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Namaste and welcome back to the Kapel Gupta Career Pod Show, the space where we decode careers, break myths, and help you create a life of clarity, confidence, and purpose. And I'm your host, Kapel Gupta, and today's episode is going to be raw, emotional, and brutally honest. And we are talking about two words that every Indian student and every Indian parent knows too well. J and Neat. Am I right? So for millions of families across India, these aren't just exams. They've become a lifestyle, a religion, a yardstick for intelligence, respect, and even self-worth. But here's the uncomfortable truth. This obsession, this national fixation is silently killing dreams, confidence, and creativity. It's shaping young lives not by choice, but by pressure. And in that process, it's creating a generation that's scared to fail, scared to explore, and scared to dream differently. So if you're a student buried under piles of coaching notes, running from one mock test to another, measuring your worth by a rank or percentile, this episode is for you. If you're a parent watching your child burn the midnight oil in Kota, Hyderabad or Pune, praying that one exam decides their destiny, this conversation might just change how you see education, success, and happiness. Because let's be real. We have built a system where lakhs of students prepare for just a few thousand seats. Every year, nearly 25 lakh students take NEET and 12 lakh attempt J, but only a tiny fraction make it to the IITs or government medical colleges. Does that mean the rest are failures? Absolutely not. But that's what the system makes them feel. Somewhere along the way, we have started confusing a good college with a good life. We've started believing that if you don't make it to IIT or AIMS, your future is over. And that mindset, that narrow definition of success is the real problem. In today's episode, we are going to strip away the myth, talk about what's really going wrong, and most importantly, discuss what you can do about. How can students take their future back from the toxic race? How can parents support without suffocating? And how can we redefine success? Not by a rank, not by a college, but by purpose and passion. So sit back, take a deep breath, and tune in with an open mind. Because by the end of this conversation, I promise you'll never look at Jay Neat or success the same way again. So let's begin. Hello all. Now, this isn't just about studying abroad, it's about building clarity, confidence, and character. And I do it with coaching, mindset work, and the game-changing power of grapotherapy because students deserve more than just guidance, they deserve transformation. So let's start with the biggest lie we have all been told. Your entire future depends on one exam. In India, this isn't just a saying, it's a mindset. Every year, around 25 lakh students appear for Neat and over 12 to 14 lakhs sit for J. Now that's nearly 40 lakh young minds all chasing one dream, one rank, one result. And here's the harsh reality: less than 2% make it to the top institutes like Ames or IITs. And now, pause for a moment. That means 98% of students, almost an entire generation, are being told directly or indirectly that they have failed. Failed because they didn't make it to one college? Failed because they couldn't climb the same ladder everyone else was told to climb. But here's the truth one exam can never define your intelligence, your worth, or your destiny. Think about it. Can a three-year paper measure your creativity, your empathy, your leadership skills, your ability to solve real world problems or build something meaningful from scratch? Absolutely not. And yet we have built a culture that worships a rank list. A system that tells you if you don't crack it, you don't matter. The moment a child enters class nine, the pressure begins. Coaching centers swoop in, promising IT or aims like it's a guaranteed ticket to heaven. Students stop playing, stop painting, stop exploring. Parents cancel vacations, social life disappears, and every conversation at home somehow circles back to mock tests, cutoffs and performances. We have turned education into a pressure cooker. And Kota, Hyderabad, then Delhi are now the factories where dreams are packaged, processed, and often crushed. Students wake up at 5 a.m., study till midnight, sleep with guilt and wake up with fear. It's not learning anymore. It's survival. And the saddest part? Over time the love for learning dies. What used to be curiosity becomes competition. And what used to be joy becomes anxiety. And we have told kids that getting an IIT or aim seat is not just a goal, it's their identity. But here's a question we need to start asking loudly and unapologetically. What does this child truly want to become? Because not every bright student wants to be an engineer or a doctor. Someone to design, build, teach, write, research, or create. The system rarely allows that conversation to even happen. And it's not just the students who suffer, parents do too, trapped between societal pressure and their child's mental health. They fear judgment, comparison, and low kyakahing. It's not their fault, it's their mindset we have all inherited. We have all made a dangerous mistake. We have started equating Marx with intelligence. But intelligence is so much more. It's curiosity, emotional awareness, resilience, and adaptability. Things no exam can measure. Albert Einstein once said, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid. And that's exactly what's happening in millions of Indian homes today. Brilliant creative students are being told they're average because they didn't clear a test designed for a completely different kind of mind. So let's stop judging fish for not climbing trees. Let's stop telling every child that there's only one right future and it's spelled I I T or A I I M S. Because the truth is there are thousand ways to build a meaningful, successful life. You just need the courage to find yours. And now let's talk about what this race is really costing us, not just in money or time, but in mental health, identity, and joy. Every year, over two lakh students move to Kota, the so-called coaching capital of India. It's a city where dreams are made and broken every single day. The streets are filled with billboards of toppers smiling with medals around their necks. But behind those smiles, there's a silence no one wants to talk about. The silence of exhaustion, anxiety, and despair. According to the Rajasthan government, nearly 30 students died by suicide in Quota in 2023 alone, the highest in India's history. And across the country, the National Crime Records Bureau reports that over 1,000 students die by suicide each year due to exam-related stress.

