So fellow puys, if we brothers can manage to achieve this type of job/degree/success with a slightest of resources then you can achieve an IIMs or any top-notch degree or let me say anything you want in your life.. I know it's not easy.. And I know that these institutes are the best in India/world and its not going to be a cakewalk. But don't ever lose HOPE.. Try next year or year after that if you miss by a whisker or by a large extent.. But never think that you can't do it.
And if you are not getting selected to a college u whished after 4-5 attempts depending open the situation you are in at that moment ,then just forget about it .. I may seem harsh or ignorant here puys and some of you may think that I am writing this bcoz here " ANGOOR is KHATTE HAIN for me" ..but puys if GRAPES are SWEET then there are MANGOES ,BANANAS,STRAWBERRY, and JALEBI,RASGULLA ,GULAB-JAMMUN ,KAJU-KATLI, etc, which are more sweeter than Grapes.
Life is not about getting a MBA degree but it is made up of tiny moments which an investment banker or hedge fund manager or even a normal school teacher will think with tears filled in his eyes when he will be lying in a Hospital bed and who knows that he is going to die in a matter of days....
( 2 days before CAT ,my girlfriend was receiving 2nd stage skin-grafting for her 40% burns she got while we were in class 10th and I was crying for not being able to be by her side when this was happening. I'll regret it every day of my life and if something of this nature is happening with any of u puys then what is the point of earning 10-20-30 lakhs of Rupees. But now I am going to marry my childhood girlfriend in coming dec. or feb. and will enjoy my life to the fullest. )
LET ME END MY POST-
Puys ,I was thinking that I will grab a good job and will settle down and my journey will end but now I promise you that I'll start a new life from now on and will never look back and will do whatever is needed for living a life that I'll not regret when it ends..
(well my story is happy ending or not ..i left it for you to decide..)
regards
anupam mishra
ps- no offense meant to anyone
Chapter 1 - The early days
I was always a studious guy and for almost the entire school life stood first in the class. It was not under some duress but rather the feeling of being praised which made me happy. Moving on Std. X saw a lot of changes in me as I became the target of some bullies. My choice of friends also led to my downfall. My studies were seriously hampered and I ended up with 89%. For someone who was touted as the topper, to fall down to such level was a huge failure. My confidence took a heavy beating and for the next two years I couldn't recover. That ensured that I couldn't clear even the IIT screening exam. I decided to drop a year and prepare again. Meanwhile I got through the state CET exam and secured a seat in BIT Sindri. But as it is the fire and urge never subsides. The preparation was on track and my teachers were hopeful of success for me. Although destiny had some other plans for I was struck down with serious health ailments. The medicines ensured that I felt lethargic and slept for more than 12 hours a day. The desperation that sets in when you do want to study but just can't is indescribable. I failed once again (though by a close margin). With no other option in hand I carried on with the studies at BIT. My first years marks took a heavy plunge since I had hardly attended any lectures (which explains my average graduation percentage).
Chapter 2 - first Love, first Job and first CAT
I had my bhaiya who was preparing for CAT and he used to tell me about the good life which awaits one in the IIMs. Having failed once I knew I had to take CAT and prove to myself that I could still do it. Anyways my college band and club activities kept me hooked and I somehow kept procrastinating my preparations. Love happened too! Though It was a long distance relationship (with someone whom I had known from my physics tuitions), it thrived. Things went off pretty well but then the issues of marriage and future plans just turned everything ugly. She didn't want to commit and somehow it ended. It took me a lot of spirit and a few months to recover. Fortunately (or should I say unfortunately) I landed a job with Infosys through campus placement and after a sneak peak of mysore dc , I started having thoughts of postponing my MBA plans. CAT '09 arrived and it made me realize the importance of practice (the CL tests that I had appeared for hardly benefited me). XAT '09 was marred because of my irregular bowel movements. The last 30 minutes that I had left for VA were totally wasted as I tried to grapple with the tremendous ache that ensued. The results followed shortly:-
CAT - 91.89 with 95.xx in QA
XAT - 90.xx with 92+ in QA DI and AR DM but a paltry 36.xx in VA
Infosys Mysore dc truly made me feel as a resource. It seemed absurd when even the watchman directed or sweared at us (yes it did happen). It was no doubt a beautiful place but I felt caged in a golden palace. I left within one month. I know many of you will disagree with me but in my opinion it's better to quit rather than force yourself into something if the situation allows.
Chapter 3 - the struggle begins
Came back home and took a job in a coaching institute. Preparation was in full swing till the month of September. During the Puja vacations I met her again and the feeling that had been buried for so long sprung back to life. Distractions galore my focus unwillingly shifted away from CAT. I tried to balance the two but couldn't manage to. The end results were -
CAT - 95.15 with 82.xx in VA
XAT - 92.xx with 58.xx in ARDM
JMET- 2049 AIR
Got calls from IIT M , IMT G , IIFM and RGIPT. Went to my brother's place in gurgaon to prepare for the GD/PI . I was sure of converting at least one of the calls. But then as fate would have it, a couple of days before the IIT M interview she called me to apologize, for according to her - "we just can't be together anymore as my parents won't agree." The jolt was too much for me to bear. As expected I bombed all the interviews. There I was, staring at my end. Even in the darkest of dreams I hadn't imagined such a day for myself. I still remember the horrid feeling when I just stood numb in the cyber caf (after the RGIPT results). I didn't have the courage to face anyone anymore. At times the thoughts of ending it all crossed my end. Some of my darkest poems are a reflection of those days. Here is one of them:-
Is this what they term as life?
a treacherous path , full of strife .
Pushed to the shove, i know not what to do
Guess my nemesis is what i should pursue.
There is a limit to a person's suffering is what they say
if it's true then why do you twist me beyond limits as if i am just a toy made of clay ?
Distraught thoughts, disturbing memories; what else is to follow?
a dead man walking , i am already rendered completely hollow ...
continued..
There comes a time in our life when we do not have anything to lose. This was that time for me. With no option left, I came back home and rejoined the coaching institute. I started taking each day at a time building my broken self. Soliloquies became a part of my late night walks. It's a manner of recuperating and staying calm which really brought me at peace with myself. Inside my heart I knew that I had it in me to do better than what I had done. Although after having lost almost everything (including a part of myself) my expectations weren't high anymore.
In spite of all that had transpired between us the diehard romantic in me didn't want to give up. I was under the delusion that if my career got back on track may be I stood a chance. Studying, teaching and writing poems (mostly for her) became my usual routine. Couple of the writes from that phase:-
I trust you with my happiness
for a chance at the last turn.
In spite of knowing all the odds
to live and love I still yearn..
If faith could move a mountain
then it might just save a soul
So i have great faith in my love
that's life's sweetest gift and goal...
Became quite active on PG (especially the RC thread). A few puys (especially nitin aka rahicecream) were really helpful and supportive. Time went by and the exam season started nearing. Having already appeared in CAT twice I knew that I could manage my timings. Before the D day I took just one mock test and scored 99.05 Exam Day : I did the mistake of selecting a morning slot for CAT. A history of irregular bowel movements on important occasions coupled with a routine of waking up late ensured that my dreaded tummy trouble came back to haunt me yet again. The first 15 minutes got wasted with an irresistible urge to run to the bathroom. To quite a few of you who are reading this it might sound funny, but for me it was as if all my hard work was getting drained away. Somehow after half an hour the ache subsided. But the damage was done as I had attempted just 15 questions in QA. JMET was next and I literally murdered the paper. NMAT was easy comparatively.
But before XAT on the eve of Christmas the final nail in the coffin was hit. She finally requested me not to contact her anymore in any manner. She had made up her mind and I was making it difficult for her to move on. When it comes to love, there is a thin line between delusion and hope, and I realized that I had crossed on to the wrong side. Somewhere deep inside I had seen this coming. By now 'comfortably numb' is what I had become.
I don't know what happened with XAT. Maybe I was in limbo. The paper caught me totally off guard and I ended up with a lot of flukes in QA. Results started pouring in. I missed the IIFT bus by 4 marks as calculated. JMET came in next. This was probably the one result after so many failures that brought a smile on my face. 91.25/120 is what my score stood at. CAT came in next - the lost time proved costly as I got just 92.31 in QA. Although the OA of 99.44 meant that I had finally crossed the revered 99 mark! NMAT gave me 227 and 251 in the two attempts that I took. If CAT was something beyond my control, XAT was all my doing. The flukes along with my surrogate fate ensured that I ended up with a paltry 48.xx in QA DI with 94.xx in VA and 96.xx in ARDM.
Chapter 5 - calls and interviews
BLACKIS along with RRRT ditched me which was a setback because my academic record is decent. Anyways this is a list of my calls and subsequent converts:
Calls - All IITs . MDI , NITIE , GIM , NIRMA , MBE , NMIMS , IIM Ka , IIM Ud , XIMB (HR) , BIM , IMI
Skipped - GIM , NIRMA , MBE , XIMB(HR) , BIM , IMI
Converts - IIT M , IIT R , MDI , NMIMS , IIM Ka , IIM Ud
The factors which led to my rejection varied. Sometimes it was the lack of in depth knowledge of my trade i.e. civil engg. On other occasions probably my profile didn't seem good enough to the interviewers. Whatever the reason might have been I still have and will always have faith in myself. A rejection or a selection isn't a true portrayal of who we are. A befitting example is my bhaiya who had got rejected thrice by SP JAIN only to get into IIMA this year! As for me, after almost a month of confusion and dilemma IIM Udaipur is what I have opted for. So this is my final result.
Thanks for your patience for going through my long story. Before I wrap up here is some 'gyaan' that I would like to share:
1. Do not make CAT or any other B school entrance exam larger than life. There is a lot more to life than just an MBA
2. Do not give up your job just for CAT. It's okay to quit if there are some other pressing concerns.
3. Do not blatantly idolize anyone. It's good if you draw inspiration from someone, but do not at any point consider yourself as inferior. Every person is unique and has a certain set of qualities that he/she in endowed with. Treasure and respect who you are. So what if you can't be a 99 percentiler! There is definitely something that you can do better than him. Maybe you can play music, write poems or have an awesome bunch of friends the way he can't!
4. Love those who stand by you in times of adversity. This is why it is a boon to have a closely knit group of selfless friends. Not to forget the pillar i.e. your family.
5. Last but not the least I want to extend my sincere thanks to PG and TEST FUNDA (for the amazing material). I've almost always got a lot of help and love from my fellow puys and will continue extending the same. I finally end my story with a couple of poems meant for you puys :
I'll forever share this spark
of what is light to me
to see you through the dark
for whatever thou wish to be..
Believe in what you feel inside
as you begin to get into your stride
giving thine dreams the wings to fly
for all that thou desire, underneath the blue sky...
Hey guys... I have penned down my whole story of the last two years in detail in a blog...and that is all i want to speak about CAT...
do read it once you have free time as its quiet lengthy...
here is the link to my blog
First Express............
Finally i get to speak on this thread...
...and i feel very gratified in doing so...
Hi everyone,
I am Gaureesh from Mumbai...and here is my story.
Well....the journey started way back in December 2009 when i was in the 3rd year of engineering...I enrolled for a coaching class...things began slowly..and i was very optimistic and goal oriented.
Target : A top 10 b-school convert.
..
So i started learning concepts from scratch although i knew many of them before.VA was my forte as i had given GRE as well..
