My Univariety Story: Webinars Really Helped Us!

2020 has been a year of many firsts. Online lessons, online admissions, online coaching, online internships- the world has realized the potential of the Internet. Several establishments have resorted to webinars to reach out to clients and customers. So much so that 90% of businesses believe that it is extremely crucial to their success.

Univariety too has utilized the powerful medium and shifted interactions to webinars! Since April 2020, Ms. Sangeetha George has conducted close to 100 webinars for Univariety’s students and parents. From college selection to creating the right profile– we have covered several topics.

Webinars Creating Success Stories

How Dhanya Girilal learned of ProMap through our webinars

Here’s yet another ‘My Univariety Story’. This time we spoke to Dhanya Girilal, mother of Class XI student, Niranjan Girilal, who attended Univariety’s webinars. Not only did she have a wonderful experience, but she also is looking forward to seeking further assistance from Univariety.

I first came to know of Univariety through my son’s school, Oakridge International. They were partnered with the career-guidance company and the high school students received a lot of help from them. During the lockdown period, when things seemed so uncertain, Univariety started off with webinars for the high-school students of Oakridge and they were such a blessing.

Webinars Were A Great Platform To Learn And Connect

From understanding psychometric tests to building the right skills for college, Ms. Sangeetha George was a repository of knowledge for us. Moreover, several educators and college principals also participated and all of the interactions really opened up our perspectives.

It was during one of these webinars that I first heard about ProMap. When Niranjan was in Class X, Univariety had invited some high-school Oakridgers to take psychometric tests to help gauge the interest and aptitude of students towards certain subjects. Niranjan’s report said that he would do well in Biotechnology. He too had a little bit of an inclination towards it. He was also very relieved about the report because was uncertain about Maths. This helped us find a direction for the next couple of years.

Webinars Opened The Door To New Destinations

In Class XI, Niranjan has chosen Physics, Chemistry, and Biology and done away with Mathematics. As his parents, we have given him complete autonomy in this matter and believe that he should only do what he enjoys and is good at. When we were studying, we never had the liberty to understand our personalities and choose a career accordingly. To this day, we see the after-effects of that because my husband and I are in fields that would not have been our primary choice. We didn’t want Niranjan to experience that.

At the same time, we were confused. Before we met our counsellor, Ms. Muskaan Bhatia, Niranjan wasn’t entirely sure whether his interest was well-placed. He wanted to pursue his higher education in India. After our interaction with Ms. Bhatia, we were at ease. In fact, she was so helpful and guided us along.

And The Choice Was Made

What really impressed us was how quick she was in building a rapport with my son. Niranjan is a very shy kid and quite often even his teachers tell us that he needs to open up a little bit more. But I still don’t know how Ms. Bhatia made him feel so comfortable. He shared everything with her and that really gave her an idea about who he is and what his interests are. So, she was able to suggest the right solution to him.

Also Read: My Univariety Story: Our career counsellor was our omnipresent angel

Though we had heard about ProMap during the webinars, it was upon Ms. Bhatia’s suggestion that we tried it out. She also recommended that Niranjan do a couple of internships through the Virtual Internship Program. He loves hacking and did an internship in the same field. But he chose Biotechnology as his next option because of his dislike for Maths.

We Need Career Counselling

I have to admit that there was a lot of clarity after our interactions with Ms. Bhatia. Niranjan was able to zero in on his subjects for Class XI. He’s still in two minds about studying in India. And we might just do the GEM program to help him out if he wants to study abroad. We want to wait this year and decide. We know that with counsellors like Ms. Bhatia, it’s very easy to seek counselling.

I recommend Univariety’s services to all parents. But, for this to happen parents should keep in mind that their children have the ability to decide for themselves. We cannot force them to go down the paths that we have laid out for them. All we can do is be there for them and guide them.

When we look back, we can see that all of us had other dreams but probably our circumstances were such that we couldn’t pursue them. We manage today but deep inside our hearts, we don’t love what we do. Ultimately, what matters is peace of mind and in the heart!

Nidarshana Sharma

Content Manager at Univariety

A self-proclaimed coffee addict and a fan of self-help books, Nidarshana works very closely with schools, universities, and educators at Univariety. In her decade-long career, she has dabbled in Account Management, Zumba fitness, and in several forms of writing- from features to creative blogs to social media. She is also a dancer, fitness enthusiast, and a noisy vegan