From Leaving IIM Shillong To Joining IIM Kozhikode On My Third Attempt - Naman A.

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Result: I received CAP calls, marking the next phase of my journey.

Interviews: This phase is something that required me to come out of my comfort zone. I intensively prepared for the GDPI session but wasn't able to convert even a single one.

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After reflecting on my previous mistakes, I initiated my preparation in March 2021. This time, I was more resilient and committed to learning from my errors. I vowed to leave no stone unturned in my preparation. It took me a few months to build my fundamentals once again. When July arrived, I began taking mock exams, but my average score remained around 70 marks. Doubts started creeping in, despite putting in extensive practice and revisiting my concepts multiple times. I pushed myself even harder, dedicating countless hours to practice, but for the next 1-1.5 months, there was no improvement. As September approached, I grew anxious about my situation. Then, suddenly, I hit rock bottom with a mere 36 marks in a mock test. Realizing I needed a break, I decided to visit my parents and spend some quality time with them. During this period, I analyzed my mistakes and discovered that my problem lay in strategic problem-solving during mocks, resulting in low scores. For the next 15-20 days, I diligently worked on refining my strategy and identifying what worked best for me. Gradually, my mock scores began to climb, reaching 90, 100, and even touching 110. As the 50+ mock season drew to a close, I achieved my highest score of 124. Finally, I felt fully prepared for the upcoming exam.

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I was confident enough that I will do good but was worried about LRDI as sometimes I faced problems in that section. During the exam, I kept myself calm even in the situation where I was about to get on my nerves. I realized that I did pretty well this time and was confident enough that I will get good calls this time.

Upon receiving the CAT results, I achieved a decent percentile, although it fell short of my initial expectations due to a few silly mistakes in 2-3 quant questions. However, I excelled in the LRDI section, securing an impressive percentile of 99.72%. As the interview phase approached, I received interview calls from all the IIMs except ABC and I. Additionally, I received calls from MDI and FMS, further adding to my options.

Fast forward to the CAT 2021 interview result, after putting all of the efforts into GDPI, I didn’t receive the result that I expected. I was waitlisted in FMS, L, K, and MDI. I converted IIM Shillong and all the lower IIMs. IIM Kozhikode's waitlist was in the realistic range. I was clear that either it was BLACKI for me from the start. I decided that if I convert Kozhikode then I will go ahead otherwise will try again. Everyone in my known from my parents to relatives, from my friends to my cousins told me to join IIM Shillong. But deep down I knew that I didn’t do all of this hard work for IIM Shillong, it is BLACKI for me. Even if I join IIM Shillong, I won’t be happy and will die in regret that I didn’t try once again because deep down I strongly believed that I can do better. With time, with the fewer movements in Kozhikode, I accepted the fact that I am not going to convert it. At last, I missed it by a few seats. It was disheartening when I looked back that time that after all of this hard work continuously for 2 years I have nothing. It was the lowest point in my journey. With time I accepted things and picked myself up from there. It took me a couple of months to get out of that situation.

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CAT 2022: This time I started preparing from July and that too from mocks. I appeared for around 30 mocks this season scoring good scores in the range of 90-110 continuously. I was confident that I will do this time too. But on D-day, I badly messed up the LRDI section. I will skeptical that whether I will receive some calls or not but I was lucky enough to get IIM Kozhikode, Shillong and all of the lower IIM calls as I cleared LRDI sectional just on the edge.

Prepared for interviews as well as for WAT this time. Got my IIMK interview on 13th Feb, the following day after my cousin sister marriage. After getting 0 hours of sleep and rest, somehow reached the destination for the interview. Gave the WAT and interview as per the best of my abilities but I was uncertain that I will convert IIM Kozhikode or not. This time didn’t bother about to appear for Shillong interview as I was clear that it is BLACKI or nothing.

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Result: One of my friends called me in the evening that the IIM Kozhikode result is out and I was not at my home. After around 30 mins, I reached home and filled my credentials on the portal but couldn’t gather courage to click the submit button and this went on for 1-1.5 hours. Finally, after waiting for so long I gathered all of my courage and made me understand that whatever will be the result I will accept it, I entered the submit button. The first thing which I saw on the portal was “Congratulations”, certainly the best congratulations of my life which I will never forget. Finally, all of the hard work of 3 years paid off, all of the sleepless nights, and self-doubt flowed in and made me question how did I get this much of courage to leave one of the most prestigious colleges in India to pursue my dream. I have listened to these types of crazy things but never experienced them until I saw that “Congratulations”, not only that day only but today as well I felt this when I am writing this while sitting in the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode.

One piece of advice from me to all the aspirants is to take calculated risks rather than taking irrational decisions. But if deep inside if you can feel that and each and every cell of the body screams the same then you should go for your dream.