Engineering and medical are the preferred career paths for most students but what many aspirants fail to realise is that they have many more options at hand.

Members of non-government organisation (NGO) Oxygen, a movement, were of the view on Friday that students should explore options like law, micro finance, film and television industry among others for a bright future. Around 150 members of the organisation — all school and college students — were celebrating the ninth anniversary of Oxygen, a movement, with a discussion on current pertinent issues at a city hotel.

Binod Singh, the convener of the NGO, said: “Why cannot students think beyond medical and engineering courses? Why don’t they want to enter politics and try make a difference in society?”

Students who have cracked the gruelling engineering entrance examination also encouraged their peers to think beyond IIT and medical.

One of the NGO’s members, Kumar Abhishek, has cracked the IIT-JEE 2012. Sharing his preparation routine, he said: “I did not study for 24 hours, rather I studied sincerely for three to four hours daily.”

He also said attending coaching classes is not too important, rather what matters is the hard work put in by candidates. “Hard work is the only mantra for success,” he added.

Harsh Beria, an IIT-Kharagpur student, said: “Not every student who passout from IIT gets a good job. A student has many career options before him/her. Why can’t we (students) think of other career options like law, MBA or polytechnic? They are equally good courses.”