Should I Quit My Job To Prepare For CAT?

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Though this question has been tackled successfully by aspirants in the past and might not be detrimental to your selection in the IIMs, however, be ready with a solid reason.

2. How Does it affect your candidature to get into an IIM

Every IIM has a separate selection criteria. Colleges such as IIM Bangalore give weightage to work-experience right from the shortlisting stage, in which case one would be at a position of a disadvantage as compared to other candidates. However, if you have already accumulated, say 24+ months of work-experience, you would not lose out on the points.

But, it might be difficult to convince the panelists in the stage II as sometimes consider it to be signal of poor time management.

3. How Quitting your Job affects your profile when you join a B-school

If you have been successful in crossing the chasm, there is another round of interview which will present itself in form of Summer Internship Interview soon after you join the B-school.

If you prefer a role in Operations or Consulting, it is NOT advisable to quit your job as recruiters from these firms prefer candidates with relevant work experience.

However, Marketing firms, on the other hand, have a strong preference for freshers or those with relevant work experience. Whereas, for Finance, your graduation discipline, your professional credentials such as CA, CFA, and FRM matter along with any relevant work experience.

4. When does Quitting make sense?

All said and done, there might be circumstances where quitting your job might seem as one’s only saving grace. If you are starting your preparations late with a 10-12 hours job, it certainly becomes difficult to navigate.

If you are a professional with 30-36 months of experience and are looking to change your field, you might consider this option. In this scenario you might be desperate to join a B-school immediately and might look at this as your last CAT attempt.

5. Is there any best time to Quit?

One important factor to keep in mind is timing. For a beginner, 6 months of rigorous preparation is enough to crack the exam.

You should ideally not quit anytime before August, otherwise, you would be faced with a huge gap in your career. If you are an aspirant stuck in the range of 80-85 percentile, you would need that extra push. However, it is very important to maintain discipline and utilize this time efficiently.

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Everyone has a unique background and aspirants, and you should examine it closely before taking the tough call. In case, you decide you quit your job, you should look at other avenues to build your profile to compensate for any gaps that might arise in your profile.