Students who are planning to study abroad are confused and concerned about the COVID-19 situation and how this coronavirus will impact their career plans. Students also want to know what to do during a forced gap year. Education and Career Counsellor, Dr. Karan Gupta, shares insights and gives you clarity
Most universities in the US have made SAT and ACT scores optional for undergraduate students. However, students should consider taking these exams because admissions are competitive, given that several students are deferring their admission from previous intakes. In addition, several students who did not consider US universities because they did not want to appear for entrance tests, are now considering the US. Hence, to make your application stronger, you should appear for the SAT or ACT.
Yes, admissions will be tougher because of the COVID-19 situation. Students who are admitted for previous intakes are deferring their admissions and hence admission seats are now less for ‘fresh’ students. Hence, admissions for future intakes are bound to be harder.
Yes, admissions are going to be competitive for all courses across all countries as the COVID-19 situation is all across the world. More and more people are getting back to education in order to upskill and get ready for a post-COVID world.
We are in regular touch with admission officers and deans from schools like Harvard, Stanford, Cornell, Columbia, Princeton, Yale, CMU, Duke, UCLA and so on and we are abreast with the latest admission trends. We expect our students to get into the best universities even for the next year’s intakes.
As a Career Counsellor, I advise students to consider these 6 important tips to building their profile:
1. Take online courses for self-improvement – there are many universities who are offering free courses for students on Coursera, Udemy and other such websites where students can up their skills and learn about Python, digital marketing, storytelling and other such useful courses. You can earn a certificate for these courses and list them on your resume.
2. You can earn an entire degree online – some universities offer students the option of earning an entire degree online – For example the University of Texas Austin allows students to earn a Masters degree in Computer Science completely online. Another example is IE University which offers an MBA online. So if you are academically inclined and want to use your time fruitfully, you could pursue an entire degree online.
3. Internships – there are companies who are hiring full time interns online – you can work for the companies while sitting at home and once again you can add this information to your resume. You can use websites such as letsintern.com or internshala.com
4. Become a gig worker – A gig worker is like a freelancer who takes on specific projects for companies. If you have skills to offer, you can approach companies and take on projects – again you can list these projects on your resume. You can sign up on websites such as freelancer.com and upwork.com
5. Entrepreneurship venture – if you are someone who has dreamed of starting a business, now is a good time to work on the business idea and possibly even executive the idea and start the business. The business becoming successful is not as important as you planning and executing the idea.
6. Language – you can learn a new language and add that to your profile. There are tons of websites and software available for you to start learning a new language on your own. Spanish, for example, is one of the most important business languages and students may find it very useful to have learnt a new language.
In the end if you decide to study abroad or apply for a full time work position, you will be asked what you did during the pandemic and hence students should be careful with what options they select – just sitting at home watching shows or just spending time on social media is not an option. Instead look at the myriad opportunities available to you and pick the one the suits you the most to make the most of this situation. In the end, crisis can be danger as well as opportunity. So seize this opportunity and make the most of it.
Our office never closed for even a single day during the entire pandemic. However, the safety of our staff and students comes first and hence we shifted our entire operations online. Since 1999, we have been providing online counselling for students from many parts of the world including the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, the EU and so on. All our meetings have been on online platforms and students have received a first class service with our revolutionary online counselling portal which has videos, sample documents, relevant articles, activities and so on.
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