As a teenager, I was majorly into reading novels. You could often find me sneakily reading a book while I had my exams going on. While I don't recommend this 100℅, the novels did introduce me to ideas textbooks never could. On one occasion, I had laid my hands on Chetan Bhagat's 'One Indian Girl'. The teenager me felt excited while reading it. The story revolves around an Indian Girl Radhika Mehta who is a successful investment banker at Goldman Sachs. Something struck a chord in me.
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While reading the book, I too knew I wanted to pursue and MBA from an elite institution just like she had. While the book is critiqued by some, it must be mentioned that it is a rare one. This is simply because a dream character for many is introduced to us in simple language. Her education trajectory as well is mapped out. She mentions how she topped since class 6 and studied very hard. She eventually finds herself in IIM A, one of the best educational institutions in the country.
Now the teenager me reading this knew that I wanted to be exactly like her. Here, I had found a book that fuelled my ambition but also entertained me. So then, I started paying attention in my classes. My marks hiked, my interest peaked and my goal became clear. I wanted to study hard and land up in a good college. When I reached the 10th grade, I worked hard and scored a 95.4 percentage in CBSE. Now, I felt elated knowing that I could indeed see my efforts bore fruit. I joined a good college for my 11th and 12th and set my eyes on SRCC. However, once I entered my college, I was involved in extracurriculars as well and decided to give CLAT- the Common Law Admission Test a shot. Come COVID and my shot at getting into an NLU didn't manifest itself.
However, I did get introduced into the world of competitive test taking in India. After getting a 99.5 percent in my 2nd puc board exams, I entered Mount Carmel College to do my graduation in Bcom. I was intimidated by the fat CAT books and especially the maths ones. I pushed off preparing for a year. When I finally started, I took a lot of time in self preparing and deciphering the hard rules of quantitative techniques.
That's when I chanced upon YouTube. A YouTuber Shweta Arora directed me to a channel named Rodha for maths fundamentals. I grew interested in this and could grasp some concepts here. Now, I had also landed a placement from my undergrad college at Accenture in the HR sector. I joined the company and enjoyed working. But I knew that my real dream was to pursue an MBA. So I targeted top HR colleges and began my preparation for the XAT.
I enjoyed practising Decision making sets and solving reading comprehension sets for VARC. My maths too had improved. I would practice mental maths too. Finally the day arrived for me to give the XAT. I gave it with a calm mind and tried to enjoy the test. I was mindful of the negative marking and tried attempting only the questions that I was sure of. I had not opted for coaching but self prepared.
My full time job didn't give me much time and I'm someone who enjoys the art of self preparation. When the results were announced, I had scored an 87.11 percentile. I had mixed feelings. I didn't know if this was good enough. However, I was very happy with my percentile too. Luckily, I received a call from XLRI and many other B schools too. I had a habit of being updated with the news.
When I attended the XLRI GD and interview process, I was calm and gave the process my best shot. I made up for my relatively low percentile with good conversational skills. I spoke earnestly and wasn't fazed at any of the questions that the interviewers threw at me.
After an anxious period of waiting for results, I had converted XLRI. I was clearly overjoyed. Now, I step into B school with aspirations and hope. My advice to aspirants is to start early, know their strengths and stay away from distractions. Know that if you believe in yourself anything is possible!
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