9th January 2017 was the day when they declared CAT-2016 results. I had scored 99.04 percentile. Never did I know that this will play little role in getting me a top college. Some institutes gives the CAT score a 40% weight while others had it at 30%, my parents, on the other hand, gave it 100%. Loud they went on to send messages on WhatsApp “OUR SON HAS SCORED 99.04%ILE. [WE ARE] PROUD OF HIM”. Little did they know that dreams were about to be shattered. IIM A, B or C seemed a distant dream and I had to reset my goals towards IIM Indore and Shillong.
It was on 8th February, 2017 that I received a call for the CAP interview (my first and second last call). I was joyous but my parents were not that much excited. However, I was able to make them realize that I was going for a great pool of colleges.
The tough part begins here - the preparations for WAT/PI. Among the people who have studied in a convent school, I am someone who, for the major part of his school life, has been to an institute, where English was a mere formality. Hence, I become nervous when it comes to the English language. While others could write 500 words on a topic, I could barely manage a 100-200 word essay. While they had excellent knowledge of the language, my essays were construed of sentences with words gathered from within my limited vocabulary. This was the time when my worst fears came true. But giving up was the last thing on my mind; the only thing I could think of was improving my vocabulary and those suggestions of reading an English newspaper came to my mind and I did read. Though my vocabulary is not as great as others’ and I still make many grammatical mistakes; they say that learning is a continuous process and that no one is perfect.
While the journey to prepare for WAT/PI was tough, the actual WAT/PI process was comparatively easy. The WAT topic was current affairs based and reading the newspapers helped me immensely. The interview went reasonably good, as they questioned me about my start-up, why I failed to achieve what I aspired to and then there was discussion on football. Overall, it was good and here I am at the doorsteps of IIM Rohtak.
Coming from an Engineering background, I have quite a few expectations from MBA, since the course is known to change the way a person works, the way he/she behaves and our seniors have left no stone unturned in realizing us that it’s going to be different than what we have experienced so far. I come to IIM Rohtak expecting a lot more than just an IIM tag. I have a dream and a strong determination to achieve them.
About the Author:
Hi! I am Shreyas Joshi, an engineer who is passionate about sports, numbers and life. I don't believe in destiny, instead I believe in creating my own path.