When I joined GIK Institute back in 2016, I enrolled myself in the Mechanical Engineering program. A couple of years later, I had come to a dead-end in my quest of somehow crafting a minor within GIK Institute by enrolling in courses from the management sciences department. GIK Institute does allow you to opt for extra credit hours if you meet the requirements. However, since the timetable is created according to the original degree plans, opting for courses that aren’t originally in your degree plan lead to clashes, incredibly hectic schedules and other issues that you are expected to deal with, at times with little help from the course instructors and the administration. To me, it was a crying shame that despite being enrolled in a university which offered a bachelors program in both management sciences and computer science, I could not pursue a minor in either. Surely, there had to be another way!

After having wasted a lot of time, I started looking towards online MOOC platforms and started wondering if I could craft a minor using these online resources only. After conducting a bit of research, I decided to pursue courses on Coursera as it is fairly generous with its financial aid program and has courses crafted by some of the best professors in the academic world. I finally took the plunge by enrolling in a specialization offered by Wharton (The University of Pennsylvania’s Business School). The specialization was called “Business Fundamentals” and contained courses on Marketing, Operations, Finance, Accounting and Social and Human Capital Management. Furthermore, the specialization included a Capstone Project in collaboration with Shazam and Snapdeal that would require the learners to apply the knowledge gained to real-world scenario’s. I completed the specialization by opting to create a business plan for my original business concept and scoring over 80% across the specialization.

My certificate upon completion!

If you loved reading this, keep an eye out for future parts of this series, in which I will share more about other specializations I have completed, how to choose specializations, the financial aid process and my thoughts in general on the online learning experience. Also, if anyone has any specific questions, feel free to leave them down in the comments or via my inbox. Till then, stay safe everyone!

P.S. In these times as more and more individuals turn to MOOC platforms, I would request everyone to make learning their priority. Stacking certificates is meaningless if you fail to apply your knowledge in the real-world. Stay safe everyone and keep on learning!