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Let that sink in. These aren't numbers, these are young lives, lives

(Cont.) How JEE and NEET Are Killing Your Dream Career — What You Can Do About It!

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full of potential, curiosity, and light. Gone because the system told them they weren't enough. That's not a failure of intelligence, that's a failure of empathy. In cities like Kota, Hyderabad, Delhi and Pune, the schedule looks almost identical. Wake up at 5 a.m., attend back-to-back coaching sessions for 10 to 12 hours, go through mock tests, then decide your worth for the week, sleep barely five hours, repeat. And if you fall behind, there's no space for you to breathe. The constant comparisons, the fear of disappointing parents, the shame of not keeping up, it eats you alive from the inside. Many of these students are just 15 or 16 years old, still figuring out who they are, what they love, what excites them. But before they can even dream, we hand them a syllabus and a stopwatch. Somewhere between the coaching assignments and the test series, they lose their laughter, their curiosity, their spark. Their entire self-worth becomes tied to a rank on a noticeboard. And here's the part no one wants to admit. Even the ones who make it, the ones who crack IIT or aims often reach their completely burnout. They've spent years learning how to crack exams, not how to live life. They know integration formulas, not how to manage failure. They can write code, but not express emotions. They've mastered problem solving but forgotten how to dream. Inside these prestigious campuses, a new kind of pressure begins. To stay on top, to prove you deserve the seat. The burnout continues. The anxiety follows. The depression deepens because success built on fear doesn't feel like success. It feels like survival. And what about the rest? The 98% who didn't make it? Many feel lost, not because they lack potential, but because nobody ever told them it was okay to take another path. They were never told that the world is big enough for all kinds of brilliance. The artist, the coder, the designer, the teacher, the filmmaker, the entrepreneur. The irony is painful. In chasing one secure career, we have destroyed every other possibility. The years between 16 and 21, which should be about self-discovery, creativity, and growth, have turned into a battlefield of mock tests and cutoffs. And when the race finally ends, most students don't even know what they truly want anymore. They only know how to prepare, not how to live. So we have to ask: is this what education was meant to be? A system that produces stoppers but not thinkers? Doctors and engineers who can't handle emotional burnout? Students who know how to chase marks but not how to chase meaning? Because if that's the case, then maybe, just maybe, it's time we stop calling this a race and start calling what it really is, a crisis. And after everything we have talked about, the pressure, the burnout, the lost dreams, has the path that gives me hope. There's a whole world outside the JE and need bubble, a world full of opportunities, creativity, and careers that didn't even exist 10 years ago. The truth is the world is changing faster than our coaching books can keep up. In 2024, India produced over 13 million engineering graduates, but only 45% were employable. Why? Because industries today don't want degree holders, they want problem solvers, they want people who can think, adapt, and create. Gone are the days when success meant a single path IIT, AIMS or bust. Today, new fields are exploding with potential. Artificial intelligence, robotics, design, digital marketing, psychology, data analytics, cybersecurity, renewable energy, finance, and entrepreneurship. And these are the new frontiers where curiosity beats credentials and creativity outruns competition. And here's the reality check. You don't need an IT degree to innovate. You don't need an aims badge to impact lives. What you need is curiosity, courage, and consistency. Let me tell you a story. He didn't clear Jay, not even close. His relative said he'd wasted his life. But Arav had one passion: 3D printing. He started small, taking freelance orders, learning coding from YouTube, designing prototypes for local shops, no coaching, no IIT. Fast forward a few years. Arav runs his own design startup, serving clients in 12 countries, employing 15 people in teaching workshops to school kids about innovation. And now that's not failure, that's freedom. And Arav isn't an exception. He's part of a new wave of Indians who have chosen to build their careers around their passion, not pressure. Look around. Bhaiju Ravindran, a teacher who built one of India's largest ed tech empires, Riteshagraval, who turned an idea and a laptop into Oyo rooms, Virat Kholi, P. V. Sandhu, Ayushman Kurana, all proof that success doesn't need a rank. It needs relentless drive. Even the biggest global companies, Google, Apple, Tesla, have declared that a college degree is no longer a must-have for hiring. They don't ask where did you study? They ask, what can you do? The same world that once rewarded road learning is now rewarding self-learning. And the beauty of this era is learning has never been more accessible. With platforms like YouTube, Coursera, and Skillshare, you can learn anything. Coding, design, psychology, filmmaking, finance from anywhere for free or next to nothing. So if you didn't crack Jay your need, let me tell you something you might not have heard enough. Your life is not over. It might just be beginning. Because failure in one system doesn't mean failure in life. In fact, it might be the best thing that have ever happened to you. It might be the moment you stop chasing someone else's dream and start building your own. The world no longer belongs to those who memorize. It belongs to those who create, question, and keep learning. So take a step back, ask yourself what excites me enough to lose track of time. Because that not a test score is where your future truly begins. By now you might be thinking, all right, Kapel, I get it. The system is broken, the pressure is real, but what do I actually do instead? So let's talk about that. The