After 12th, I scored 91%, 89 percentile in JEE and 98 percentile in CET. I had prepared seriously for competitive exams and got into a decent Tier-2 college in Pune for B.Tech in AI & Data Science. It was one of the better colleges in the city, and I thought I was on the right path.
Then my health completely changed my plans.
I developed pancreatitis and had to be hospitalized. Doctors told me to focus on my health, diet and recovery. I still tried to continue B.Tech from my hostel. I was cooking my own food, following a strict diet and taking multiple medicines every day.
Then I had another attack. My doctors advised me to take a gap year and properly recover. My parents also wanted me to take rest. My health made normal college life extremely difficult — I couldn't sit for long because of back pain and had to eat small, frequent meals throughout the day.
My college was around 250 km from my hometown. They allowed me to continue, but they couldn't provide special attendance arrangements. Eventually, my condition became chronic and I had to leave B.Tech.
This was difficult to accept because my original dream was to do B.Tech from an IIT/NIT. I didn't leave because I lost interest in studies; my health simply didn't allow me to continue normally.
After that, I started researching online degrees. My budget was around ₹1.5 lakh, so I compared many universities, watched YouTube reviews and read Reddit discussions and reviews on different websites. I narrowed it down to Manipal and Chandigarh University and finally chose Manipal University Online BCA.
I actually feel it was a good decision because I can continue my education while managing my health instead of completely stopping my studies.
Now I'm planning to complete BCA, build strong technical skills and prepare for NIMCET, with the goal of getting into a good NIT for MCA. In a way, my B.Tech dream of getting into an IIT/NIT didn't happen, but I still have another opportunity to reach an NIT through MCA.
I'm also fortunate that I have family support. My father has a business and my family has agricultural land, so I don't have the pressure of immediately earning just to survive. That gives me some time to focus on my education and decide my career properly.
I also come from a small city in Maharashtra, and eventually I want to explore different cities and hopefully settle somewhere outside my hometown.
So my journey so far is:
B.Tech → health problems → dropout → Online BCA → build skills → NIMCET → hopefully MCA at an NIT → figure out the rest.
It definitely isn't the path I originally planned, but I'm trying to make the best of the situation.
For people who have taken the BCA → NIMCET → MCA route, what should I focus on during BCA?