Obviously, if this post was a movie script, then this point would have been a climax and I would have cracked CAT and got into an IIM. But sadly the real world doesn’t operate like that and hence I failed in CAT 2018.Period.
Luckily I wasn’t that crazy and had secured a good enough job during final year placements.
The Chennai phase
I had always dreamed of getting a job in Chennai after watching 2 states. But that dream also had few other steps like getting into IIM A, having a Tamilian girlfriend, etc. Somehow, I managed to skip those two or three necessary steps and reached Chennai as it was my job location. Let me be frank here with you, if you are a North Indian, love good food and don’t know anyone in Chennai, you will want to run back to your hometown even in the first week itself. But being a fighter I stayed there. As I was settling into my job, the CAT 2019 forms were out. I earlier thought to try CAT after getting a 2-year work ex and hadn’t prepared anything after the debacle in CAT 2018. But still, Chennai and an IT job inspired me to fill it as I wanted an escape route and that too fast. So, I filled the form.
The Climax
I appeared for the CAT 2019. The VARC section was a shock and I was clueless about my performance after completing the paper. After one month CAT results were declared in January and I got a 99.81%ile, got a few good colleges call. As of now, I have converted FMS Delhi, IIM Indore, and Kozhikode, and also, waitlisted in IIM Calcutta and Lucknow.
But this post is not a success story. It is about the journey of an Engineer who committed mistakes and learned from them. He isn’t your perfect Rancho. Actually, he is more like a Suhas Tandon who committed the mistake of Engineering and later moved to the field he desired. (Even I hated his brand and money obsession but I will like you to ignore that for a while). Suhas for me was the fourth Idiot in the movie and I proudly admit that I am not a Raju, Farhan, or Rancho but I am the 4th Idiot, one who did Engineering and then went for an MBA.
In my childhood whenever I lost a competition or failed in an exam, my Father used to console me by a quote and that quote became my life motto. In the movie, Rancho called Suhas a “donkey” and I will like to respond by that same quote to him. Here goes the quote:
“A person who fell and got up is much stronger than a person who never fell. “
I hope this article acts as a source of inspiration for candidates who committed a mistake and are looking for an MBA( or for that matter any other field) as an alternative
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