But I knew I still had WAT and PI, and I had to make the best out of them! To prepare for them, I continued with my daily habits of reading newspapers, magazines like The Economist, various GK capsules, Non-Fiction works like The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, The Outliers, Freakonomics and followed religiously the reading lists compiled by InsideIIM. For WAT, I practiced essay writing focusing more on the current issues. I also practiced picture compositions (you find many such groups on social media comprising of fellow aspirants). At my SIBM Pune extempore (which is a part of their interview process), I got a very abstract topic and had to gather my thoughts over this in just a minute. It was especially difficult after a silly error I made in the GK test, which was still haunting me over (due to the intense competition, every single point counts!) The results season arrived and to my amazement, I received the admission offer letters from all the colleges I had given interviews for - IMT Ghaziabad, SCMHRD and even the one I wasn’t expecting at all - SIBM Pune! After two months when all the new IIM results came, to my utter astonishment, I converted all my IIM calls!
For interviews, it is extremely important to be clear about why you want to pursue MBA, that is usually the most difficult question for many and it can make or break your performance. In the time you get in between your entrance exams and interviews, self-introspect to know your interests, strengths and weaknesses. Also, contemplate how you can deal positively with your shortcomings. If you have an unconventional work experience, like me, you can turn this to your advantage as you will always have offbeat experiences to share which your interviewers will also like to pay heed to.
Being a General, Engineer with a borderline percentile, it was an uncommon feat to achieve. Yes, having a good percentile is like a job half done but there are many premier B-schools that give less weightage to the test scores during the next stages of their admission processes. Therefore, if you ever think that your percentile may not be enough to convert your coveted calls, just don’t underestimate yourself, neither undermine the importance of GE/PI/WAT! Ending this with my favorite quote by Nelson Mandela:
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
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