...then QA..as i was in engineering. So i was really sincere as in doing things on time..revising etc...But 1 thing...i never slogged..as i always had a plan to go about things...i always knew how much is to be done each day..and there was no time limit like do 3 hrs and all...each day i had a target of doing something and i met my targets...i actually used to study just 1.5-2 hrs daily..i started reading ET in train..but eventually got bored..:shocked:..my journey was not at all smooth if you are thinking that way...there were multiple shocking events...here i list those.
1)May 2010...i got a backlog in sem 6...was shattered..:shocked:..coz it was an additional burden..i was doing an internship...i still continued my CAT preparation...as i decided not to deviate from my plan A(many people quit in case such a thing happens...)..i had plan B of MS...but still i continued and eventually backlog got cleared.
2)July-October 2010...Time for placements(as safety i decided to appear)..got rejected by 7-8 companies..left it mid way..as CAT 2010 was approaching...i knew that i had lost steam coz of personal reasons...bt was still giving mocks, practising problems..i had notes of another class as well..was enrolled in 2 test series..so did around 25+ mocks...not all were good...bt i improved with each mock...there is a huge pressure when u see the scores of others in mocks...bt i survived that as i believed in raising my level with each mock...i devised many strategies...as to improve attempts,accuracy...by CAT 2010 i was attempting atleast 50...
3)CAT 2010...CAT was good...although i was not sure of my performance...then came other exams...my college sem 7 exam...then IIFT...IIFT i screwed coz i didnt carry a watch..(that is the only reason.. )...then SNAP..did below par coz of lil complacency.. ..then NMAT...this was a good attempt...by now i had become sane.....then FMS. and XAT...were on the tougher side...
Exams given(2010) : CAT,XAT,FMS,SNAP,IIFT,NMAT,CET(2011)
4)During CAT...October-Dec 2010...Well...got a placement @ TCS...:)...bt a week later...got a backlog in Sem 7...:shocked::shocked:...a day later..got placed at accenture..:w00t:...was goin thru a roller coaster...i know life has ups and downs..bt so quickly..:w00t:...i still did not lose hope..plan A was still on..
5)Results :..CAT 98.3.(VA 93.7, QA : 93.3 DI : 97.
...IIM calls : 0..:shocked:...coz of mebbe average acads...
IIFT,FMS : no calls
SNAP : 113.5...SCMHRD call..phew...1st call..:D
NMAT : NMIMS call...:D
XAT : 96 percentile...no XLRI call
Others : MDI call, SPJIMR no call...
Didnt apply : IMT, Tapmi, NITIE(a blunder...:banghead:), XIMB
Didn' give exam : TISS, JMET, IRMA , MICAT
6)GD/PI :..well..by now..sem 7 backlog was cleared..:D...
SCMHRD : decent GDPI..no convert
NMIMS : Good GD...average PI..converted NM banking and NM Capital markets(didn't take)
MDI : Fish market GD..:biggrin:...average PI...got MDI-HR..(didn't take)
7)A new story..CET..:D...Well..CET happens in Feb...this year it happend just 3 days before NM GD/PI...:D...i started preparing around December 2010...again enrolled in 2 test series...gave around 35+ mocks...i was damn good at these mocks...just revising concepts and thoroughly analysing the answers...i had reached a stage where i could attempt all 200 questions in 150 mins..and score 160+..the minimum requirement for JBIMS...:D..i focussed only on scores and not percentiles(this is true even for CAT..well..sorry bt my approach is bit different from others..:D)...
8 )CET blooper : i was brimming with confidence of slaughtering the paper....bt on the D -day...ridiculous things happened..i was robbed of my precious cell phone on the way to the exam..:shocked:....my Mom was hospitalised for a back operation...and i cudnt attend to her...
..i was obviously disturbed...and forgot my strategies..bt nevertheless was still confident and focused...the CET for 2011...turned out to be the most difficult one till date...i found myself struggling to be fast...questions were FMS level.....i eventually reached 170 attempt bt was shocked to the core..coz i thought the only dream convert which seemed possible was gone...and my target was fading in front of me...students at my centre were crying...a very ghastly sight...
9)The CET GDPI...well...CET results came..i got 99.90...but except for me...everyone else was celebrating...:shocked:...coz 99.90 does not guarantee JBIMS...i lived the next week in shock...thinking where could i have done better...bt i enrolled fr a GDPI coaching...again started ET..:biggrin:...was slowly reaching perfection...i always kept my other converts as back up...another back up were my placements...and a remote back up was MS...the final option was an attempt next yr...so u can imagine i was mentally ill...was going thru an extremely tense period.
10)The final shock and the journey after that...
I got a backlog in sem 8...:|...just 2 weeks b4 the most imp GD/PI of my life...bt this was the time that i decided to CONTINUE..not quit...coz i had worked 1.5 yrs to reach this stage...i could not quit now...:shocked:..with a great effort i consoled my mind...although mentally i was very stunned...i still remained optimistic...the GDPI happened...GD was good..PI was excellent..even the interviewers lauded me...:D..so i was happy for my performance..bt things were still uncertain...as in where would i go...would i get JBims?...would i clear the backlog?...would i be denied admission coz of that?...my TCS joining in early July...uska kya?...
11)CET result....The most tense moment of my life...i asked my dad to see result as i was too tensed...my mind could not take any more pressure...i was leaping in the air...when my dad told me result
GDPI score 29/34...:p
State rank : 34....(OPEN)
University rank :30.....(Mumbai University OPEN)
and i knew i was almost there....the final list came...then the CAP rounds...where i saw
Institute alloted :JBIMS...
bt the backlog is still there...i had a re exam on July 22(july 21st is my b'day...
..)...gave re xam...i cleared it......so now...as things stand...i wanted a top 10 b-school..in the IVY league...so TARGET ACHIEVED........
the journey ends here...this was my first and only attempt...:)..i was saved of a second attempt...:)
Few tips : 1)Keep achievable targets
2)Plan your things as per your ability
3)This is for those who want to have a chilled out life along with their preparation...but it involves lot of planning and scheduling of activities on a daily basis...so be careful...dont think that you can achive things by being just chilled out...it's that you can achieve things and still be chilled out...:)..i used to have many activities...swimming,football,gym,facebook..:oops:...then college,assignments...then occasionally partying...hang outs...:biggrin:..i know you won't believe it...bt why wud i lie??..;)
P.S...i used to always have a party..:drinking: a day before major exams to relax..(CAT,CET etc..)...others are advised not to follow me on this..
...:biggrin:...bt try not to study anything on the previous day...else your brain will be fatigued on D-Day and you won't be at your best...I don't advise yoga and meditation coz i didnt do it.....
P.S.S..there come times when you compare people and tend to get bogged down...even i had such times...i did engineering @ VJTI,mumbai...(Mumbaikars know it for sure....)...people getting stupendous placements compared with my average ones...people racing ahead each day...someone getting IIM A convert...someone with 95 in CAT got SPJIMR convert...:w00t:...i didnt get even a call @ 98.3..:w00t:..both being freshers.!!...:w00t:..such ridiculous things do happen in life..:biggrin:..:shocked:...:biggrin:...bt it depends whether you get bogged down...sometimes you start losing self-belief and motivation...for me everything was going against.....but i did keep fighting...till the end..:p..and this is the only thing what makes the achievement special!!...:)..:)..so keep going no matter what!!..:)
And finally...i would like to say...the saying..."QUITTERS don't WIN and WINNERS don't quit"...is true..atleast for my case...many people who get KTs do take the decision to quit...so be prepared for bloopers...include back up plans...your plan should not be hunky-dory...include all possibilities...FAILURES and bloopers as well..:)..failures should be a part of your plan..so that u won't get too much disturbed in case you flunk...you may say.."it was part of my plan"...:biggrin:...;)
Sorry for the long post...:)
Good Luck People...:thumbsup::thumbsup:
Regards,
Gaureesh(JBIMS MMS 2011-13)
wanted to post but could not...today let me do it...
school life:
...so, story starts long back from school dayz...when i was an average student who studied a day before exams and was happy with 60-65% marks...then came boards and pattern of studies changed, i started taking studies seriously...consequently % increased to 85 in 10th and 81 in 12th(though average now but it was considered good in 99' and 01')...i was not sure as what to do in future and also i belonged to an average middle class family so i could not afford the luxury of having FIITJEE or Kota coaching advantage...so i din take any coaching..my target was some average engg college...then results came JEE screening cleared with a gud rank..around 7000 in AIEEE and ard 3000 in UPSEAT...i thought WOW i can crack that..and decided to take one more chance...which was a common trend that time...next year i took some local coaching but it was not a difference maker and i left it few months later..again prepared by self...results were...JEE screening cleared, but not mains...AIEEE around 4000 state rank of 686...UPSEAT 1100...this time i had to take admission so took MNNIT allahabad...as allahabad was also my home town..
life in college:
well i was a dayscholar,(actually they had a policy of not giving hostels to local students as the intake increased and there were not enough rooms...this remained a pain in my ass for remaining 4 years...as my home was around 15 km from the college...)...
first year: it was chill...never bothered much about getting good grades...got something around 7.4 and 7.5 as cgpa...got into one-sided affair..which was disastrous...lost my focus and it costed me a lot of pain...
second year: again it was a recovery phase....(which was very) difficult...i managed 7.3 and 7.4 cgpa...one more thing was that my branch was a sub branch of mechanical with only 25 students and came under mechanical department...and consequently we were given leftover grades...there was a stigma associated with the branch...and profs also looked at cgpa before giving grades and gave similar grades..in other words there was no level playing ground...on the day of result of 4th sem...i wept...and promised my self that it'll never happen again...nd my target was to get overall cgp of more than 8 before i pass out...
third year:i started working hard...did some strategic changes in my approach...started focusing more on prof notes and less on reference books...and made sure that whatever is circulated in hostels...i also get a copy...results came...8.3 and 9.00...and boy i was happy...
fourth year:that was placement year...again my branch was a disadvantage...as very few companies allowed it...i cleared all written tests and all GDs but cud not convert interview...ultimately i decided to sit for TCS and to wait for better company in second round(fatal mistake)...got through it...nd started waiting....but it never happened...companies like DRDO, NTPC, IOCL, ONGC & EIL and lot many other companies came but we were not allowed...i felt ghetto-ed...and desperate...meanwhile i scored 9.36 in 7th term...and my overall cgpa crossed 8...last sem...not even a single company came for us..consequently i had to stick with TCS when even most stupidest of guy in mech got tata motors...last sem i really din bothered about the college i.e i din go for farewell and not even group pic...then i applied off-campus to SAIL and NTPC...ironically they allowed our branch off-campus...ultimately i had a good knowledge base and cleared SAIL exam(which most of the toppers could not..!)..din write NTPC as my SAIL interview was scheduled on same day..finally got selected in SAIL.....and in 8th sem i was expecting a perfect 10 but again some mech-prod issues occurred and i managed 8.4...never mind... i attained my goal of 8+...
work life @ SAIL:i joined SAIL as a management trainee...i had plans of going for MBA 2 years down the line so i was more than happy to get a management profile...first year was chill...but later it became tough...work conditions were xtremely tough...sound levels of 400db+...and average temperature of 55+...and no limit to work...i mean i was responsible for 24 hours...any problem and they would call u...moreover the work was not at all intellectual...well i will restrict my self here and talk about CAT part...
cat 2008: first attempt without much prep...managed 90+ with english 94.4% quant 91% and DI 30%..:shocked:....actually i got stucked in DI..and i was literally shaking in that section...my confidence touched a nadir in that section...the moment i got out i knew that it's over...never mind it was my first attempt...
cat 2009:i maintained a tight schedule sleeping just 4-5 hours a day after exhausting work...joined ims test series and started getting 95+ consistently...i got engaged also but just before the exam a disaster happened in my family...my elder brother expired...it was so unexpected and so painful...we were completely broken...no words can describe the loss and pain which i suffered...i tried to get out of it and do well in exam so that my parents may get some diversion....but again i am just a human...managed 97.1%...no calls...got spjain and IMT(which i filled after results..)..spjain i had most fantastic interview...still i was rejected...IMT i cleared...but decided not to join...
cat 2010:this time i was very much focused...i cut short any and every not effective activity...with zero social life...meanwhile my marriage was also slated for november...but i believed that i can do it...and final results are given in my signature...
