Are you one of the many students who had taken BiPC hoping to become a doctor? And did you fail to get a seat in medicine? Do not despair! There are many career options for students who have failed to get admitted into a medical college.

A very good course is BDS. A dentist is in very high demand nowadays. It is true that Indians do not pay regular visits to their dentist unlike the Westerners. But with globalization and a more westernized lifestyle, the situation is slowly changing. Dentists are becoming very successful in India, and make a lot of money too especially if you are looking at the money angle. In the past, dentists also showed liking to study and train in the UK for their postgraduate degree. It is now more difficult for the Indian doctors and dentists to train in the UK as preference is given only for professionals from EU.

Another good course is Physiotherapy. Physiotherapists are in great demand all over the world, including India. It is a four-year course and offered by almost all the medical colleges in India. Nursing is again an attractive course for science students who have failed to get a medical seat. People might think that these two courses are a big come down from a MBBS course. But at the end of the day, what matters is that you get a good paying job after finishing the course! Doing these paramedical courses means that you get to continue in the medical environment, and also get to do great service and help people in pain. There is a great shortage of nurses in the US, and Indian nurses are in great demand there. The pay is great too!

Abdul Kalam, the former President of India always used to lament over the fact that students nowadays are not turning to a career in pure science. India is an emerging economy, and in order to grow further in other spheres other than IT, we badly need scientists. He urged students to take up a career in pure science.

For all BiPC students who have failed to get a medical seat, here are the other alternate courses available.

The first which come to anybody’s mind is of course a Bachelor degree in any one of the following subjects which have been around for quite some time. No science college exists without offering these courses.
• Physics               •            Chemistry
• Zoology              •   Botany

Physics is one of the fundamental sciences, and a nation is measured by the quality of its Physicists. You can go in for a masters degree and research after finishing the Bachelors. You can become an expert in fields like medical physics, geophysics, nuclear physics, astrophysics, astronomy, meteorology, and biophysics and get a job in any of these interesting fields.

Chemistry can lead you further into the field of biochemistry. Work opportunities exist in the textile industry, petroleum, cosmetics, paints, food, rubber, plastics, and many more fields. You should have done mathematics in your Boards, as both Physics and Chemistry require a fair amount of Mathematics knowledge. Mathematics is generally included with Biology, Physics, and Chemistry in most of the combinations of subjects in almost all the boards. A BSc in Applied Physics and Applied Chemistry is offered by many colleges.
After doing Zoology or Botany, one can do Microbiology or Pharmacology. There are some colleges offering Plant Biology and Plant Biotechnology which has got tremendous scope and job opportunities especially if you do a PG after it. Biotechnology is another exciting field just like the IT Industry. In the undergraduate course of Biotechnology, the student learns microbiology, biochemistry, and cell biology. Genetic Engineering comes under the field of Biotechnology. A bachelor’s degree in Genetics is also increasingly offered by many colleges today. It is more value if you do a post graduation course after it.

Another course which has been around for many decades is Nutrition and Dietics. You can easily get a job as nutritionist or a dietician in hospitals, health resorts, spas, or gyms after the course. With ever increasing health and beauty awareness in the country, nutritionists are in great demand.

Colleges nowadays offer undergraduate courses in subjects like Biochemistry, Microbiology, Applied Chemistry, Pharmacy, Industrial Chemistry, Biotechnology, Bioinformatics, Environmental Science, Agro-Chemical and Pest Control, Geology and Anthropology. You can do further specialization in the area of your interest.

Many science students, who have failed to get into Medicine, also turn to Computer Science. A BSc in Computer Science is offered by many colleges. Many IT companies conduct campus interviews and offer on the spot jobs to these students. Some colleges offer a similar course, BA in Computer Applications.

Psychology is another subject which has great scope in India and abroad. Further specialization can be done in any of the related fields.

Many students nowadays go to the UK for further studies in science after under graduation in India. Scholarships are generally not offered, but with a study loan of about Rs 10 lakhs, it is quite easy to pay the tuition fees, and work part time for your living expenses. The UK does accept students with a three-year under graduate degree in their postgraduate programs, unlike the US and Canada. The UK also has special student visas for students pursuing stipulated science programs in the UK. Such students are permitted to remain in the UK for a year and work without obtaining a work permit. Such visas are available for students pursuing programs in Scotland and Ireland also. A word of caution here! Before joining any course in the UK, please check up the latest student visa rules as the country is in the habit of frequently changing its immigration rules.

For those students who do not want to do the above mentioned courses, there are many more job oriented courses available. Students can take Fashion Designing in the National Institute of Design, or any of the NIFTs. For the more adventurous, a career in the merchant navy is a hot option. A three-year B Sc in nautical science is offered by the Mumbai University, and Chennai’s Academy of Maritime Education. Girl students are not admitted in the merchant navy. Another attractive option is the aviation sector. One can train to be a pilot, and there are plenty of institutes offering pilot training both in India and abroad. Pilots are much in demand in India with the rapid mushrooming of new airlines.  One understands that with the fall in the dollar value, US pilot training courses are cheaper than those available in India. If you are good in writing, a degree in journalism makes sense, as one can even go and work for scientific journals.