What Next After Graduation
Postgraduate study, management and law, government and private jobs, teaching and research, and study abroad: the paths after a degree.
A degree opens several roads. Most of them run through an entrance exam, so plan a year ahead. For the paths after Class 12, see What Next After 12th.
Study further
- Master's degrees (MA, M.Sc, M.Com): central and many state universities admit through CUET (PG). The IITs and IISc admit to M.Sc through IIT JAM.
- Engineering postgraduates: M.Tech through GATE, which public-sector companies also use to recruit.
- Management: MBA and PGDM through CAT (the IIMs), XAT, CMAT, MAT, SNAP or NMAT; GMAT for business schools abroad.
- Law: a three-year LLB after any degree; LLM through CLAT PG.
- Teaching: B.Ed (two years), then CTET or the state TET to teach in schools. UGC NET qualifies you to teach in colleges.
- Research: a PhD with a fellowship through UGC NET, CSIR NET or GATE.
Government jobs
- Civil services: UPSC's Civil Services Examination (IAS, IPS, IFS) and the state public service commissions.
- Central government posts through the SSC's Combined Graduate Level exam.
- Banks: IBPS PO and Clerk, SBI PO, and RBI Grade B.
- Railways: RRB's graduate-level exams.
- Defence officers: CDS (UPSC) and AFCAT (Air Force).
Private jobs and internships
The National Career Service lists jobs and runs free job fairs. The PM Internship Scheme offers year-long paid internships at large companies; NATS places graduates and diploma holders as paid apprentices.
Study abroad
GRE for most master's courses and GMAT for business schools; IELTS or TOEFL for English. See Study Overseas.
Key exams after graduation
| Exam | Leads to | Conducted by | Website |
|---|---|---|---|
| CUET (PG) | Master's at central universities | NTA | exams.nta.nic.in/cuet-pg |
| CAT | MBA at the IIMs | The IIMs | iimcat.ac.in |
| XAT | XLRI and other business schools | XLRI | xatonline.in |
| CLAT PG | LLM at the National Law Universities | Consortium of NLUs | consortiumofnlus.ac.in |
| UGC NET | College teaching, research fellowship | NTA | ugcnet.nta.ac.in |
| CSIR NET | Science research fellowship, lecturership | NTA | csirnet.nta.ac.in |
| CTET | School teaching | CBSE | ctet.nic.in |
| Civil Services, CDS | IAS, IPS, IFS; defence officers | UPSC | upsc.gov.in |
| SSC CGL | Central government posts | SSC | ssc.gov.in |
| IBPS PO | Officers in public-sector banks | IBPS | ibps.in |
| RBI Grade B | Officers at the Reserve Bank | RBI | opportunities.rbi.org.in |
| AFCAT | Air Force officers | Indian Air Force | afcat.cdac.in |
| GRE, TOEFL | Study abroad | ETS | ets.org |
| GMAT | Business school abroad | GMAC | mba.com |