By Siddharth Dey

If the title tells you that this is another piece of blatant, clickbait advertising, then have a cookie. You spotted a poorly-written title, which I’ll have to improve upon later.

Oh, you thought, the cookie was for being right? Then maybe you shouldn’t be so dismissive, because you’re absolutely wrong – and neither of us are okay with that, I am sure.

Anyway, there is a maxim – ratio decidendi – meaning ‘the reason for a decision’. A court’s judgement which lacks a sound reason is often called a ‘bad judgement’ – something you may have heard of.

Now, there’s a whole lot of reasons that my decision to tell you to choose CLATapult will be biased – but not without reasons – including the fact I have been at CLATapult since forever, both as a spellbound student first, and then as a spellbinding (I’d like to think so) mentor.

So, with possibly all the knowledge about CLATapult that I have gathered over the past 5 years or so, the best I can do is help you make a decision for yourselves; and, I hope you’ll make a good one.

1) Mind over Matter + Quality over Quantity

Most of the NLUs, in their short span of existence, have dethroned behemoths such as Calcutta University, Indian Law Society and Government Law College (These are some traditional law colleges that ruled the roost before the NLUs came into being) as the ‘place to be’. Some of these behemoths have been around for 10 times the number of years as the NLUs – so, let that sink in.

How did that happen? The oldies simply fell behind. The NLUs brought what was most needed – quality, wherever it was necessary – and in just about a decade or so, took out the ground from underneath their predecessors.

Coming to law schools, of course lot of people probably just want the lucrative law firm jobs than just being in a big law school for nothing. Similarly, all of you want to go to the institute which gives you the best chance of getting into a law school in the first place, don’t you?

Or do you want to go there simply because of the institute? Or because others do too?

“Fortune favours the brave”, and certain institutions decided to be ‘brave’ well before CLATapult came to being. The free market does not allow us to have 100 centers across the country, at the moment, so we just have to settle with 3 for now.

That said, CLAT doesn’t have a lot to do with fortune. Nor does it have to do anything with quantity. 200 wrong answers gets you zilch… Actually, you’ll get -50.

Quality, as you see, is what matters. More on that below.

2) Don’t be sheeple

I’ll go ahead and state the obvious here – the difference between CLATapult and 99% CLAT coaching institutions is similar to that between the Barcelona team and a spectator at Camp Nou is.

Those 11 players on the field have played the game at the highest level. The spectator has only seen it.

Of course, the spectator can tell you all the statistics and all the records and the trivia; he can also show you several tutorial videos on how to hit the best free kicks. Can he however, do the most important thing?

Can he play the game as brilliantly as those 11 people?

Most have seen other people appear for CLAT, and over decades of seeing and enquiry, have formed something of an idea.

What they lack is the most important thing – first-hand knowledge. You can watch a 100 “how to dribble” YouTube videos, but the only person who can execute that dribble to perfection in the toughest situation are very few – only the people who have actually done it.

I found it utterly funny that MBA grads and other god-knows-who end up teaching you in some of the other places. Then I realized the other person was quite serious about it, so I stopped chuckling.

Jokes aside, I have never had to face that predicament, fortunately.

As for coaches, the most successful coaches across the globe happened to be top level players in their time.

So, who do you think best fits the bill – the novice or the expert?

Read the article HERE where Aditya concedes that he had TWO back-to-back distasteful coaching experiences.

Exercise your own judgement. Don’t blindly repeat what the other 99% does, because it may not work for you as for them.

Don’t be sheeple.

3) Passion & Pride

Now addressing something which is solely about CLATapult.

We have a passion for teaching, and to impart all that we have gained not only from writing and acing CLAT and several other law entrance tests in one clean sweep, but also while mentoring others after ourselves, over the last few years. The experience has made us more aware of the needs of an aspirant, which has also allowed us to perfect our methods.

We take pride in the fact that our methods and successes alike are attracting people, which further allows us to expand and reach out to even more people like you.

The persons who you’ll come across in Bhubaneshwar will be a reflection of all the passion and the pride which I have just spoken about. They are a testament to what brought you to read this post, and what we have created over the last half a decade. If CLATapult has managed to reach out to you from Kolkata to Bhubaneshwar, I don’t think it’s too difficult for you to make the trip, and attend one class to see for yourself.

Do yourself that favour. It should be worth the time.

4) New dawn, new day, new life

Science and history will tell you that one of the reasons for extinction is the lack of evolution. In other words – stagnation. Some apes remained apes (primitive), some turned into humans (advanced), and one even became the 45^th US President (questionable).

Some grandiose law colleges have now been relegated from their hallowed status.

My dad tells me that in his college years, the people who couldn’t do much in life would study law. Come to think of it – if you, the reader, were born 10 years before your actual birthdate, there’s a high chance you would have been fighting to get into an engineering or a medical college, and this article would have been of least relevance.

10 years later, however, you are amongst some 50,000 or more people, fighting to grab a seat out of the 2000 on offer. Some say the battle’s only for 200. The point is – things have changed, and you are being a willing participant.

You have chosen to open your window, look out, shift gears, and decided to spend 5 years of your life around a large number of books, and then cloaked in a robe, and perhaps (perhaps!) to change lives, one lawsuit/petition at a time. Irrespective of how you want to use the law degree, you have chosen to take it up –which is evidence that the times they are a changin’.

Now, it doesn’t make sense to drive a new car with a rusty engine, right?

So, irrespective of when the dinosaurs finally meet their fate, we at CLATapult are striving even harder every day to keep our methods watertight and in line with the demands of the Test, and at the same time ensure enough flexiblity to the varying needs of every single aspirant who steps in through our doors.

That way you’ll know how good the engine is, the moment you turn the ignition and hear its roaring sound!

Thus, I conclude, and just like Nina Simone said, I hope your experience here leaves you “feeling good” too.

Follow Siddharth on Quora.