A common inquiry that aspirants and their parents have is -
which is the best coaching institute?. Which is the best one which will get
him/her into the service?. Where to stay ?
I may not be able to
answer your question fully, but may be able to help you get a better view about
coaching institutes.
Soon after the result of the civil services, a campaign
trail is started by IAS coaching centres. The common ad style is something like
XYZ IAS Academy
(A
guy generally in suit - photo in inset near name of academy)
10 in top 20, 50 in 100
(photos of toppers)
And 300+ Selections.
The ads will be dotted with pictures of young civil servants
who just entered in last upsc exam. Sometimes highlighting 1st rank
to 500+.
The address, the details, the updated course and how
innovative we are generally is in the last line.
I understand that like in all business , marketing has to be
high pitch. But as a customer( aspirant) has to put some thought to understand
these ads. Why?
Simply because, in case you are joining the said flamboyant
institute which churns out IAS officers, then you are paying for all the
hungama created by the institute. The ad campaign by many institutes runs into
crores. The institutes sometimes charges lakhs from a student, the accumulated
lakhs go to feed these crores. That’s the way business runs and its perfectly
fine if you are ready to pay and institute delivers.
Now to the winner’s part, you would see that toppers are
claimed by all institutes. The topper who accidently left an inquiry email to
the institute at puberty stage of preparation,
one who attended their outreach programme, to the original student who
really studied at the institute – all will figure in the ad campaign. If the ads were true, check the ads of prominent
10 institutes you would figure out that toppers photos will figure in all most
all the coaching institute!!. I have met a topper whose name was falsely
claimed by a Delhi institute, while only time he visited Delhi was for an upsc
interview. He gently reminded the suit boot owner of the institute and his
reply was “ Abhi toh chalne do, aapko kya bharak padtha hai”. So in case you
are marching to an institute just because they have advertised 10 in 20 toppers
studied there, then beware.
How do the institutes make so much toppers to be part of
institute?
1.
Conduct “free” intro sessions – which entices to
be part of the historic institute. A format with details of the attendees is
signed from all participants. When the results come, the staff will dig these
data, if you attended and signed then you are their “student”.
2.
Conduct free mock interview – this s catch late
strata which many institutes use. The guy has passed mains and there is high
chance he will get through. A good quality mock interview will ensure that he
becomes the aspirant who studied here. This is reason why some institutes
conduct mock interviews with good quality faculty as they can claim you as
student without taking any pain to take you all the way through hectic mains
exams.
3.
Just steal a pic and claim he was student!
4.
A highpitched ad driven institute in prime locality of
Delhi has more probability of an aspirant joining and simply getting higher
conversion. The person may have left the institute and studied on his own as
the institute was not good. But since he spent money there, then naturally they
now have a poster boy.
Lets now move on to total claims, 300+
selections. What is ‘+’ no one has any idea. Probably the institute is waiting
to see ad of its main business rival and planning to increase. The multiple
branches, multiple type of courses (online/offlie/correspondence) make it
difficult to identify or clarify most claims. Even if the institute wrongly
claims that a person passed because of their excellence, there is little way to
verify it. An interaction with the newly cleared persons will give an idea of
the state of the coaching institute. Many young civil servants have blogs where
they clarify things.
What institutes won’t tell
1.
How many students attended and did not make it?
2.
Which good teachers the institute has?
3.
Why do they charge so high!
What matters in a coaching institute?
The Teacher
The only important factor in an institute is its teachers. Passing any
exam depends on student and teacher, the way the teacher is able to connect to
the students. Meeting the teacher, his attitude to students is key to your win.
Is the institute which you join have the teacher who is best for you or is it
just a ad based institute which don’t pay to teachers?. How many hours of class
the best teacher gives you?. It is a
strategy of certain institutes to run multiple branches where good teacher is
just an occasional visitor. This will be of limited use. Hence you should
verify these facts.
The feedback
The question papers and its review should be able to evaluate you. The
evaluator should be able to speak to you and explain the correct way. A
one-to-one interaction and correct evaluation with support system (where to
find the answer and how to present it) is needed for your continuous
improvement of writing skills.
I hope these inquiries would be put forth by aspirants. This will help you
weed out the high pitch ad based institutes and find the correct institution.
Note: There are very good coaching institutes
everywhere, you just got to ask the right questions to find the good ones.
Kindly cross check the credibility of the institute in multiple ways before you
join. This blog makes an effort to identify and post blogs of toppers.