---
key takeaways:don't compromise and don't give up...work hard...believe in your abilities...fight situations...life is not predictable...do anything and everything for your close ones...even in the most darkest hour don't lose hope...
All the best...
---
This has been due from the last two years. When I was preparing for CAT this used to be my favourite thread. I drew inspiration from many success stories here. THe best and most inspiring ones were where people achieved success after facing failure.
I haven't read this thread since 2009, i.e. after I got into IIM. I wanted to post this story, but just never sat down to write it. I don't know how the format is these days. I'll just post best according to how it used to be 2-3 years back. I hope someone can take away something from the story which inspires him/her, just like the stories on this forum at my prep time inspired me. Its not just a story about CAT. Its a life story. It starts from school, JEE prep, and goes on to CAT prep, and even beyond that, up untill I got my dream job!! so not just CAT aspirants, but even most people posting on this thread can probably take something away from it, assuming that most people coming to post would be the ones who are in some Bschool.
So I'll start my story from when I was back in school.
I was a good student till class 10th. That doesn't mean I sat on the front bench and was a teacher's pet. On the contrary, I was always notorious, used to play pranks in the class, always got complaints sent home about my being talkative and disturbing the class. But I managed to study regularly at home, studied hard during the exams and scored good marks.
JEE Take 1
I topped my school in class 10th, and like all good students, started dreaming about the IIT. Little did I know, it was going to be a much more turbulent path than I had imagined.
Come class 11th, I fell in love with a girl. Actually, I had a crush on her since 8th, but in 11th, we started talking. Life for the next 2 years was a roller coaster. I doubt many people have a love story like that in class 11th-12th. We became best friends, I eventually proposed, she rejected, mainly because her best friend had a crush on me. I set her best friend up with my friend, and she said yes to me after that. We had a very fulfilling affair that lasted for a year, but met turbulent weather when her parents got wind of it. We belonged to different communities, her parents were conservative, and were dead against anything intercaste. Moreover, it was Indore, in 1999... and we were in school. In short, nothing was in our favour. We couldn't fight back. I did try, but she gave up, and I can't really blame her.
Anyway, in the midst of all of this, studies had taken a backseat. Due to some bit of common sense , luck, and intelligence, I managed to clear JEE screening. But after that, there was not just the pressure of the break up, and a lot of crying, but also my parents got separated the same year.
I , ofcourse, flunked JEE mains, and I managed a meagure 68% in my class 12th (I hadn't ever scored below 90% before 11th). I didn't get any admissions of note, even through AIEEE, MPPET, and a bunch of other engineering entrances I had taken.
JEE Take 2
My parents, flustered by my tanking stock, sent me to Kota, in the hope that maybe away from the girl who had been the object of my attention the last couple of years, I'd pay attention and study. BUt I was still not over my break up. I got to know about her hanging out with other guys from her college, back in Indore, and I travelled twice in train toilets from Kota to Indore (coz I did not have money to buy tickets) just to meet her. She refused to meet me both the times, but the second time her brother did find out and met me with his friends, with hockey sticks. They Didn't touch me thankfully, they just wanted to scare me. And I did get scared.
My parents got to know of my trips, and I was given a lot of grief and final warning that if I don't change my ways they would just disenroll me and admit me to some BSc course. I had given up on my girl anwyay, given that she hadn't bothered/dared to meet me after such effort filled trips. But it wasn't all that easy. I couldn't bring myself to study, I was heartbroken. I had a void to fill, I wanted to forget her, get over her. To distract myself, I made some friends, started smoking and Drinking. I used to get away from the pain of my heartbreak by sitting in cybercafes and watching movies, spending whole nights at the chaiwala having chai and sutta and chatting with friends. I did clear screening again, and I did manage to study a lil bit towards the end, and cleared mains but with a 4018 rank which didn't fetch me anything but NIFFT ranchi which was affiliated with JEE for just that one year. I managed VIT vellore comp sci through AIEEE, and that was the option I chose.
JEE Take 3...
I was all set to leave, but the day before I was to take the train southwards, my father intervened, and said that he believed if I studied hard, like really put in effort whole heartedly, I could improve my rank. I believed so too. But everyone else in our family was against it. I had already wasted one year to no avail, they said. But my father stood by me, we stood our ground and I took the huge risk of dropping a second year. It was a huge gamble. If I managed to make it to IIT, it would indeed pay off, but if I did not, I would be so low on confidence, and so outdone by life that I would probably consider myself a loser forever. I would go to a college I could have made it to the previous year, and forever in Life I would face tough questions of why I wasted my time. It was a big risk to take, but I took it anyway. So for that one year, I stayed at home, Studied hard. I hardly spoke to anyone but my family for that one year. I didn't call anyone (all my school friends were in 2nd year college and I hadn't even entered. It was weird to talk to anyone anyway. I had lost my own respect in my eyes actually.) . But finally the one year of hermitage paid off and I cleared JEE with an improved rank of 1585. To keep me away from distractions (read more access to girls) cities like Delhi and Mumbai would offer, my dad insisted I go to IIT Madras, and this time I took his advice. {Disclaimer - This is Not to say that Chennai doesn't have any women, I still think Shruti Hassan is one of the prettiest girls in the country, but well lets just say Delhi/Mumbai girls were more my type, and my parents knew that too}
IIT dayz
I was never fond of studying and took it a little light at IIT too. I actually thought that now that I was in IIT, the world was my oyster and I did not need to work hard now, life would sort itself out anyway. I performed well in subjects that interested me, not so well in subjects that did not. I was doing okay till term 4, with an average CGPA of 7.8 . but term 4, I flunked two courses. It wasa a wake up call, and thankfully I didn't snooze the alarm. I recovered from the damage in term 5, and even got a foreign internship after 3rd year etc. I was in Biotechnology, and like most people in my branch, and as per the precedent set by my seniors, thought the easiest career option was the do an MS-PhD in the US(which was not too tough to get given that we had a lot of IIT-M alumnus as professor/PhD candidates there). I took my GRE and TOEFL and did well in them (300/300 and 1500/1600) . I was all set to start applying and get the hell out of IIT. But then , I took an exam which changed my life.
To be contd..
Part 2..
A New Direction...
Yes.. It was an open mock test. I was lazing about on a Sunday, when some of my friends woke me up and asked me to get ready. I asked them what it was for, and they said it was a CAT mock in the city. I said I didn't even know what sections CAT had. I could sure as hell not do much in the mock. They said it was free, and I should come along as they planned a movie and dinner after the mock. Now we were always short of Cash and IIT was far off from the movie theater etc, so if I did not go with them I would have to go alone later, or miss the fun. If I went alone, the Auto would have cost me a 100 Rs one way, which was really costly by my standards coz I got limited cash from home. So I decided to go with them. I thought , how bad could sitting 2.5 hrs thru an exam could be. It was definitely worth saving the 100 bucks.
The exam started, and I decided to solve it, just to make the 2.5 hrs go by faster. I didn't even have a pencil, I borrowed it from the center. I had no clue what the fullform of DI was, trust me, but I still managed to do the questions as they were mostly common sense. English I was already good at coz of my GRE prep, and Maths.. well I had cleared JEE. I found myself flowing freely through the exam. I thought maybe everyone would have done well. But when the result came out around a week later, to my utter surprise, I had scored a scintillating 99.3%ile. I got a lot of taunts like 'chupa rustam', 'kitne time se prep kar raha hai' etc, and my friends wouldn't believe for the life of me that much less prepare, I hadn't even known much about the exam till then. That was when I looked at IIM placements and what they entailed. I thought if I could get a 99.3 in a mock without prep, I had a good shot to score a good percentile if I prepared. Moreover, the coaching institute called me and offered me a really discounted price for their test series. I took it.
I started doing really well mock after mock. Success begets success, it is true, for when a reputation started forming around campus that I was one of the guys to watch out for as far as CAT was concerned, I put in even more effort to prove myself. I was consistently in All India top 100 of TIME. I found the preparation actually interesting, as opposed to JEE prep which I found almost put me o sleep, esp Chemistry. The problems were shorter, mocks were more about strategy, and right choices of which questions to attempt, how much time to devote to which section, how to make sure you cleared sectional cutoffs as well as maximized overall score. Preparation was more about fine tuning certain skills than learning new stuff from thick books. It was probably the first exam I put in effort for in my life. I was so confident that I'd clear it that I did not apply to any foreign schools for MS/PhD. My friends said why are u wasting ur GRE/TOEFL, i said well I think i've finally found something I've good at. I hate biotechnology. I'd much rather pursue the post MBA careers. Moreover, I might get to stay in India!..
CAT Take 1
CAT though, was a disaster. While I aced the Maths and DI sections, the English section in that year was horrible. No offence to anyone setting/clearing/managing the exam, but I personally thought that the options in the English passages were so close together that in the 'what is the author most likely to think' question after the passages, even the author would probably be confused as to what he was most likely to think. Anyway, I got a mere 13/100 in English, nowhere near the cutoff. So inspite of an overall 99+ score, I didn't get any IIM calls, and hadn't filled any other forms.
I sat in campus placements at IIT, and I didn't even have a shot in the first 2-3 days of placements when the top consults and banks (Lehman, Mckinsey) etc visited. Even when i started getting shortlisted (The Deloittes and ITC phase - which again was limited for me because Biotech wasn't really a preferred branch by most) I didn't make the cut, coz in the last round, invariably questions arose about my class 12th score. and 2 years of gap in education (Arghhh). I managed to get an averagish job on the 12th day of placements (the later the day, the worse the job, although the placecom would never admit it). I decided to take it and take a shot again at CAT. After all, things couldn't go wrong twice in a row. I was good, I knew it.
CAT Take 2
I managed to get past IIT with some more adventures, like getting a Project extension etc, and moved to DElhi. I started working, and before I knew it, it was mock season again. I did extremely well in mocks this time around (was a regular in All India TOp 10 in CL, and even got All India Rank 1 in 2 of the 8 mocks) and they offered me classroom coaching even though I was just a test series student. They took me to a boot camp, asked me to attend any classes of any topic i was uncomfortable in, in any batch. I was given VIP treatment. I was quite confident of clearing CAT. I remember it as clear as crystal. Coming back from a mock, calculating the score, discussing the mock on PG and other forums, and then the result coming out midweek, getting a good rank, and then dreaming about being in an IIM. Dreaming about my friends and family congratulating me, that dude, despite what happened till now, you finally made it. The toppers of my IIT branch calling me from their good universities in US and congratulating me, saying that dude, u got the best crack. The feeling when other mock takers in my office asked about my result the next day, and I proudly told them, and then they were like, this dude is going to IIMs for sure. It felt wonderful. And it gave more fuel to my passion and I put in even more effort.
