After completing senior secondary education, students often find themselves at the crossroads. Most of them find themselves devoid of adequate information and, more often than not, land up in a career for which they have no aptitude or liking and repent throughout their
life for having made a wrong choice. In many cases the parents or the guardians are also not fully conversant with the opportunities available after schooling.

Massive changes have taken place in the past few years in the Indian economy. After the economic reforms, the rate at which Multinational Corporations (MNCs) have been entering India with their high quality services and products has increased rapidly. This has created high competition in the marketplace and the Indian companies have also been forced to improve their services and products in order to survive.

The secret of the successful companies' growth is their manpower quality. This situation has created a very high demand for well-qualified management graduates. Since the rules of the competitive scenario have been greatly transformed by the global companies operating in India, the corporate scene has become a promising one indeed. Remuneration and prospects for growth exist today which were unthinkable a decade ago.

There are many new options available after 12th other than traditional options like Engineering, Medical, CA, CS and ICWA. The courses like BBA, BBS, BCA, BHM, BMS, MMS (5-year program), MCA (6-year program) etc. will prepare you for exciting careers in management and information technology for this millennium.

Preparing for the entrance test for Engineering and Medicine has been almost de riguer for most of the students pursuing Science in their Class XII. The same is the case with Commerce students who prepare for courses like CA/CS/ICWA etc. Then there are Humanities students of which very few prepare for entrance of undergraduate courses of various Universities like Journalism, Advertising, Public Relations etc. Apart from these, the rest go for a regular B.A/B.Com/B.Sc possibly due to lack of information on other career options available to them and because of the fear of taking the highly competitive Entrance tests. However, there are certain career options which can prove quite fruitful if one takes them seriously. Some of them are mentioned above.

A Bachelor in Business Administration, a 3 to 4 year program; is perhaps the most sought after course along with engineering and medicine at the undergraduate level. A degree from a reputed University or college would ensure a sound start to a rewarding and challenging career in management.

Qualifications in Law offer attractive career avenues today. Judiciary has a very important role to play in the rapidly globalising India, and this has further increased the importance of legal education. Traditionally, education in law has been considered a prestigious professional qualification alongwith medical sciences and engineering. Education in management science is the latest addition to this list. Legal education offers varied openings and multiple opportunities open up. Globalisation has brought to the fore several new issues like Intellectual Property Rights protection, Trademarks, Patents, Copyrights etc. all of which need a sophisticated level of understanding and handling. Gone are the days when a law graduate could only go in for legal practice or be a judge by joining judicial services.

Tourism and hotel industry also offers many opportunities to the fresh school passouts. There are a number of Hotel Management Catering and Nutrition Institutes in the country including the ones at New Delhi, Mumbai, Madras, Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Srinagar, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Bhopal and Goa. In addition, there are several private institutes of Hotel Management. Most of these institutes offer Diploma in Hotel Management, with specialisations in Front Office, Food and Beverages, House Keeping, Catering etc. Diploma course is generally of 3-year duration. The minimum educational qualification required is 10 +2 with at least 50 per cent marks in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.