How I Made It To IIM Kozhikode As An NRI Candidate - Nihar Desai

Coming from a middle class family and having to choose between sports and education, I put my chances on education. Getting into a high quality university in India is tough, but going abroad and competing with my overachieving compatriots for a place at a European university is a whole different game. I didn't even comprehend the challenge when I headed to the University of Twente in the Netherlands. Getting a European degree became even more difficult with the start of the pandemic. Exams were declared online so I decided to move back in with my parents to save costs. However, the university suddenly changed their exam policies due to a regulatory loophole and I was summoned back at short notice. Unfortunately, I had already lost my accommodation and I couldn't find anything within my family's budget. That meant I had to either find a workable solution quickly, or discontinue my studies. Overcoming my shame, I asked a friend if I could stay with him for a while. A student dorm room is small so my private space was restricted to a small section of the floor. However, that solution allowed me to complete two modules of my studies successfully.

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The choice to "fight" for my international degree was probably the first decision I made as an adult. Yet, thinking there had to be another way to do this with my dignity intact, I am even more proud of my "flight" decision. Maturity is to a large extent mastering the "fight-or-flight" situations. Going through a few of those at 18 while a continent away from my family, changed me and gave me a glimpse of the adult life. The experience humbled me and got me out of the instagram life that the vast majority of 18 year olds are accustomed to. It also instilled a strong belief that I wanted to come back to India; Spending a high monetary price for my bachelor's and living below the means of most of the population of the country made me realise that I am contributing to a foreign economy and paying the price for it by sacrificing my standard of living.

After dropping out from UTwente, I was in a state of dilemma to choose where to complete my bachelor's, and I frankly was not sure if I would even study anymore; I had the mentality of a victim and thought the world treated me unfairly and harshly. However, thanks to my parents' tremendous help, I transferred my credits to Manipal Dubai, and my parents gave me the support needed to continue having faith in life and trusting the process. Although Manipal is a renowned university, I saw that the calibre of students needed to be better, and there needed to be more diversity amongst the students in my class. I realised that I had few prospects of getting a promising career in the UAE and knew I would have to toil my way to go far. I also had the overpowering urge to return to India to support the environment there.

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It was around this time that I started looking for business schools. I have always had an inclination towards a management degree, and I wanted to do an MBA. Wanting to come back to India, I looked for B-Schools in India. I saw that IIM's in India accepted a GMAT score for international students and immediately began my preparations for it. I started preparing for the GMAT around November of 2021. I studied very hard, practiced in a diligent manner, and saw to it that I made very few excuses during this preparation stage. I followed the GMAT Official Guide, solved around half of the questions, and gave my first mock test. I targeted a 700+ in my mocks and was shocked that I only got a 550. I realised that many GMAT aspirants face this issue, and I kept my focus. I continued to study for a few more months and got my score up to 680 on the official mocks, which I was quite proud of. I booked my GMAT exam on the 15th of July 2022, and I gave another mock test on the 13th of July, which was, looking back, a mistake as I scored a 550 on the mock and was in a state of panic. To stop me from panicking, I gave another test on the same day and scored a 650. So I burned all my mental capacity in one day and needed to rest before I attempted the official GMAT exam; However, the exam was scheduled two days after this stunt. I scored 550 a couple of days later on the official GMAT exam.

I was crushed; I could not believe it. I felt worthless. However, knowing that this is not representative of my skills, I booked another slot for the official GMAT exam a month later, on the 10th of August, and this time around, I completed almost all of the questions on the GMAT Official guide for all sections, and left a handful of questions in the quant section. Feeling confident and scoring 710 in mock tests, I went to give the exam and was surprised that I could only secure a 630.

In retrospect, the low score was probably because I had not visited my home (Bangalore) in over three years. I have gone through so much; I have been through homelessness in a country where I do not speak the local language, without support, without anyone to hear my cries, and deep down, I wanted to visit home and be back in a familiar environment to rejuvenate myself and keep myself going. During the summer vacation, I finally got the chance to visit home. Meeting my friends and family in my country was vital to my journey, as it gave me the strength and courage to keep going. I was not going to let anything defeat me anymore.

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After spending over a month in Bangalore, I booked another appointment for my official GMAT exam on the 20th of November 2022, a whole year after I started my GMAT journey, fully knowing this might be the last time that I have the will to give the exam and this time around, managed to score a competitive 680, which was very relieving. But this is only the start of the journey.

Making educated guesses on which IIMs I would have the best chance of conversion, I landed on IIM Kozhikode. I applied through their online portal and wrote the essays to the best of my abilities. I was delighted to hear back from them, calling me for the interview. I started my interview prep immediately after. After completing the interview, I was pretty confident of my chances and was optimistic about the result. I answered most questions correctly and kept the interviewers happy without interrupting them.

The result was out a month later, and I got an email titled "Admissions". My heart skipped a beat; it was everything I worked towards. All my hardships across the world on different continents allowed me to rediscover myself in many ways and called me back to my home country. It all depended on this email. It said that I was admitted. The level of happiness I experienced at that moment cannot be put into words. I was in the middle of a class when I read the email and exclaimed so loud that the class was disturbed, but I didn't care. With the permission of my professor, I went out of the class to call my parents to tell them the good news. To my surprise, my mother was not as excited as I was, I got the feeling that she expected this to happen anyways, and it was not impressive for her. My father, however, was pleased and I am delighted to have made them proud.

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My dream of getting into an IIM started when I was very young. Being born and raised in Bangalore, I was shown the entrance of IIM whenever we passed by it and was told that it is one of the best universities in the world. My parents planted the IIM seed very early on. Although they never pressured me like the stereotypical Indian parents, the seed had been sown, and I am thrilled to finally be a future IIM student. I look forward to returning to my home country and contributing to my nation to the best of my abilities.