Meanwhile, this was 2007, and the economy was at the peak of boom, and many of the IIT grads who had joined my firm with me, moved to much juicier jobs within just 3-4 months of us joining. I had the same options too, and infact was called by a few recruiters, but all the offers I got required me to move to Bombay or Bangalore, and I did not want to disrupt my CAT prep. So I gave up on those jobs, and decided to just stick it and keep preparing. IIMs were calling out to me, after all.
come C-day though, and English was like a bouncer. And this time around, even the answer keys of institutes did not match. I was getting a score between 12 (min) - 44 (max) in english. I started praying real hard. The cutoff was expected to be low. The result came out a month later. I sstill remember it reading on my cellphone. Got it through SMS. Don't remember the scores, but I remember the percentiles. Overall 99.35%ile. DI 100%ile, QA 99.88%ile, English 31%ile. ENGLISH 31%ile!! It went through me like a hot iron. I had 4/100 in English. THat was lesser than the minimum possible score I had expected. The IIM Key had answeres different in even questions that all institutes agreed on. I was in a shock. It was as if my dream had finally been shattered. Failing twice, was something I wasn't prepared for. I could be unlucky once. Not twice!! I had topped the entire country in DI/LR but still couldn't get a single IIM call.
CAT No More....
For the first time.. I was faced by the reality, that I would have to work in a job that wasn't really my first choice. I mean, till that point, it was a whirlwind. I had moved to a new city, and the initial few days of the job were a honeymoon, with Training going on which was only for a few hours a day. I had made a lot of new friends with like minded people, had a lot of fun.. partying after work and on weekends. And then the mocks began so they took much of the focus. So I hadn't really got time to stand back and evaluate life till then. I treated my job as a place which gave me money to spend some time at while I prepared for CAT. I never took it seriously, never tried to learn anything there. But It hit me then that I had 1.5 yrs at the very minimum I had to spend at that place. And that was a really sad thought.
I somehow scraped through my time. I began hating the IIMs and the godforsaken CAT. I hated them that they set papers which were so unreasonable. If I had topped Mocks, not once, but consistently over two years, I definitely deserved to atleast had a shot at the GDPI. I knew people who I thought to be much less deserving, who never crossed 95%ile in mocks, and had still got calls. That made me feel much worse. I was in no mood to take the exam again actually. I decided I had wasted too many hopes on it.
GMAT & CFA..
I started thinking of other venues. I dared to think beyond the IIMs (no no.. not abt THAT! ). I decided to take the GMAT. but CAT had shattered my confidence so badly that I didn't know if I could do well in that. I bought Princeton review and the OG and started preparing, and within a week I took my first mock and got 780/800. But by this point, I had stopped trusting mocks. It seemed that they were mocking me, nothing more. I continued with prep, for another 3 weeks, just studying over weekends.
I didn't have a lot of hopes when I went to the exam center, I didn't have a score in mind. I had done exceedingly well on the mocks, but like I said, that didn't mean anything to me. The exam started, and ended, and my score came up on the screen. 760/800. I was in the top 1%ile of test takers. Just like that. I hadn't even have to put in a total of 40 hrs of effort. Some of my much needed confidence came back. It was like redemption. I wasn't so bad after all. The mocks did not lie. CAT did. I hated CAT all the more. I decided to apply to foreign schools, and forget about IIMs.
But I found to my chagrin, that most of them required a minimum of 2 years of work ex at the time of application, and I wouldn't have that before all the application deadlines were well over for this year. So if I went the GMAT way I'd have to slog for another 2.5 yrs at this place at the minimum. Ofcourse I could take another job, but the thing with me was, if I knew that what I was doing wasn't what I was going to do my whole life, I wouldn't excel at it. I was atleast comfortable in my current job. It required minimal effort from my side, (not that I was unprofessional, the expectations themselves were pretty low, and I just met them, rather than trying to do my best and take more responsibility). To take my mind of things and keep myself busy, I decided to take the CFA exam and learn a lil bit about finance. I was in IT for an investment bank anyway, and the company had a policy of reimbursing ur CFA fee if you cleared the exam. I studied hard for CFA level 1, and managed to clear it. I also found myself taking an active interest in the content. I liked finance. And more than anything else, I decided I wanted to be an investment banker. Not only did it pay the most, It also was something I found interesting.
CAT forms came out, and I decided to just go ahead and buy it, because a few friends were going to buy it. For most people fresh into the IT Industry, CAT was like an annual festival for the first 3-4 years anyway, till they gave up on it. It was just a ritual people went through. Like buying a lottery ticket. If u got it, great, if not, life's okay anyway. I procastinated filling up the form and filled it quite late, just in time rather. I did not want to attach any emotions with CAT. It had bitten me twice. I was definitely shy.
ISB....
Around mid september, a friend told me that ISB admissions had opened up. The website said they needed a minimum of 2 years workex. But my friend asked me to go ahead with it anyway. He suggested that if nothing else, going through the whole admission procedure would give me experience, which would help me with my application the next year to ISB and foreign Bschools. It wasn't too costly either. So I decided to give it a shot.
I wrote the essays really well, but didn't take any professional help. I was just honest. Just wrote my life's story. Wrote what I really felt. I never thought I had a chance anyway, so I did not indulge in any decorations, or revising, rereading, sending it out to people, institutes etc. I just wrote what came to my heart, just like I'm writing this post.
I pretty much forgot the application after I had filled it, but a month later, I was sitting and drinking at my friends place after work and randomly opened my Gmail, and to my surprise I found an EMail from ISB stating that my interview was a week later. It was a shocker, give that I was short of workex. I thought well, so much for experience. I prepared hard for the next one week, going through the PG thread and looking at past years interview experiences. I made a list of the FAQs that applied to me, thought of impressive answers to them and made notes. I rehearsed answering the few expected opening questions in front of the mirror. I got a new suit. On the interview day, I was calm and composed, especially because I did not consider this a make or break interview of my life, but rather went in with the mindset of gaining experience. The interviewers were very nice to me. They didn't touch upon the topic of my 12th score or 2 years gap. They just quizzed me on my future aspirations and goals which is the way it should be. They found me to be a good communicator with clear ideas on what I wanted to do in life in the future.
At the end of the interview, they said, that they don't have a policy of spot offers but they would definitely say I did exceedingly well, and asked me that just in case they were to offer me a deferred admit for the following, since I did not have sufficient workex to be admitted to this year's batch, would I be okay with it. I said ofcourse, yes. A bird in hand is better than N in the bush. And ISB was doing well in all those FT rankings anyway. It couldn't be so bad, I thought.
CAT Take 3.
CAT came closer, but I was hardly bothered. Well, the weekend before CAT I did take a couple of mocks I had kept with me from last year. I guess, it was just human. The eve before CAT I just looked at the maths formlae for a few hours. I had no high hopes. If I couldn't get through with hardcore prep the last two years, I definitely didn't stand a chance when my total prep this year was around 10 hours.
As soon as I saw the paper, and realized they had made the English section 160/360 and the remaining two 100 each, therefore increasing the weightage of English more than before, I lost all hope. I thought I'd just go to the English section first, see how it was, and then if it was as bad as before, probably not waste a lot of time getting another heartbreaking 100%ile in DI. I went through the first passage, and looked at the questions, and to my surprise they were straightforward. Ditto the second paassage, and ditto the third. My confidence was back. This was like a mock. I realized, English was actually teh section I could maximise my score in.. I was confident of clearinng the cut off for the first time in 3 years. I rushed to the DI, and did a few caselets. Enough to make sure I waas beyond the cutoff. All my previous skill in assessing how much the cutoff should be for what level of toughness was coming back. It comes with practice, its not an exact science, but once you take enough mocks, you just know how much you need to do to be able to clear the cutoff by a decently safe margin, and then you know what section to do to maximise your score. For me, surprisingly, English was the section. I went to maths, and because I was out of practice, I was cautious to not touch the topics I wasn't very well versed in. I only took the more generic topics, with easier questions. I went home and calculated the score. Now I know, CAT these days is online and all, but trust me, the Paper based format had a certain romanticism to it. For one, entire India took the same exam. The questions were discussed for days after the exam. All the coaching institutes came up with Answer keys a few hours after the exam, and then expected cutoffs after assessing a good number of data points provided by their students. You could never forget the evening following the CAT. I went to a friends place and we all aclculated our scores based on the various coaching institues keys. Because English section was straightforward, The answer keys weren't too different. I was getting a great score by any standards.
I enjoyed the next 2 months tremendously, for I had an ISB admit and was expecting BLACKI calls. I was on top of the world. My hatred for IIMs had evaporated away. I think it had been a case of sour grapes anyway. Finally, the result came, and apparantly people at Deloitte were able to see it a day before everyone else could. Somehow. I have no clue. I messaged a friend of mine at Deloitte and she gave me back a screenshot on email of my result page. It was the most beautiful webpage I had ever seen. Except for on exception. The scores were quite good. 99.92 Total... English and DI 99.96 and 99.90 respectively (English 99.96! After the HUMILIATION. It was a just redemption). Quant was 96.02, I think as a result of too few mocks and a little butterflies in the exam. But the shocking part was, the IIM Calls I had. It said CLIK.
For one day I was in Denial, that probably, since the offical result day hadnt come through, The call list was not complete. But when the actual result came out the next day, the page looked exactly the same. CLIK.No A. No B. Period. I couldn;t believe it. I thought well, maybe it was Quant, but calls to a few friends with slightly lower quant percentiles confirmed that it wasn't Quant.
I could understand why B wouldn't give me a call. With a 68% in class 12th, I did not stand a chance based on their 'Academic' criteria. And to be honest, I didn't mind much. B was never my dream college. But I was hurt about A. A had always given calls based on purely CAT scores. True, I would have had a hard time explaining the holes in my CV in the interview, but ISB interview had prepared me well for that.
BUt I did realize, that the exact year that I cleared CAT, was the exact year IIMA decided to apply the past-perfect Criteria. Giving very high weightage to 10th and 12th scores. Now I couldn't explain that I was in love. I coildn't explain that my parents were going through a divorce during my 12th boards. I couldn't explain that I did go on to Clear JEE after the hole I was in where I was almost going to Kill myself. I could have explained it had they given me a chance. Atleast had called me for an interview, after I had finally managed to clear the reckless barrier after 3 trials. It was as if destiny did not want me to go to a dry state. What else could explain this. that first I couldn't clear English, A language I am not so bad at, and then A changes its criteria without any pre-warnings. I wanted to sue the Gujjus. aRgghhh.
Well, I hated A and all the snootyness it stood for (at that point, Don't feel so now) . So I started worshipping C and all that it stood for instead. Not that C was by any means second to A. But I guess its just the rankings and the reputation , that in general aspirants at that time considered A better. But I spoke to some seniors, and looked at the placement figures, and realized, that while A was good, undoubtedly, C was no lesser. C had the exact same firms visiting it for placements, and had instead been tiptoeing slightly ahead of A in placement figures the past few years. Moreover, the reverrent Investment banks, which I wanted to go to, actually somewhat preferred C. It was considered the place to be to enter the BFSI.
GDPI
So I set about preparing for the GDPI, with complete fervour. JOined coaching classes, entered the Rat race again. I wasn't so sure what I would choose between IIMC and ISB. It would be a tough decision, because I had already associated myself with ISB and had attended meets, met their alumni and people who made it that year. I had read about the place, vouched for it on forums, spread more awareness about it to people who thought there was no school parallel to IIMs in India. I had read blogs by ISBians, read about their swimming pool dunkings, the parties, the kind of professors coming, the batch profile, the 25% women in the batch, all those things. Anyway, I wasn't really sure, But i thought I'd atleast have a crown of converting one of the Big 3, wouldn't be bad for my 2 CAT smashed ego. I thought I would cross the bridge of what to choose what I came to it. I wasn't going to count my chickens before they hatched. A problem of plenty isn't such a bad problem.
