One student who has never even seen the 2
nd rank saw a precipitous fall in one of the most important times of academic life. Being a topper till 10
th grade, I was a confident all-rounder who is acknowledged for his balance between academics and extracurriculars. Be it talent search examinations, scholarship tests or extempore competitions, I performed remarkably in varied areas in school life.
Things took a dramatic turn after 10 std when I got to taste freedom for the first time. Exploiting the freedom to the fullest I made some horrendous choices which made me fall on my face. I made friends with people who didn’t have studies on their preferences. I indulged in many things which were not appropriate for my age. As a result, I ended my messing up my priorities. Studies piled up to a level which couldn’t be caught up with. Very soon it reflected on my 12th-grade results and performance on engineering entrance examinations. It was too late when I realized the ball is no longer in my court.
With the start of college, I got the much-needed break for myself. I started building upon myself from scratch and put myself in restrictions when everybody out there was enjoying the new life. It was one of the hardest things to fight with your wants and desires to focus on getting back on track. I found the right company whose goals were aligned with mine. With persistent efforts, I slowly recovered myself and ended up being in the top two students for overall excellence in the batch of 280 students.
I also managed to strike back the balance between academics, co-curricular and extracurriculars by participating in SAE BAJA 2016, winning national level competitions, publishing a research paper in a journal of international repute, begging one of the dream jobs on campus to finally landing up in one of the Top B schools of the country, SPJIMR. One thing which I have never given up through this journey of peaks and valleys is resilience to fight back and achieve what you aimed for.