Home · Post-Graduation
After graduation — your next step, mapped out
PG entrances, research paths, fellowships, careers. This page compares the paths side by side, free. Pick on YOUR priorities — opportunity cost, earning curve, risk tolerance, family situation — not on what your peer group is doing.
Five real paths
- 💼
Industry / Job
Straight to work with a UG degree. Fastest path to earnings.
Pros
- Earning starts at 22-23
- Real-world skills compound fastest
- No PG opportunity cost
Cons
- Lower starting ceiling without specialisation
- May plateau without later upskilling
- Service vs Product gap visible without strong UG college
- 📚
PG in India
MTech / MSc / MBA / MD / MA — 1-2 more years for specialisation + better placements.
Pros
- Premium-institution leap (IIM/IIT MTech) materially boosts career
- GATE/CAT scores convert to PSU + corporate roles
- Civil-services entry stays open
Cons
- 1-2 years opportunity cost
- Top PG is as competitive as UG
- Not all PG produces ROI — pick programme + institution carefully
- 🔬
Research / PhD
5-6 years for a doctorate. Stipend-funded via UGC NET-JRF, CSIR, ICMR, DST INSPIRE.
Pros
- UGC NET-JRF / CSIR JRF pays ₹37k-42k/month for 5 years
- Academic + R&D career path
- Strongest route to overseas faculty roles
Cons
- 5+ years before earning rises
- Academic job market in India is tight
- Industry PhD ROI is real but specific to fields
- 🏛️
Civil Services
UPSC / state PSC — IAS, IPS, IFS, group A/B services.
Pros
- Compensation + status durable for 30+ years
- Public-service impact at scale
- Entry once cleared is irreversible
Cons
- Multi-year prep, low success rate (~0.2% UPSC clears)
- Age limit reality (32 general, 35 OBC, 37 SC/ST)
- Opportunity cost real if you don't clear
- 🌏
PG Abroad
MS in US, MBA UK/Europe, MEng/MASc Canada. 1-2 years; significant tuition; PR pathways vary.
Pros
- Top-rank programmes outclass Indian PG in some fields (CS, ML, biomed)
- Post-study work permit + PR pathway in some countries
- Income jump on graduation in target markets
Cons
- $30k-200k tuition + living cost
- PR backlog reality (US for Indians especially)
- Cost-of-living + healthcare is on-student
PG entrance exams
Each opens its exam page on Shishya: dates, eligibility and the practice it has.
MBA
CAT
Common Admission Test
~3.5L candidates/year
MEDICAL
NEET PG
National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (PG)
~2.0L candidates/year
ENGINEERING
GATE CSE
Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering — Computer Science
~1.0L candidates/year
UNIVERSITY
CUET PG
CUET (PG) — Common University Entrance Test for Postgraduate Programmes (NTA)
UNIVERSITY
IIT JAM
IIT JAM — Joint Admission Test for Masters (JAM 2027, IIT Kharagpur)
Research + fellowships
UGC NET-JRF
₹37k/month for 2 years + ₹42k/month for next 3. Most-used PhD funding gateway.
Details →CSIR NET-JRF
Same stipend as UGC NET-JRF; for life sciences, physics, chem, math.
Details →ICMR JRF
₹37k/month for medical/biomedical research at any ICMR institute or recognised university.
Details →DST INSPIRE-SHE
₹80k/year for 5 years for top 1% Class 12 students in basic + natural sciences.
Details →Maulana Azad Fellowship
5-year MPhil/PhD fellowship for minority students. ₹31-35k/month + HRA + contingency.
Details →PMRF
Prime Minister's Research Fellowship — ₹70k-80k/month + ₹2L/year research grant for PhD at IITs/IISc.
Details →
How to actually decide
- Estimate ROI honestly. Lifetime earning curve of each path vs the next 2-year opportunity cost. PG only beats industry if the institution rank is high enough OR you're switching fields.
- Risk tolerance. Civil services + PhD are long bets with low probability of clearing/finishing. Industry + PG-tier-2 are higher-probability medium-outcome bets.
- Family situation. Single earner expected? PhD's 5-year stipend timeline may not fit. Stay realistic.
- Country preference. If you're settled on staying in India, US MS is overrated for the PR backlog Indians face. If you want to leave, prioritise countries by realistic PR pathway (Canada, Germany, Australia > US/UK for Indian-born applicants).
- Backup plan. Civil services aspirants who don't clear typically lose 3-5 years. Plan a parallel track (NET-JRF, MBA, govt-job entrance) so the time doesn't fully disappear.
Roadmap
- Cutoff trends per (PG exam × institution × category) — same approach as our UG cutoff section
- Programme-level pages for IIM PGP, IIT MTech specialisations, NEET-SS branches
- "Worked it out the hard way" alumni stories — community-sourced as the user base grows