Is there anything in life that you feel was worth the shot and you missed that shot?
Are you one among those lakhs of engineering graduates who passed out of non-IIT/non-NITs? Are you also looking for a seat in IIM? Then this is the story for you to read, for the story gives you a real life account of a ‘fresher’ who passed out of a ‘normal’ college and landed up at IIM. It gives you a glimpse of the challenges, dilemma & the transformation one may go through at IIM.
The Excitement!
The sunny skies, chilling wind & the sound of chirping birds is one Sam relished in his first day at IIM. The hangover of the previous day’s party still hadn’t gone. Having being the topper and the only person at his engineering college to get admission at IIM, he felt like Harry Potter at Hogwarts.
The Theory of Relativity !
One month had passed since his preparatory course at IIM started. Sam was already feeling nauseous. The flight at IIM was perhaps too turbulent for him. He has started realizing that his once core strengths were rudimentary in his new battle. Academically, he was doing his best. But ‘The theory of relativity’ brought him down ! In short, each one of his classmates were performing so good that, relatively his performance was average. It was tough to believe that the average marks for the class would sometimes reach 85% !
Most importantly, his best friends at IIM were his worst enemies during exams!
IIT @ IIM
The IITians were a breed apart. The intense environment where they did their undergrad had made them too sharp for Sam to fight with. (There was a reason why Bane could take on Batman: he was born in darkness but Batman merely adopted it) The knowledge & experience brought by them into the classroom was invaluable. The resume they had built was a class apart from what Sam had.
The Summers & The IIT Tag !
The summer internship placement season had started for Sam in his second term. There, he discovered that the tag of being a non-IIT/non-NIT-ian at IIM definitely brings you bad luck. After a hard fight, Sam did find himself an internship offer for a marketing role on Day 3 of the placement process. Marketing role is something that people with no work experience at IIM are entitled to.
The Transformation
Curtains were drawing close on the first year of MBA for Sam. It had not been an easy year for Sam. But as the old saying goes, you need to be with the best to be the best. Sam’s association with IITians was a blessing in disguise. He has imbibed a lot of their qualities – intellectual sharpness, social quotient & most importantly the determination to aim high. Sam and his IITian friend recently won the national round for P&G’s marketing completion and is looking forward for the international round.
Sam still loves the sunny skies, chilling wind & the chirping birds. But when he looks back, he relishes his IIM experience even more & dreams of being an IITian in spirit.
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Srihari is doing his first year in PGDM at IIM Bangalore. He is a patriot, nature enthusiast & loves expressing himself.