To be or not to be....

With my prefinal year in college drawing to a close,I've started feeling a pressure from all around me.Hey am not alone here!(Guess all the pre finalites agree..)Well the question is obvious and one cannot afford to avoid it-'What next?'
Work?Higher education?(and probably marriage for some of my peers-sadly,thats not one of the options for me.)There is no dearth of expert advice.Only,there is too much of it.With all the elder brothers,friends and teachers pushing for higher studies,one is confronted with a range of options-GRE,GATE,CAT,MAT..................Again,if one chooses to write GRE aiming for higher education abroad,you run the risk of exploiting your parents(atleast you get to be blamed that way)Afterall,you have depended enough on them.Its time to be independent!GATE,unfortunately is not my cup o' tea.I hate to pursue higher education in science in one of the doomed laboratories out here.CAT might be good option-but for time being,it gets you scared enough..
And hey did you forget to listen to your parents?-According to them,its best to get placed in one of the companies that come for Campus interviews.For them,its a prestige issue.With all their colleagues' offsprings adorning good positions in good companies,it would just be humiliating if they cant proclaim where you got placed.So join the party!!!!!!
So every cursed pre-final year student slogs round the clock in an attempt to prepare for all the above mentioned exams+campus interviews+routine acad.Man..talk about the cool college life and fun!
Ultimately,what I want doesnt matter to anybody-even to myself at times.Do I want to be just yet another 'engineer' getting placed in a company that goes on a mass recruitment spree once a year?Or do I want to do something that I enjoy and be recognized for what Iam?Does individuality count.........Should I even dare to dream of being unique...Or should I end up fulfilling everybody else's dream at the cost of mine?The answer seems elusive.For ,if I chase a dream that is my own,I would be branded a loser and a traitor by the family and society....and if I join the race,I would lose myself...