"Wear your failure as a badge of honour" - Sundar Pichai.
No, I'm not advocating failure but failure does help us to appreciate the wine called success even more. Like every MBA aspirant, I also dreamt of getting into IIM-A despite knowing the fact that only ~0.5% of people who appear for CAT actually manage to secure an interview call.
Being from a non-maths background, scoring north of 99 percentile in the first attempt, along with managing college studies and being among the college toppers, was indeed a difficult task but as the saying goes, "As the going gets tough, the tough get going".
I was extremely delighted to be a part of this 0.5% pool of candidates when I saw the interview schedule mail from IIM-A in my inbox but I didn't celebrate because I knew this was just a small step forward. I started working on enhancing my AWT (Analytical Written Test) skills using GMAT questions, brushed up my academics gathering my high school resources and preparing for interviews as I wanted to SEIZE THIS OPPORTUNITY (Carpe Diem!).
Fast forward to interview day: Being an extrovert, I have a habit of meeting and interacting with people and learn in the process (Trust me, there is something to learn from everybody) and I realized that I was probably the youngest person in the room that day and was surrounded by CAs, CFAs and IITians. I knew I have to give my best in the interview to stand a chance against them and make up for the work experience and the gender diversity points I'll be losing on.
My AWT was something on the lines of millennials preferring to not to marry, in which I think I performed well, with a plethora of ideas popping up in my head in those 15 minutes. Then came the most interesting, in-depth and wide-ranging interview I ever appeared for, with topics ranging from Portfolio Management to Digital Marketing, Stock Market to Economics, US Elections to Statistical tools.
Even after answering all the questions and having a lively conversation, I came out of the interview room dejected, knowing I couldn't be the best version of myself in that 30 mins conversation.
On the ride back home, I somehow was contended because I enjoyed the interview, I enjoyed interacting with my peers there as there was a different vibe in that room (which was missing in all other top B-School interviews) and it was a day full of learning. Basically, I enjoyed the process (SP Jain was another such process where I enjoyed due to their unique 2 Group Interviews back to back). I'm still in touch with few people I met that day and 2 of them even converted and will be joining #IIMA this year.
I couldn't convert IIM-A. Does it mean my year-long hard work went in vain? My sleepless nights went in vain? Well, not really… Yes, it hurts, it is disappointing, but
babu moshaiiii, the wheels of life goes on. In this ride, I didn't just learn from fellow candidates but also from the interviewers. One interviewer explained me lucidly the ML algorithm Facebook employs to suggest us to tag our friends on the pictures we upload, another cared to take me in-depth on Discounted Cash Flow technique to measure the value of shares. Luckily, I will be joining one of the best B-Schools of the country, MDI Gurgaon and will be making the most out of it (Yeah, a #ManDevIan now). Remember, it’s not the destination that matters, it’s all about the journey.
So, all those who got rejected by the B-Schools they applied for, DON’T FEEL BAD. You didn't get rejected because you were bad or unworthy, it's just because MAYBE, MAYBEEEEE there were people(mostly) who were better than you but that doesn't make you anything less. Staying self-motivated in this journey (From CAT to GD-WAT-PI to results) is one of the biggest challenges which you overcame and be proud of that.
You are a "Beautiful Failure", because you had the guts to see yourself in one of the best B-Schools of the country, vision to see yourself amongst the most knowledgeable minds of the country, and the ability to consider yourself worthy for having that tag against your name, and that my friend, already makes you a CHAMPION.
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Yash Bajoria had scored 99.24%ile in CAT 2019 and will be joining MDI Gurgaon's PGPM 2020-22. This extrovert is a non-engineer and had interview calls from almost all the top B-Schools in the country.
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