So I went regularly to classes, and I actually did well in the Mock GDPIs. I did have the problem of talking a lot, as u can make out from my long winded post. That was corrected in the first few sessions and then I was good to go. Thankfully the order was IKLC, so that I could treat IKL as Net practice. I was quite sure I wouldn't join these 3 schools, as amazing as they are, but I just thought I'd prefer ISB. My I, K and L GDPIs were amazingly smooth. I was able to lead the GDs, yet maintain the right balance and not overdominate them. PIs I impressed my interviewers like anything. Maybe it was because I was under 0 performance pressure. It was like India playing a league match in the world cup after having already qualified for the next stage.
However, C was completely different. For one, the GD had 11 people, one of the largest groups I saw in an IIM GD. THe GD was 10 minutes, towards the shorter end. All of them were men (a single lady in a GD can infuse peace, order and good behavior), and the topic was abstract. Artists should learn mathematics. Everyone has something to say about such an extract topic. Everyone wanted to take the lead as the stakes were very high. People wanted to be heard. People wanted to change the direction of the GD all the time. It became a fish market in no time. And then the confusion ensued for a full 10 minutes, and then abruptly we were stopped. The moderator then asked people to summarize the GD, and I was asked to do it in the end. Now even though I had not heard much in the GD, busy trying to make my own point, I had definitely heard the 10 people summarize before me. BUt I thought I'd just not repeat their points and sound like a parrot. I tried to give a different angle to the summary trying to cover points that had not been covered by others. This probably didn't go too well with the moderators, who were none too happy with the GD fallout anyway.
And therefore, what followed in the PI, can only be described as waht happened to Mithunda's on-screen sister in most of his movies. They started by literally scolding me for the chaotic GD, and when I proclaimed that there was nothing I could have done, they told me I could have infused order by asking people to calm down. arghhh! And then they went on to serially accuse me of not hearing as shown by my way-off summary, and then followed on to rag me about my past academics, my 'average' IIT CGPA, the other holes .. And also new ones I had never realized. I tried to wriggle out of the 12th question by saying I was ill. Obviously I did not want to mention the family problems and the break up. But I guess when you are dishonest, these people can see right through it, and it further ruined my impression. Infact the immidiate retort was - 'Fine you were ill in 12th. Were you ill in your whole graduation too?'. Then followed weird Questions. Let me give an example - P: What are your hobbies.. M : Sir I love to Travel, write.. P (Cutting me short) : Where have u travelled? M: Sir In India I have been to Kashmir, Himachal (I thot I'd go north to south, then Europe etc) P (Cutting me short) : Where in Himachal? M: Sir Shimla, Kullu-Manali, Kufri P: (cutting me short) : Tell me something about Kufri. M: (thinking-WTF! I had gone there when I was like
.. Sir.. Kufri.. umm.. Sir apples are grown there. P: That is true for Entire Himachal pradesh. TEll me about kufri. M: (remembering that I had a pic of me sitting on a Yak.. only memory I had of Kufri) - Sir There is Yak Farming in Kufri. P(looking at me amazed) : What? M: Yes Sir. THey breed yaks and then sell them to toher parts of the state. P: (Looking at me in disbelief): Are u sure? M: Yes sir. P: I don't think so. I was already low on confidence and thus fumbled with even simple CFA questions they asked me on seeing CFA L1 on my CV. They got into FSA, Differences between GAAP and IFRS. I fumbled badly and answered the complete opposite of what I was going to say. It was a Stress Interview, and I was totally stressed out, for this was the one important interview I had after a long time!Anyway, the Interview ended on a bad note.. with two of the profs making this verbatim conversation: "Sir Economics ka kuch poochna hai? isne college me elective liya tha" "Chhodo, isko basic accounting to yaad nahi, economics kya hi yaad hoga. chhodo sir, why waste our time" "OKay N***, thank you. All the best for your other interviews, prepare better for them. Do u have any other interviews left" "No sir already done with my other calls". "Oh.. well, all the best" (I think he meant to say - God save you). So well, My confidence was rattled. But I kept hoping for the best.
And the best happened. On the result day, I had cleared all 4 of my calls. CLIK final callgetter. Maybe it was the 99.92 that put me in thru C inspite of the horrible GDPI. I was happy. I called my office, took the day off. I spent the day talking to atleast 10 different knowledgable people, including Alumni from IIMC and ISB, some cousins of mine well placed in the industry, other couple of people I could bounce thoughts of, and Decided on IIMC. To this day, I love and respect ISB a lot, but basically the factors which made my decision were - Better Ibank placements at IIMC, Better profile fit (I thot I had less workex, and of a lower quality, for ISB), Lesser fee at IIM, more recognized brandname, and the jingle to the term 'IIT-IIM Grad'. Having made my decision, I threw a party in the evening for friends, spent a good half month's salary on the bill, had some emotional farewell speeches given by drunk close friends, danced, slept at 4. I got up with a bad hangover in the morning, but I was still happy and smiling. I logged into my Gtalk, and I got a message from a friend saying that IIMC results had been withdrawn and would be put up after revision. I felt like someone had just kicked me where it hurt the most. I spent an Anxious day, and the results came back on. My result said 'You are on Hold'. Now I wasn't really on a Telephone that I would be put on hold. This was the most awkward situation to be in. I didn't know if I was in or not. I had announced to the whole world I was in (Obviously! I saw it on their website). I had told my boss I was going to resign. Thankfully I hadn't actually resigned. The calls made to IIMC admissions office remianed unanswered. It was a Saturday afterall. and it was status quo for 2 days. The 2 complete days were literally spent on PG, Possibly on one of the threads which was to gather the most posts in the shortest times among all threads I had seen on PG. People came up with their own theories, some comforting some distressing.
Finally on Monday, the Admissions office gave the answer. On hold was a sort of a waitlist. which had a priority over the other waitlist they had announced on the result day. What had happened was this - IIMs, and many other institute, typically give out more admits than the seats, based on Historical data about the number of candidates accepting their offers out of offers made. IIM-C, in previous years, had had a massive overlap with IIM-A, because both had the same criteria for shortlisting - CAT scores, and most students back then chose IIM-A. Thus C gave out more admits than seats. Now this year, that pattern suddenly changed as A introduced Academic criteria for shortlisting. The overlap between A and C was much lesser than expected. Therefore, C realized after giving out the results, that they had made a faux pas. They had probably given out too many offers, and there might be a scenario where acceptances might be more than the number of seats. Increasing seats was not an option - For one, the seats had been increased to 408 in view of the Reservation coming in and institute responding by increasing total seats. The facilities on campus were already under a lot of stress. New hostels were under construction but would take time to build. In the meantime, the 408 would be accomodated with some trouble, with some people having to live in dorms. Therefore increasing seats wasn't an option.
Ofcourse, we candidates who had first got the admit and then were put on hold had our own point of view. For many of us, most of us who didn't have A/B admits, rather, this was probably the biggest achievement of our lifetimes. Getting an IIMC Admit. As a natural reaction, people had told all and sundry about the admit when they got it. Their parents had boasted about it to their neighbours, distant relatives had called to congratulate, they had thrown parties for their friends, got a celebratory kiss from their girlfriends, told their office guys they are going to resign etc. Thus they felt shortchanged that such a thing should be dangled in front of them for a day and taken away. They say its better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. Well it definitely wasn't the same for clearing IIMC. And thus the reactions were filled with anger, frustration, helplessness. Things were getting tougher at work too, where the boss was saying that if u got to resign, do it. And I just couldn't I don't know how others handled it, I lied about being confused between ISB and IIMC and wanting to delay my decision. Every week he said that resign.. or else u wud have a problem with the notice period. everytime I somehow talked my way out of it. That IIMC admissions office wasn't professional enough to face the issue didn't make it any easier. We recieved no answers to questions we had. Like when would the On hold fate become clearer, how many total admits were given, how many on hold candidates were there.. In fact we asked for our on hold number - waitlist number, if u will, for there had to be a waitlist number if it was a waitlist- and we weren't given any.
The Then current students of IIMC and even some Alums though, tried their best to soothe nerves, and be apologetic on behalf of the institute. At this point, all we needed was someone to tell us they understood, and these guys did that job well. Ofcourse, even they didn't have the power to change anything, and none of them was at campus since it was vacation time, so they couldn't provide us any information either, but they did our best to keep us calm.
A week later, the admissions office started giving out the on-hold numbers. Mine was 31. From PG, it became clear that the total onhold candidates were 65. The people who had been given waitlist initially lost hope at this point, as the guy with waitlist #1 was now effectively #66. The focus shifted to the onhold guys. Various spreadsheets and mathematical models made their appearance on PG everyday. It was as if everything in the world became irrelevant. All that mattered were those seats being given to us. There were google spreadsheets doing the rounds, and onholders were in constant touch , accessing PG from their dorm rooms or offices all day. We found out people who had A-C and B-C admits and were chosing the other college over C. A list of such people was compiled and the longer this list became, the more the hopes were raised. Infact, the seniors from IIMC stopped pitching IIMC on forums and to their GDPI Mentees. Infact if someone had an admit from A/B, they actually asked them to choose that. Even they wanted that all the on hold guys would be in, just so that no one is left feeling shortchanged.
Most people already with admits also supported us, but soon they wanted to do away with the discussion and focus on their upcoming Joka life. Therefore a separate thread for onholders was constituted. Anyway, days passed slowly. The Admissions office gave us a date. Nothing happened on that date, but a second date was given. And on that one, a third. Sunny deol's dialogue from Damini comes to Mind. 'Tareeq pe tareeq tareeq pe tareeq.. insaaf nahi milta, milti hai to bas tareeq'.. Finally, around a month after the reverted result, they announced that the first 20 on hold ranks had final admits, and that no more shall be converted. I felt horrible. I had come so close to my dream, even touched it for a day. The last 3 years flashed before my eyes, the 2 unsuccessful CATtempts, the final successful one, the GDPI prep, all those hours of dreams, the last 30 strenous days hoping against hope that I'll make it. I was too shattered to even talk to anyone. And the reality that I would have to pass another year working my job before I joined ISB. And ofcourse, to face the public ignominy- "tera to IIMC clear ho gaya tha na. Fir kya hua".
Redemption..(and CFA2)
Another 10 days passed. I had stopped accessing PG. I went through my days at office like a Zombie. I had killed my social life. It was almost like facing a break up. Then suddenly, once when I was in office, I got a call. "IIM-C admissions office - the lady said. We want to congratulate you on being admitted to the PGDM program at our institute. We have mailed you the....." I didn't listen ahead for I was jumping up and down in Joy in the middle of my cubicle. Everyone was looking at me shocked. I just ran outside to continue the conversation. Ofcourse I did not resign this time till I got the actualy documents via courier the next day. Once bitten twice shy I guess. But I forgave IIMC for everything. And to my delight, the On hold had cleared till 40, and another 10 days later, it cleared till 54. (All of the on hold guys had got so close that we actually prayed for the ones still to get an admit, and thankfully, a week after we entered, the last bunch of onholders also got through. The last guy completed our batch of 408. Destiny..)
