‘The college taught me how to stick to a strict timetable’

Meet Rajat Pal, a simple young lad and a prodigy who scored a scholarship in his school that helped him secure a seat at Apeejay Stya University (ASU) to support his education singlehandedly. Rajat dreams of being the most successful person someday so that he can share his achievements with his family with pride.

In a candid interview, this stripling shares how he juggled between offline and online classes at college and mastered a few academic tasks for his later journey.

 Tell us about yourself

I’m from Faridabad, Haryana. I did my class XII with a non-medical stream from Tagore Academy Public School and scored 93.8 per cent. Based on my Board per cent I got a scholarship admission in BPharm at ASU. The scholarship gave me a relaxation for the tuition fee and helped me reduce the financial burden on my family. While in college I prepared for the GPAT and NIPER -JEE and cracked both exams successfully. At present, I am pursuing my master’s in Pharmacology and Toxicology from NIPER RaeBareli.

What does your typical day look like?

As an MS (Pharm) student in NIPER- RaeBareli I live in a hostel and wake up by 7- 7:30 am daily. After I freshen up, I eat my breakfast and head towards my laboratory for the experiment. I try to finish everything by 5:30-6:00 pm and then I get back to my hostel and take some rest. After that, I play table tennis for 30-45 minutes, and by 8 pm I finish my dinner. I speak to my parents daily before going to bed and after finishing any pending work I go to sleep by 11- 11:30 pm.

Tell us about your life at ASU.

I would say in ASU life was good. My college life was greatly impacted by COVID-19 and because of that 50 per cent of the time I was in the online mode attending my lectures. But the first three semesters which were offline were quite good. I made lots of friends. During COVID-19 it was a very tough time because I was sceptical about my future but then I was lucky to have a friend circle that was quite competitive and that allowed me an environment where I could crack GPAT -2022 and NIPER. I want to especially thank my guide who always believed in me and motivated me when I needed that most.

What specialisation you picked and why?

As I have mentioned I am doing my masters in Pharmacology and Toxicology from NIPER- Rae Bareli. I got a 586 rank in NIPER-JEE. It was very clear in my mind that I would either take Pharmaceutics or Pharmacology as a core subject and luckily I got Pharmacology. My interest in Pharmacology started when I was in the third semester of my bachelor’s at ASU where I found the concept very interesting and since then it has become my favourite subject.

How was the faculty at the college?

The faculty in Apeejay was very qualified and were mostly NIPERs. That’s why they knew how to explain the subject matter efficiently and the perfect way of giving presentations. I would like to especially mention my guwho made the concept of Pharma so easy for me. His teaching style was about connecting all the dots and points of the concept which made the subject so interesting. All those concepts really helped me to crack the GPAT exam. All my teachers were wonderful since they would be online all the time for clearing all kinds of doubts related to the subject. Even the MCQs asked in the exams and assignments really helped me to build and understand the concepts every time.

What is your dream and goal in life?

My one and only dream is to become a successful person.

Any message for the aspiring pharma students.

I would say learn most of the skills as much as you can, especially communication skills that will definitely help you out in the future jobs and interviews.

Your comments on the brain drain trend.

Brain drain happens when the talented young minds go out in the foreign to seek education or a job. I would recommend the young talent to stay here only since there are many universities and colleges that provide good opportunities. Even when the family can afford expensive education, one can still go to any best college/university in India.

How did ASU help hone your skills?

During the online mode I learnt some presentation making skills that really help me now that I am pursuing my master’s.