Hello readers, my name is Raman and I’ve done my B.Tech(Agri. Engg.) from CCSHAU, Hisar. I’ve been an avid reader of the story section on this website and thought that maybe I should also share my journey. Although it does not lead to any IIM(spoiler), I believe you will find it interesting. So here it goes…
During my graduation, I worked with a start-up, and that was basically when the bug of MBA bit me. After completing my graduation, I thought of gaining some market exposure, before entering a b-school. I sat for my campus placements and got placed at Mahindra & Mahindra. I worked there for a good one year.
CAT prep:
After I left my job, I had 3 months in front of me to make it work. So, there it was, I gave my first mock in mid-September and got 25 percentile. Damn! That was frustrating as hell. It came as a shock to me, as I always thought that I was good at this. Self-doubt started making way into my mind, and I started questioning my decision of quitting my job. Then it struck me almost instantaneously that hey! I have already left my job; in fact, I have already made the decision to walk on this path.
After that there was no looking back, I cut my “social umbilical” cord and started to prepare.
For the next two and a half months, my life revolved around only 3 things – VARC, DILR, and QUANT. Slowly but steadily I started to notice signs of improvement. By October end, I had crossed the 85-percentile mark. In November I gave only mocks.
After CAT:
Anyhow, I managed to get 94 percentile and I knew I could expect a call from both IIM A (FABM) and L (ABM). And perhaps at that moment, I made the greatest mistake of life – “I let go”. I started watching web series all day long, play PUBG. I thought that interviews are something that could be taken care of in a few days’ time. Sadly, the first interview I had to face was of IIM L, I was unable to answer questions related to my graduation, I was unable to give satisfying answers even to general questions. I knew that I had screwed it up.
But I guess that was the wake-up call for me. I started working on myself. I started to revise my graduation subjects, projects that I had worked on when I was working at Mahindra and started to prepare structured answers to expected general MBA questions. I had this target in mind that I will have to convert every other call in my hand.
Thankfully I was able to keep all the distractions at bay this time. In the end, I was fortunate enough to convert all my other calls namely, IMT G(Marketing), IIT Kanpur, IIT Roorkee, and a few baby IIM’s as well. I know many of you guys must be thinking that Hey! That’s a clear call, either go for IMT G or any IIM, I also thought the same in the beginning. But then I realized that I must choose the college which caters to my interests in the best possible way. I have always had an interest in Analytics, so choosing IIT Kanpur was indeed a no brainer.
With an alum base of more than 35000 and an IIT tag for a lifetime, I was really hoping to join IIT Kanpur. My session has just started and I’m really enjoying it. Even though we are not at the campus, our seniors and faculty are trying to provide us with a similar environment. I have always been fascinated by the techno-managerial role offered here.
What I would suggest to future CAT aspirants would be that it is “OK” if you do not make it ‘INSIDE_IIM’ (pun but not intended). You should not do an MBA just for the sake of doing it, you must be clear of what your interests are, and you must pursue them. This experience may not be helpful for all the aspirants, but I am sure that some students might relate to this.