Anyway, I somehow fought my way through my resignation. Interesting story there but its off topic and this post is getting too long. So I had 20 days to go before I had to go to Cal, and I had my CFA level 2 just 3 days before I had to join Joka. tHe devil in me said, screw it, lets not take the exam, lets have fun. we've cleared IIMC! .. but the sane me said, your CV could use that, for you hve a lot of holes. Thankfully Sanity prevailed. I thought fun could wait. My last day of office was 29th May, and I partied like crazy after leaving work that day. The next day was spent nursing the hangover, but 31st May to 6th June, for 7 days, I did nothing but study. I hadn't studied much during thewhole On Hold fiasco, and CFA 2 isn't easy. So for 7 days and 7 nights, I ate, drank and slept CFA. I locked myself up in my house and just studied. Went to Mumbai on the 7th, took the exam on the 8th. (I cleared it 😃 ) . And then came back, packed my stuff up in a day, and took the Train for Joka.
The first few days at Joka were the absolute most fun I've had. Meeting new people, making new friends, new classes, new hopes, new dreams.. no more going to the office every morning, Awesome conversations on the dinner table at the mess.. the confidence, that I was amongst Achievers..
But soon, we ran into the the fundamental truth every Bschooler has to face in term 1. Summers is just a tad bit away. With all my enthusiasm I set about preparing my CV, and studying for summers. I also did quite well in term 1, given that I had already covered Accounting, economics and Statistics in my CFA. The other courses, BS and Marketing were more Theoritical in nature, and because I didn't have to study the other three, I could give them more time. Anyway, so I did really well in term 1 and got the 20th Rank in my batch. I also did a good job of preparing my CV. Not that I could improve on the points I had, the verification process at college was very strict and not a single made up point could go through. But I did my best to show the points I had in the best way possible. there was no way I could cover up the obvious gaps in my CV though. I have to thank the seniors who spent hours with me trying to ,make my CV look better. I must have met like 50 seniors and they were always selflessly helpful.
Placement season came nearer, and most free time was spent in the library studying for the interview. CFA 2 on my CV was like a double edged sword. I would be expected to know more than the average 1st year MBA student. That was something that could go in my favour if I answered the questions correctly, but which would go against me if I did not.So I revised the syllabus all over again just so that I don't mess up. I read other stuff more pertinent to markets, like Hull, Vault guides and what not. I also kept a daily track of news, read in depth blogs to the pertinent financial issues. Prepared personals. Did everything I possibly could. I would again reiterate, that The best thing about IIMC was, the senior junior bonding, and that helped a lot. You could literally approach any senior any time, to understand something, take their advice, or a mock interview.
THen the shortlsits started pouring in. Day 0 shortlists came before the process. day 0.5 onwards,the shortlists came during the process. The consults came first. I did not get a single day 0 consulting shortlist. People who got shortlists had huge grins on their faces, and were not trying to conceal it at all. They were the stars of the campus. Yes. It was always that way in the first half of first year. People had come in all charged up and with high hopes. Every single person on campus was an achiever in their own right. And the time before placements had been full of pressure. People spent nights preparing for it. Making their CVs, preparing for interviews, Attending company PPTs, all of this apart from regular classes, term projects, quizzes, assignments and exams! People were always short of time. As far as I look at my IIMC life wholistically, real friendships were forged only after summers. Till summers, everyone was competition.
So after my consult dream (not that it was a dream, it was always banks, but still, who doesn't like getting shortlists?) was shattered, I was despondent, but my friends boosted my morale was saying, that when the banks shortlists come out, I'll be the star. That did not turn out so when the first bank shortlist came out. I was shocked. BUt I thought well, maybe an exception. After that, as the bank shortlists started coming in, one every 2-3 days, I did not have any shortlist. 6-7 banks passed that way, and I was in disbelief. I even contacted the placecom to confirm if it was my correct CV going to the banks (as we had diff CVs for diff sectors, and I hadn't highlighted finance as much in the marketing CV, I began wondering if my Marketing CV was reaching the banks!) But it wasn't so. The correct CV was being sent. I almost gave up on preparation. I contacted a few seniors from IIT who were working in Banks, and they told me the reason was that banks looked at the 10th and 12th scores too. There was very little to choose from between candidates at summers time. Especially as our CVs were made before the First term result and therefore did not have term 1 scores/ranks.
So essentially, it meant the ghost of my 68% hadn't left me even though I had conquered the CAT and got into one of the top Bschools in the country. It was a mistake made in the past I just couldn't do anything about, and yet every step of the way, I kept paying the price for it. Be it IIT placements, IIM calls, IIM interviews, or now IIM placements. I was always left shortchanged because of that one mistake. Or rather, that one circumstantial result. I wanted to askthe banks the same question I asked IIMA. If I got 68% in class 12th, does it really matter, given that I cleared JEE and CAT and CFA2. But apparantly, everyone on my campus had cleared CAT, and a lot of them had cleared JEE too. I heard banks make excel sheets inputting 10th, 12th, and graduation marks, sorted them, and then eliminated the bottom few, thus making a sort of cutoff. Probably no one was even looking at my CV. I just got deleted on an Excel sheet.
Finally, when I had given up hope, as was the normal pattern in my life, a good news came calling. A certain top investment bank had shortlisted me. Moreover, they had a small shortlist, of just 20, whereas most shortlists were around 60-70. That just meant a better shot at selection. I was elated. I spent the entire night reading up about the bank. I wanted to ace this interview. It just might be the most important interview in my life. I wanted to be the best informed about their bank among their 20 candidates. The other 19 had multiple shortlists already. THey wouldn't be as focussed on this particular bank. I didn't bother that the 2-3 other banks after this one did not shortlist me. I was in love with this one. I did get 4 more shortlists, but 3 of them were from what were considered lower rung IBs on campus. 1 was from a good one, almost equal to the one I had. Lets call them IB1 and IB2 in the order that I got the shortlists.
So, placement day came, and till then, I was almost sure to prefer IB1 over IB2. Ofcourse it would also depend on who the banks wanted to interview (as in their 'hotlist' . Yes. just a shortlist wasn't enough) , but we had to fill a preference list too. The schedulers tried to optimize the process as much as possible so that the candidates and companies preference were both considered as much as possible. Anyway, so the day before day 0, we had an interaction session with the banks, each lasting approximately an hour, after which another one started, but the candidates who didn't have the next shortlist could further interact with the bank they were shortlisted with after the time slot. Here is where i Decided to make a difference. Those with multiple shortlists would have to move from Interaction to Interaction. I just had 5, and 2 which I was really keen on. So in the interaction of IB2, I created very positive vibes with the gentleman from HK who was to interview me the next day. We had an in depth discussion on some nuances of markets, which I was able to carry on very well with thanks to my good preparation. He was sufficiently impressed, and indicated that if I go to him tomorrow morning he just might give me an offer. IB1 interaction was later, and more informal in nature, but I impressed the gentlemen there too. Only, no hint was given as to the following day. So late in the night, I re-edited my preference to fill IB2 above IB1. I rolled around restlessly in my bed all night, and then the clock struck 6, and I had to get up for another extremely important day in my life.
As we filed into the audi, there was a hush in the air. Today the batch of 2011, IIMC would have its first real test. Summer placements were extremely important, especially for I-banking aspirants, for these companies largely hired through PPOs or Pre PLacement offers. Very few of these visited the campus for Final placements. So if you had to become a banker, this was your best shot. The process started with the first lot of names being called out. I wasn't in it. IT was a little disappointing as this meant that I wasn't on any company's 'Hotlist'. Moreover, within the first 10 minutes, IB1 had already made 2 offers. They had mentioned in the interactions that they were looking to hire 4-5. The numbers were rarely fixed, because they could recruit more or less depending on the quality of students they met. A B and C schedule their summers to being on alternate days, for example Monday Wednesday and Friday in the same week, so that the panels flying from Foreign countries can finish their recruitments in one visit to the country. So if they didn't fill their Quota from one campus, the excess seats rolled on to the next. So with 2/5 of their seats gone, I felt I had done the right choice by preferring IB2. However, I still felt a sort of closeness to IB1, since they had been my first shortlist and had brought me back from the verge of hopelessness.
The second lot had my name in it and I was directed to IB2. The same gentlemen interviewed me, but unfortunately had made the one offer on his desk to the guy who had gone before me in lot 1. He said that he had no way to know if I would turn up or be lapped up by another IB. Now the thing with day0 is, there are some amazing CVs on campus, people who every bank wants. Banks typically want to go through their processes as soon as possible, making the first few offers in the minimal time, lest these 'superstars' get lapped up by their competitors. The banks are as tense as the candidates. They want their next crop of outperformers, and missing out on good people on day 0 might leave them at a long term disadvantage. As a result, most banks started their process in the morning and finished it way before lunchtime. And by lunch All banks recruiting teams and recruited candidates were at the Taj Bengal on adjacant tables.
The gentlemen said he felt truly bad for not having an offer left for me, and redirected me to a colleague of his interviewing for a different desk. I was a little perturbed, and the interview did not go too well. For one, it was not for markets but for IBD, which I wasn't interested in. I wanted to be a trader. Anyway, the interview didn't last too long. The Gentlemen again met me outside the interview room and said he would give HK a call and see if he could hire another intern. He asked me if I could wait for an hour. I obviously couldn't wait, as I would miss out on my other shortlists too. Time was a critical resource on day 0. I told him my problem very politely, and requested him to inform the placecom in case they wanted to make me an offer. In case I was still in the process I would accept it.
It was disappointing, to say the least. I saw day 0 evaporating in front of my eyes. I never had much of a chance anyway. I was redirected to IB1, and I thought I'd just go there and give it my best and leave the rest to god. When I reached IB1, I saw the batch topper coming out, shaking hands with the interviewer. He had been made an offer. The Company volunteer from 2nd year told me that 4 offers had been given till now, and they just might take one more. Now, they had around 10 people on their shortlist they hadn't interviewed, and they had one slot left. Ofcourse, the wouldn't interview everyone, but it was still a far shot. The company HR came to the company volunteer with a list, asking for a particular guy. That guy was more interested in consults and was interviewing with them. However, he was still in the process. IB1 badly wanted that guy, he was on their hotlist. The company volunteer handled the situation gracefully, telling them that he was busy with other processes, and asked them to interview me instead, telling them that I had a good reputation on campus. The HR looked at me and recognized me from the previous day. He seemed indifferent, and then, I think just for the heck of passing time, he said, fine we'll interview him till the other guy comes around. So basically, they had 1 slot left, had a guy in mind. What was I doing here, I asked myself. But I decided to try my luck nonetheless. The other options I had, well, would have been compromises really.
So I go into this room to the India head of the firm. His very presence was Awe inspiring. He started off very politely, making some light talk and asking my view on the market. The interview was more like a conversation and I felt very comfortable. Then came the expected Question. "So N*, what went wrong in 2001?" . I knew this was coming. This had haunted me from the very start. This was the question which made me uncomfortable and made me jittery whenever it came forth. And yet, it always came forth. I had paid a price for that bad score at various stages in the last 10 years. ENOUGH! I said to myself. I will not let this ghost haunt me anymore. I had to exorcise it. It was a now or never moment. Everything I had worked for the last 3 years.. THe CAT mocks, the CFAs, the GDPI Prep, the pain of failure, the ecstasy of success, the anxious on hold moments, the sweat and blood since coming to Joka, everything narrowed down to this moment. I just wanted to sign on that offer acceptance sheet lying in front of me on the table. So I decided to, for the first time in my life, be completely honest about what happened. I remember the interview clearly in my head.
Me (M) : Sir, I was in love with a girl. And my family came apart. A lot of problems you see.
IB : looking at me intently. Tell me more.
