Modern-day students are in a precarious position finding it difficult to choose from plenty of course options. The advent of several web-based initiatives has made life easy for them now. These websites provide a perfect platform to explore and experience.
“Choosing the right college and course is the most difficult part of a student's life,” says Raghunath Babu T.J., an engineering graduate. “Having successfully come across that tricky phase, I did not want my fellow students to face the same. That is why we launched www.tneahelp.in with the prime objective to guide students through the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions 2011.”
Comprehensive
He and his elder brother Ramnath Babu T.J. designed the website to provide comprehensive information on the probable rank of the student, list of colleges and courses available.
Students simply key in their plus two examination register number and the category to which they belong. Then, they can choose from the list of options such as college and course for their cut-off, TNEA 2011 rank, TNEA-2011 cut-off table and details of TNEA counselling 2010.
“We have provided full details on the cut-off mark,” says Raghunath Babu. “You get to know your approximate ranking from this page, as we list the number of students equal to and above your cut-off marks. With these basic details you can check on colleges available through ‘College Finder'.”
Users can contact the designers through email (tneaforum@gmail.com), and they can share details with friends through links to social networking sites. The details in the website are based on last year's results. “It is only a rough estimate about a student's current standing,” Raghunath Babu says. “We have attempted to guide the student with the information we have collected. It will definitely help the student take right decision. With this year's counselling for engineering slated to begin, it is better to go with a plan for these sessions rather than go blank,” he suggests.
A more recreational forum for young people is A. Shreddaran's social networking website, www.frndzband.com, which helps users find their bosom friends with whom they have lost contact.
Shreddaran was inspired to create the website after overwhelming response to an earlier social group he opened on Facebook. “It all started when I was gathering details of the 1994 batch X Standard students of Mahatma School and 2001 batch Textile Technology students of R.V.S. Engineering College, Dindigul for a reunion,” he says.
As with any other social networking site, users can create their own profile, chat with friends, and find and invite friends. “When I started I never thought the member base would be more than 300 but now it has crossed 4000. Now, we have our own server to facilitate more members,” says Shreddaran.
Salient feature
A special feature of the site is an online magazine with sections for reflections, photos, book and movie reviews, cartoons, travel, letters and editorials. “Initially, this magazine will be in English,” Shreddran says. “We have plans to run it in four other languages including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi. The interesting part is that the surfer too can contribute to these columns through special links”
He also plans to introduce video chatting. “There will be no audio streaming. Instead, pop-up chat message will be used for interaction,” he says. “As we are using the hyper text scripting language mobile access is made easier.”