answer starts with one powerful step: self-discovery. So before you pick a college, a course, or even a career path, take a moment to understand yourself and ask, what kind of work makes me lose track of time? What problems excite me? What would I do if no one paid me for it? Because those aren't random questions. They are clues. They lead you to purpose, not pressure. Your real dream career begins not with a rank, but with clarity. Start small. You don't need to figure everything out overnight. Take a few personality or career assessment tests. Observe what kind of challenges make you feel alive. Are you good with words, numbers, people or ideas? Do you love solving technical problems, creating visuals, organizing chaos, or helping others? Now that's your compass. So once you have a direction, the next step is to build employable skills, the kind the real world actually rewards. Skills like communication, because no matter what you do, you'll need to express ideas clearly. Critical thinking to solve problems when there's no formulae. Collaborational leadership to work and grow with others, and digital literacy because today everything runs on tech. And the good news, you don't have to wait for college or coaching to learn them. The internet has made every classroom global and free. Platforms like Coursera, Udemy, Skillshare, Khan Academy, and YouTube offer world-class learning for almost nothing. You can learn AI tools, digital marketing, data visualization, graphic design, video editing or public speaking. All from your phone. And in this era, skills are the new degrees. Employers, startups, and even global giants care less about what's printed on your certificate and more about what you can actually do. So don't wait for permission to learn. Start experimenting. Take up internships, even unpaid ones. Shadow a professional for a week. Volunteer for projects. Start a blog, a YouTube channel, or even a LinkedIn page where you share your learning journey. Each experience, even if small, teaches you something no textbook ever will. And remember, it's okay to try, fail, and try again. That's not wasted time, that's growth. So the best coders, designers, filmmakers, and entrepreneurs in India never went through traditional degrees. They learned by doing, by building, by failing forward. And also explore alternative education paths. India now has incredible skill universities and vocational institutes in fields like logistics, healthcare management, animation, and design. And these institutions are quietly producing professionals who are highly employable, not because they studied harder, but because they studied smarter. And perhaps most importantly, have honest conversations with your parents. Tell them what to love, what scares you, and what excites you. Not with anger, not with rebellion, but with responsibility. Because your dreams deserve your voice. Your life deserves your choice. At the end of the day, no one else can walk this path for you. You get to decide what success looks like for you. So stop waiting for the system to change. Start changing the way you respond to it. Build yourself one skill, one project, one brave choice at a time. Because the truth is you don't have to escape the system. You just have to rise above it. So let's end this episode with the most powerful truth of all. Success is not a rank, it's a realization. For decades, we have been told this success means a high score, a government job, six-figure salary, or an IIT tag. But the real world, the one outside coaching classes and report cards, doesn't care about any of that. Because true success isn't about what you achieve in other people's eyes. It's about how you feel when you wake up every morning. Success is waking up excited, not exhausted. It's doing something that adds meaning to your day, not just a line to your resume. It's creating, solving, contributing, and growing a little bit every single day. Maybe your journey won't be the traditional one. Maybe you'll take detours, switch careers, face failures, or even disappoint people for a while. But if you stay true to yourself, to what actually lights you up, you'll build not just a career, but a life that belongs to you. Because let's be honest, the biggest problem isn't J your need, it's our definition of success. We've been conditioned to chase borrowed dreams, goals handed down by society, relatives, or WhatsApp groups. But here's the truth: you can't live a meaningful life following someone else's script. Your dreams are not multiple choice questions, they're a story, and you are the author. So, how do you redefine success for yourself? So start by setting personal goals instead of social expectations. Ask yourself what feels right in my heart, not what looks right to others. Find mentors who guide you beyond marks. Build your own network, reach out to people on LinkedIn, attend seminars, collaborate on projects. You'll be surprised how many doors open once you stop waiting for permission to knock. And most importantly, never stop learning. The world is evolving faster than ever. Continuous learning is no longer a luxury. It's survival. Experiment, fail, reflect, try again. That's how real success stories are built. One imperfect attempt at a time. A little failure will keep you humble. But a borrowed dream that can quietly destroy your peace. So the next time someone asks you, Beta, Jakya, smile and say, I'm giving life, uncle. It's the bigger dream. Because the truth is the world doesn't need another topper. It needs more thinkers, creators, problem solvers, and dreamers. People brave enough to define success on their own terms. And if you're one of them, remember this: you don't need anyone's approval to start living your story. Just the courage to begin. So this is Kapel Gupta, and you're listening to the Kapal Gupta Career Pod Show, where we decode careers, break myths, and help you create a life of clarity and purpose. So if this episode resonated with you, share it with a friend who needs to hear the success more than a score. And remember, your dreams are valid, your path is yours, and your life is much bigger than any exam. So until next time, keep learning, keep growing, and keep becoming the best version of yourself.