Me - Told whole story. as it happened. not sparing any details. And then I continuned
M : .. so you see sir, that's what happened, and inspite of that, the fact is that I'm sitting across from you on this interview table. The fact that I made it from that place to this table, I feel, says a lot about my character. I am resilient. I am persistent for achieving my goals. And that's why sir, I feel I would make a good trader. For nothing can knock me down. I can take a huge loss, and still come to office the next day and try to make a profit. I know I've not seen the worst in life yet. Maybe a lot more can happen in the future. But what I know is, I'd be man enough to face it. I'll not get bogged down in the face of failure. I'll never give up. I will always rise back again after I fall, I know this about myself. And Sir, I promise you, as much as I know myself, even if todays interview does not go as I hope it would, I promise you I will still enter the industry, some day or the other, for this is what I want to do.
IB : Giving me a nod. I like you N*. I really like your fighting attitude towards life. I feel it that you will make a good trader someday. Let me talk to my colleagues. He left me in the room alone. I felt extremely light. I actually felt nice. It was as if a huge load had been lifted off my shoulders. Even if I failed this interview, I felt I had exorcised the ghosts of my past.
He came in again after sometime. "N*, As you know, we were very impressed by this one person's CV, and the other 2 of my colleagues still want to interview him. As far as I'm concerned, I definitely want to hire you, but they feel its fair if we interview the other guy too. In the meantime, I'd suggest you interview with both of my colleagues just so that you could probably impress them too. I agreed, though I knew the other 2 interviews were just because they wanted to bide time till their hotlisted guy came over. I went through the motions, the interviews were more of Maths and Market talk than anything personal, so there were no awe-inspiring moments. Finally, when they got tired of asking me questions, they left me in the room and went outside and gathered. Now I could have probably left for my next interview with IB3, but I had seen a small ray of hope here and didn't want to leave it. THey had been my dream. So I decided to take a risk. I decided to go out and outrightly pitch myself. I approached them, and all 3 of them looked at me. I was very candid. "Sir, I know you are waiting for a certain candidate. But sir, as far as I know him, he is more interested in consulting firms. Whereas I, I have lived breathed and slept your bank for the last 1 month since you shortlisted me. Since I got to know about the world of Investment banking, I have wanted to be a part of it. Now this candidate you are waiting for might have better credentials than me academics wise. But even if he comes to you right now and accepts your offer, it would be because Consulting firms did not work out for him. Its because he got rejected there. You would be his second choice. Whereas I have been waiting here from the past one hour, ignoring my other 3 shortlists, because I so badly want to join you. However, I feel that its not prudent of me to wait any longer, so please tell me your decision. They looked at me shocked. They then asked me to go inside the room and wait for another 2 minutes while they discussed it. A few minutes later, the gentlemen who interviewed me the first, came in and said, "So N*, would you like Mumbai or Singapore?"
Epilogue..
The story ofcourse, continues. But at that point I finally got over the shadow of my class 12th. Ofcourse, a PPO had to be secured. It was a tough ask, given the Situation in Greece during my internship, and the fact that 3 of the other guys of 5 that were hired from my campus by my IB were rank 1, 2 and 6 of our batch. I, during my internship time, was rank 25. HOwever, It so turned out that I worked really hard during my internship, and on my penultimate day, my boss took me for review, and told me he felt I would make a good trader, and offered me a Full time role. It was unprecedented, as typically PPOs were given in Early September, when all the internship cycles for the year were over. However, my desk felt I had done exceedingly well and were in no doubt they wanted to hire me, and thus the HR formalities were ignored and I signed the contract with them on the last day of my internship, thus fulfilling a dream.
Key Takeaways -
Well I'm in no stage to preach to people. I still have a long way to go in my life and a lot to achieve. For one I've done everything till now in my life for myself. I want to reach a stage where I can give back to the society. I also am very new to my industry and have a LOT to learn here. Its very competitive, and either you are good or you are out. I also broke up a few months back and I guess an immdiate goal is to find a soulmate. So a lot of stuff still pending to do, But I still feel I have more experience than I had say 10 years ago, when I started off on this journey. So I can give a few takeaways I have from this journey.
A) Never EVER .. EVER.. give up on your dreams - However stupid you feel they are. Its only over when YOU feel its over. Till you don't give up, things do work out. Watch the movie - "The secret". In a nutshell that movie can be summarized in SRKs dialogue in Om Shanti Om. "Agar kisi cheez ko poori shiddat se chaaho, to saari qayanaat tumhe usse milaane ki saazish me jut jaati hai", i.e. If you love something with all your heart, the Universe conspires to give it to you. There are a lot of times during the whole fiasco called life mentioned above, when I almost felt like givng up. There were a lot of failures, a lot of Nadirs.. But I'm so thankful I did not. So don't ever give up on your dreams. Even if you are the underdog!
B) wake up.. as soon as you can - I don't know in what stage of life you are, but some people, like me, need a wake up call at times. My Wake up call was around the area where I flunked CAT the 2nd time. The realization was , I had wasted my IIT degree. Ofcourse the knowledge was there beforehand, but it sank in then, when I saw 1.5 yrs of a mediocre job in front of me. I mean, I had invested 2 extra years of my life to get into that place, and that place did give sufficient opportunities, but I blew them away by not being focussed enough. I did not know what I wanted to do, I did not even have a well prepared CV in placements, I didn't have a good CG to show and a couple of flunked courses. I had wasted a golden opportunity. Investment banks hired from IIT too, though in much smaller numbers than IIM. But the absolute best guys there made the cut. I know of people who were my batchmates at IIT, who are now 4.5 years into the industry I'm 6 months into. I'm essentially 4 years behind them in my career. OFcourse, you always compare yourself to your peers wherever you are, and this is not to say that I'm unsatisfied with my station in life. But still, I wish I had got the wake up call I got much later, at an earlier point. Once I did get the wake up call, I fought hard. For example, I sweated hard in IIMC against odds, be it academics or placements, because I did not want to waste my IIM degree like I did my IIT. The days after IIT were like a social stigma. I was in a very average job, whereas people I chilled out with in hostels, went to movies with, attended classes with and had dinner with were earning 3 times as much money as I was, handling much more responsibility. I even didn't want to talk to such people because it made me feel insignificant and an underachiever. I did not want to make a similar mess at IIM, so I woke up then, thankfully. If you are still in the unawoken stage, and chances are, many of you reading this have just entered/are yet to enter IIM, you can still make a difference. Just remember, getting into a good Bschool is not the End of your struggle. It is the beginning. Once you are in, sweat harder than ever, because your competition is top class. You might still land up pretty average on a comparitive basis if you just stop working hard after entering a Bschool.
C) Be honest. Be it an interview, an essay.. anywhere. If you have a story, be honest about it. If you make stuff up, they would catch you and it wouldn't be appreciated. But most of all, be honest to yourself. A lot of time we lie to ourselves. We actually manage to convince ourselves of things which aren't true, by repeating those things to a 100 people and to ourselves. We start living an alternate reality, a make up truth. We justify our failures to ourselves, putting the blame on external factors rather than ourselves. Never blame others for what's wrong in your life. Take ownership, responsibility, be honest to yourself about it, face it and Fight it!
Godspeed!
Hi,
Well, i was in the same place many of the readers are exactly one year ago... Seems like it has been not a long time since then that I am sitting at the other end penning down my experience. A brief profile of mine,
10th and 12th %age : 93+
Dual degree in CSE in IIT Kharagpur
IIM A
I`d like to touch upon two things, very important things, which will help and according to me, the only ones which will to bell the CAT. - Practice and Confidence
I decided to take CAT in my 4th year (A dual degree is a 5 yr course). So, had lots of time to prepare. There was a series of mock tests going on in our campus by various coaching institutes to admit students at various discount offers. One friend of mine pushed me into attending one of these and I thought instead of wasting time in front of my laptop in my room, why not give an aptitude test. It proved to be very challenging and then I started noticing the CAT fever slowly gripping the campus. Till then, I ignored it, but since the test, I somehow took it a bit seriously. Summers came and went with the usual project work and internships. By the time the announcement of vouchers came for CAT in my final year, I already gave some 50+ mock tests offered by various institutes. However, i realized that I was lagging behind in certain areas. This was the time when I took things more seriously and strictly followed a test a day (Practice guys). I tried to cover all the models, kept working on and the final d-day came out. I had to give my test in Calcutta and picked a center near to IIM C campus with the idea that i can see the campus and also talk to some people already inside. I stayed with a friend in his room. I met a senior there, who told me that given enough practice, the only thing necessary on the day is Confidence. His words still ring in my ears. I couldn't sleep all night with all the anxiety. However, i managed to grab some sleep in the early hours, only to be waken up around 1 hr before the test by my friend. I rushed out, reached the center when 15 mins are left for the start of the test. They made me run through the entire formalities very quickly and was infront of the desk 2 minutes before the test. Be confident was the only thing which i kept repeating to myself. I thought DI and Quant went very good. However, i was not satisfied with my performance in verbal(Later came to know after talking to a few friends who gave CAT the same day that the verbal paper that day was pretty tough and I was actually in a better position). I took the train back to Kharagpur a bit disappointed and left everything into the hands of the almighty. Placement season came and went.. Got a good offer and accepted it. The day of results gave a sweet news to me with 99.6%ile. Shortlists and calls followed, and I got all 6 lists I wanted .. I earned the distinguished honor of being a BLACKI in the campus.
About the interviews, later sometime when the process starts.
Again, I would like to point out only 2 things.. Practice and Confidence. With these two arrows with you, CAT will not be as tough as it might sound.
It has been a long time since I decided to write on this holy thread. In view of the CAT 2011 results coming up, I finally decided it is time
It all starts with my school. Throughout my life I have been an underdog. Right from my school days I was the 'dark horse'. That always kind of fuelled my inner desire to give my best. In the run up to the standard X exams, I was among the top 5-10 students in our school. But I was overlooked in favour of others. (I love my school though, without it would not have been even half the person that I am ). Finally I managed to shake off that dark horse tag and stood second in our school. An achievement for me not because of the numbers, but because of the effort and the satisfaction involved in doing so.
This continued in my XII days. I was nowhere near the top. I was going all out for the medical entrances (science still interests me 
). To everyone`s surprise I stood 164th in Medical CET. Guess being a dark horse suits me
Fast forward to medicine. To be honest, I liked medicine. But I wanted to do something which would challenge my grey cells and involve application. I gave it a bit of thought and after consultation with parents, seniors and industry people decided to give MBA a shot.
Season-1
This was a disaster. My fault. Not enough preparation coupled with bad luck.
Near misses XL, FMS. Some OMR marking errors in IIFT.
CAT was a disaster. Somewhere else in my nomination for MMDT I might have mentioned this. I do not want to talk about it because I do not want to sound like a sore loser. Anyway it does not matter, I got better testing conditions next season.
Season-2
I began taking mocks on a regular basis. I enrolled for TF, then TIME IMS and CL. I had a dilemma which i have mentioned here
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/17842-is-dropping-for-cat-justified-26.html#post2684127
I had decent mock scores, instilling in me the confidence of scoring well in CAT. On the C-Day I just did not think about what if this does not go well or anything like that, Just another exam. period. overhyped.
I think this helped me a lot. Whatever nerves I had disappeared in the first 10 mins. I solved close to 46 questions. I was quite sure that some of the QA questions were wrong. Later I cross checked it with my quant expert friend. (not sure what Prometric did with those 
)
I also did well in other exams. Got a nice feeling about SNAP. XAT was not good at all. But then came the biggest day. C Results Day. Saw a 99...then 99.23..Mixed bag? But I was happy as hell, coz I knew what can happen with normalisation (tried not to discuss this, but it came up anyway). Got calls from IIM L, I, A(ABM) and later Ka. Got a host of good scores in other exams. Best call was lined up on 23rd of Feb. Opening day. First day first show feeling. Opening batsman feeling.
