistake since one would essentially be compromising a good college that’s far for the comfort of living nearby.

5. Ignoring Accreditation & Recognition

Enrolling in unaccredited institutions that offer degrees with low industry value.

6. Neglecting Campus Facilities & Infrastructure

If one ignores the needs for specialized labs, workshops, and libraries necessary for design education while researching, that would be considered an oversight on the students’ part.

7. Ignoring Alumni Feedback

Word-of-mouth advice is still one of the most authentic and effective forms of advice that exists. And what better and more effective feedback about a college’s quality and reputation could come from anywhere else but those who studied there. Hence, alumni feedback is very important to take note of.

8. Choosing Based on Bandwagon or Peer Pressure

Peer Pressure should never affect any decision-making by anyone, let alone the decision of choosing the right design college. Sometimes, our peers may give us good advice, but it is extremely important to verify.

9. Misjudging Total Cost

Considering only tuition fees and feeling comfortable about one’s affordability in any design college can be a mistake. It needs to include additional costs like materials, software licenses, and living expenses.

10. Treating All Design Schools Equally

Treating every design school the same, despite the differences in quality, reputation, faculty, and other aspects, is an ignorant mistake. For example, NID is strong for product or industrial, while NIFT is good for fashion.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. How do I choose the best design college in India?

To choose the best design college in India, do your own research, listen to alumni, follow your passion, check for colleges with good education, faculty, and placement opportunities, among many others. Only after that, choose the right college.

2. Are private design colleges worth the fees?

Yes, private design colleges do charge handsome fees, but it’s totally worth it. This is because of the jobs available after graduation and the lucrative salaries they offer.

3. What should I check before joining a design college?

Reputation, course strength, quality of education, placement opportunities, faculty, industry orientation, are just some of the aspects you must check before joining a design college.

4. Can I switch design colleges or courses later?

Yes, in case you realize that your passion lies elsewhere, and not in the design course you are currently pursuing, then you can and should switch design colleges and courses later.