My Journey To IIM Rohtak - Saikiran Boppa's Story
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
Last year, around the same time, I was waiting anxiously. Every single hour that passed made me more and more restless rather than coming anywhere close to soothe my nerves. Just like so many of you, I was waiting for the IIM Results. The six of them had one common interview and I had done my best in the interview but my best hadn't been enough on earlier occasions, but this time, I had gone one step ahead, I had managed an IIM interview call, lived the experience, smiled through it and even after, there is some fond remembrance. But this was a decision time, not only for the IIMs, but also for me. There were questions of both nature. Will they select me this time? Am I good enough? Will I really get into an IIM? Should I really join any? Which one will be my preference, when everyone claimed about their being the best all over. The wait for the result was a painstaking event. One fine day in the metro, the phone buzzed. There was an email, the sender was admission@iimkashipur. There was a nervous shiver in the spine. The metro was crowded, yet no one was interested in sharing this moment with me. Everyone was so hooked on to the phones and so was I. Nevertheless I read the email. “Please accept my heartiest congratulations” and I was at Cloud 9. The feeling was similar to what I felt after India lifted the world cup in 2011. There was a sense of achievement, an instilment of pride. I was in a different zone and the metro looked so convenient and spacious to accommodate me. None of the passengers gave any admiration. I didn’t exist for them. Getting into an IIM doesn’t make people notice you. It’s what you do after getting here that creates a huge difference. So many of you will have a similar sinking feeling and at times crossing every known frustration, but maintain your calm. I will just say, go on and take that metro ride. Who knows you may get lucky as well. All the best!!
CAT 2014 was my third attempt at belling the CAT. My first attempt was in 2011, during my fourth year of engineering, where although there was enough time to focus on CAT, the determination was lacking. In the year 2012 when I forayed into corporate life for the first time, I felt that getting some work-ex would be good learning experience before going the MBA route; so 2012 was CATless. I was employed with a HVAC firm with their project sales team, which I felt complimented nicely my mechanical engineering background and my ambition to do an MBA. The caveat though was the fact that a sales role entailed a lot of travelling and 6 day working weeks. Soon I realized that juggling both work and CAT prep was something I might not be able to manage.
It all started with catching up with old family friends. One of my close friends joined Deutsche bank after completing his post-graduation from IIM Calcutta. I met him after so long and I could see the change he has undergone during his years at IIMC. This meeting had a strong impact on me and my career goals. I decided to take a leaf out of his book and focus on getting into a management programme.
Indrajeet Singh, the CEO of iQuanta gave a new direction to the world of online teaching where the doubts gets cleared within seconds or minutes using the previously neglected medium, Facebook as his platform. He started iQuanta last year, and it delivered splendid results in its very first year with two 100%ilers, sixteen 99.6+ %ilers & around 30 final converts from IIM A,B,C and XLRI. iQuanta is mostly about unconventional methods and concepts which aren't taught in conventional coaching centres and his free peer learning platform i.e. CAT Preparation group is 93k members strong and is highly active - https://www.facebook.com/groups/Rockthecat/
IIM. These three letters always fascinated me more than the other attractive three letters-IIT. It was due to this reason that I wasn’t dejected when I did not clear the IIT JEE in 2011. To be honest, I never toiled enough for it. My happiness knew no bounds when in 2011 IIM Indore started its Integrated Program in Management. Voila! That’s my thing, I thought. Exhilarated, I filled the form for the course. But my parents thought otherwise, and I never got to post the form.
MBA - The Decision Like the plethora of other teenagers freshly out of school, I took up B Tech in Electronics & Communication as I happened to get a seat in that branch at my score. In hindsight, neither of these decisions had a real reasoning behind them. Second year into college, I knew that B tech is not my cup of tea and that's when I decided to try to bell the CAT.
Period - July 2013 Venue - Career Launcher, SRM University The instructor was briefing the students on the top B schools present in India and the various written exams for them. That was the first time I heard of IIFT. A point that briefly registered in my mind were the 3 people he named who had gotten into IIFT after enrolling at the particular training/coaching centre. All of them, he claimed, had received offers above 18 LPA in their final placements. The name, IIFT, was consigned to a corner of my brain to be visited later.