What’s the right time to change the stream?

Rishabh came for counselling when he ‘forgot’ to fill out the exam form for his BCA second semester, while even his close friends had managed to hit the deadline. However, during counselling, he showed no stress, only huge relief.

This teenager was full of curiosity, impressively updated about current affairs, had varied interests and was smart. When he was suggested to change stream, after a couple of tests and plenty of probing, he was all ears. This year, he joined a BBA programme and is doing well.

Examples galore of people who studied something at their pre-university or undergraduate level and changed streams to do something totally different. Science students doing law, engineers turning into finance managers, chartered accountants turning into professors and the like. It is still alright when you change stream after completing your education but it becomes tricky when you realise mid-way through your PU or UG course that you’re stuck in the wrong stream. While some fields may seem difficult at first and many students cope with them eventually, there are still many who can not come around to it.

Realising the need for change

You realise you followed friends or trends — that decision you made was based on trends and your parents egged you to or just because all your friends went to a particular college and you simply followed them.

Lack of focus: Like the artist who tried very hard to focus on Trigonometry but never really understood the formulae. So when she changed her stream and turned to Humanities, she thrived.

Underperformance in academics: How much ever they try, students who do not like a subject from the core, never quite understand or grasp it. So it reflects in poor marks and grades.

Missing classes frequently: For someone who never missed classes earlier, bunking classes becomes a huge relief and something that she never regrets.

Bleak future: If you have chosen a stream of your liking, you will always start getting clarity about your future. You can visualise yourself doing the work you are so passionate about. When this doesn’t seem so, you know you’re stuck in the wrong stream.

The green grass on the other side: They start to look longingly at streams that others have chosen and seem to understand and enjoy those better than their own choice.

Changing streams mid-way

One needs to be very sure about being in the wrong stream before deciding to change. Just because a stream is difficult or needs hard work doesn’t merit a change, rather it needs more work from your side. Consulting a counsellor and taking aptitude tests helps to understand your strengths and weaknesses.

It also helps to arrive at a firm conclusion early because you cannot repeat the change. It is very important to have open communication with parents who also need to accept reality. Especially when a child decides to change from Science where she was expected to pursue engineering or medicine, it is quite hard for parents to now think about her becoming an artist, a lawyer or a management professional. The key is to realise that all professions have a great career when you absolutely love it. Also, when you pursue a stream passionately, you are always ahead of the curve.

It is always advisable to change streams as early as possible. In India, it is especially easier to change streams from science to commerce or arts. Commerce students can change to arts but arts students have to choose from among the plethora of choices available to them. Make the change at an intersection like Class 12 or after completing a degree to save repeating academic years.

It becomes rather difficult to change streams once you join a degree course because you face the risk of losing a year or two depending upon when you realise it. One can always change streams easily again after completing the degree. Thousands of science graduates come to law and management every year and make for great professionals. Counsellors generally suggest being sure about a stream at the Class 10 level because that way you end up gaining more exposure to a field of your liking.

Decisions in life are not easy to make, leave alone change. But when you’re sure about being stuck in the wrong stream, never hesitate to make that change. Else you would be stuck in a career that you don’t like and it would be much more difficult to change it later in life. Life does give second chances. Take them when you absolutely need them.