Interview was again a mixed bag..did not know what to make of it.
http://www.pagalguy.com/discussions/2011-2013-iiml-essay-gd-pi-experiences-25063188
However I had other calls apart from the IIMs like IIFT, MDI ,FMS, TISS, SIBM and NMIMS and MAH MBA CET to go. So a lot of optimism was still intact.
In the meantime INDIA won the WORLD CUP 2011. I thought IIM L ho jaega INDIA jeeta isliye(superstition anyone?).
11 Apr: 99.95 in Mah MBA CET. Thought of JBIMS as a backup if IIM L bombed. Safety net
18 Apr: ABC results were out.
18-onwards: Anxious wait. Was refreshing IIM L website and PG like a man possessed.
Finally, 21 Apr 2011. IIM L result link was on the page. Checked it. Read Congratulations.. Did not read anything after that, just shouted. Neighbours thought house was on fire and came rushing :biggrin:. Unforgettable moment to say the least. Immense pleasure in converting the best call I had.
2 years on, I had got what I had set out to. A real nice feeling.
I realised that the real fighter is the one who can get up even after being hit repeatedly. 'Never give up' is the way to go.
Life is not just about achievements or self glory, but it is more about making others happy.
Regards,
Dr Sushrut
PGP27- IIM Lucknow
"Life is stranger than fiction", I believe each word of this line after a forgetful and horrible 2011 on every front...and yet the year when I got...oops clinched admission in one of my dream B-schools. Grit!! :biggrin:
Here goes my entry for this sacred thread...hopefully my story do some justice to it...
CAT 2009...The Beginning of my Dream
Started CAT preparation with only one college in mind, IIM-A, way back in 2009. Took CAT 2009 in much venerable 6th December slot. My strength VA screwed me, as for the first time I saw a VA %ile less than 97. Missed IIM-A by 0.3%ile in VA, 1 mark in scaled score (Cut-off 73, my score 72). Was too disappointed but still thought of waiting for other IIM's to come out with their list. And to my amazement, not only CAT has changed from pen-paper to computer based test, but the belief of the very institutions conducting the exam was wavered in the authenticity of CAT. Every IIM came up with a weird criteria: gender diversity, cultural diversity, professional diversity, work-ex (at the time of call itself, previously work-ex used to be considered at interview stage by most of the IIMs), or what not. Anyways, got a call from IIM-K, IMT-G, and MDI on CAT based score. Moreover, since I had missed my FMS DI cutoff by 1 mark (I know some sheer stupidity did me in), that despite scoring 370 in FMS Jan 2010, I missed on my other dream college FMS. XL score 98.22%ile, same story, missed LR cutoff by 0.15%ile. JMET, took with a very casual attitude, reached centre late, rank 192. But didn't go for any IIT interview. After missing the cut-offs by slimmest possible margins, first time I felt depressed in my life. Didn't prepare for GD-PI, converted IMT-G, MDI WL (later converted I guess, never tracked the WL actually), IIM-K reject.
CAT 2010...Collecting shattered pieces
Joined a company fresh out of college. With a 14 hour schedule (5 hrs of travelling), didn't get much time to study. But strangely mock scores were simply refusing to go below 99.8%ile in CL and 99.5%ile in TIME mocks, mainly riding on VA scores. Brushed up some concepts in last few weeks. Again took the CAT, this time weekday slot thinking it may change something. But comes the CAT result, and if I was shocked to see my VA score last time, I simply smiled at the score of 79.9%ile. Again, couldn't figure out how I messed up VA. And look at the irony, had it been 80%ile, would have got 3 more IIM calls. But that's how the life has been. Got IIM-K call, SP Jain profile based call, thrashed FMS with 508 (never did any previous year paper, though every time I plan to do). Decided ki FMS to nikaalna hi hai. Prepared v well for GD/PI. May be best preparation for anything post my 10th class boards. Mock Interviews seemed all cakewalks with very kind and encouraging feedbacks, but may be in my zest to leave no stone unturned I took too many of them...But if there were more tests awaiting on personal front...I had a fight with my best friend...it broke my heart...and also at the same time...I was suspected of typhoid with recurring fevers...but the steeper the climb becomes, my determination gets even stronger...and so I continued...Took IIM-K interview in jolly spirits, went v well...but D-day was still to come..
Came the FMS D-day, I did a fine GD, controlled my desire to control the GD and walked away with a decent score. Thought now I will nail it. After all, interview and extempore were my forte. But what happened in those five minutes, I still feel that's the most unjust interview I've ever faced in my life, notwithstanding results. IIM-K's rejection was not a surprise as ratio for a general boy is too skewed, and tilted too much in favour of fairer sex (not cribbing, simply stating a fact. By the way, SPJain interview mein kis level ka discrimination hota hai wo maine suna tha, but first time dekh bhi liya). Anyways, even after screwing up FMS interview, I thought I will get at least 15 marks out of 30 and would sail through. But 18th March came as the worst dreams coming alive all together. WL 46. So frustrated, that when I went for MDI GDPI, dominated the GD in a brutal fashion from the word go. And started the interview in an argument fashion. Wait listed again. And, it got cleared again.
CAT 2011/GMAT/GRE...Life is strange and full of surprises
Moved on. Season 3. More importantly GMAT. Booked a slot for August end. But if fate hasn't enervated me enough, for worst I cleared FMS waitlist in 7th movement. Resigned from my company, when my appraisal was due. Went to take admission, submitted my certis, and was just submitting the fee, that a newspaper clipping comes about supreme court order - Stop the admissions for general candidates in UG courses. I tried telling them, this is not a UG course. But to no avail. Next 20 days were unimaginable. Managers asking daily whether you are going or not. And colleagues coming to congratulate you. Seems like fate is laughing on me. The days were spent understanding legal terminologies, reading previous SC and HC orders. But lost respect for slow judicial process as well as an incompetent FMS administration (reminds me of the admin of my alma mater, another DU college). When I realised that little enthu has left to do my MBA frm FMS, I collected back my certis. An admin staff member said sorry to me. As if it's going to change anything. Also, had to move the GMAT slot to January as I wasn't able to focus on anything...Leave aside taking the GMAT
I started again. Felt really difficult to keep my self motivated. Had no scope to study on weekdays. And on weekends, I felt like taking rest from such a hectic schedule. But I knew I will come back, not with a vengeance, but with a calmness. It had to be a top B-school, and if not older IIMs, XL, or FMS ( was still in two minds whether to fill its form or not), then after some more work-ex it would be ISB and other Ivy league colleges. I believed in myself, but more importantly I believed in my dreams. As someone said:
"Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die,
Life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly".
And just the day I filled CAT 2011 form, a week later, HC awarded me the admission in FMS. But it was already so late that I didn't know whether to be happy or sad. Confused whether to join or not. Had this strong gut feeling that I would do well in GMAT. Also, CAT 2011 was going to be a 2 section paper with Verbal clubbed with LR, so Verbal fears allayed then and there. Finally, after lot of thinking, talking to my best buddies, talking to my mentors in TIME and CL and Malay Ray sir, I decided to join FMS. :)
Btw...funny thing is the two tests I booked (GRE and GMAT) when I was wait listed in FMS...I scored well in both of them with out taking even one single mock or any study watsoever. Also aced the Verbal of both Prometric and Pearson.
Season 2011: GMAT 770/800 (QA 51, VA 42), AWA 5; GRE Revised 329/340 (QA 168, VA 161), AWA 5; CAT 2011: 99.87 (QA-DI: 99.92, VA-LR: 96.25)...
Hopefully, GMAT score would be used in application for some advanced courses later on...
Season 2010: CAT (98.23%ile, VA joke), XAT (94.67%ile, couldn't comprehend), FMS: 508
Calls 2010: SPJain (Reject), IIMK (Reject), MDI (Didn't Join), FMS (WL Converted, FMS admin backtracked, Legal Recourse gave me admission...Wat a ride)
Season 2009: CAT (99.22%ile), XAT (98.22%ile), FMS: 371, JMET (Rank: 192)
Calls 2009: IMT (Convert), IIT-B (didn't attend), MDI and IIMK: (Attended half heartedly)
Btw...one tip to all CAT aspirants: Believe in that stupid line in Alchemist, "When you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true"
May be I wanted an MBA like one wants air to breathe...I "was" just way too crazy about it... :)
P.S. Updating the post...Got 99.87 in CAT...this is freaking awesome...finally it's proven again: "Hard work doesn't go unrewarded forever". And frankly, this happiness is billion times more than 770 of GMAT... 😃 😃 😃
Hi All,
Unlike most of the posts on this sacred thread pf pg, my story is that of an aspirant, who has been running after cat for past two years, preparing for past three years, and now looking forward to season 2012.
It all started with season 2009, when I was third year student at NSIT, Delhi. I had joined coaching for Cat at cl cp center, solved most of the course material, finished the SIS tests by July, took all the mocks religiously, scored a maximum score of 97 98 in a few of them, fell down to 60s in few mocks too. But nevermind, decided not to give up. Came the season 2010, had an average Cat, expected somewhere b/w 95-96 after writing cat, only to be unaware what Normalization or wrong questions in a set can do to you ( I took exam on 31st oct, 2012 in morning slot, in case any of you remembers, this paper had three straight wrong/incomplete questions in DI).
Then came IIFT, and I scored a negative in gk, with an overall shameful score of 22-24. The next sunday was fms, the last fms exam conducted in its history. Managed a score of 385-390, was sure I had done above average, if not good enough for a call, only to be later realize people had actually raped the paper, with lots of them scoring in 420s.
Cat results were leaked on Jan 2, 2011 and I was one among the people who checked their results beforehand. BTW, i had managed only a meager 90.29 with a shocking 49 percentile in DI.
After all this, I finished with my college, had a decent placement in electronics domain, and joined the company same year in June, and have been working for same since last seven months.
In meanwhile, I had always thought of finishing my unfinished business with Cat in 2011. Started with preparation from scratch, enrolled with Aimcats, started taking aimcats. Scored 98 and 97 consistently in few mocks in beginning. Then came the shocker, suddenly with increasing pressure from office, my scores started to fall. Was managing 80-85 in mocks, and even scored in 60 in one of the aimcats. But throughout all this, I knew that what matters was my performance in cat, and not mocks (biggest illusion I was in).
Throughout the mock season, my scores oscillated, with 98 being my highest score in any aimcat (99.6 in quant in same).
Then came the big day, Nov 6, 2011. I had hoped everything would go as per my plan, I would do super good in my cat. Started with Cat, somehow felt the quant + di part was a bit difficult when compared to whatever inputs I had for previous slots. Tried my best to escalate my attempts maintaining accuracy. During the last minute I realized I had missed a percentage sitter which was ques 30 in my set. Nevermind, I had managed 23 attempts, and I knew they were reasonably accurate.
Then came the paper 2, English for sure was on easy side, with some confusing LR, and a wrong set again. Finally I was done with Cat 2011. Came back home, knew I had done an ok job in a relatively tough exam.
After Cat, i took IIFT and XAT, scored 37 in iift, not to mention could not get a call. XAT results are awaited. I have applied only for XLRI BM, and not expecting a score above 27 and ofcourse no call.
BTW cat results were declared last week. I have scored 96.80 with 94.xx in VA/LR and 95.xx in QA/DI.
And after all this hard work, and struggle, I am awaiting my first B-School call, which seems difficult this year too, may be I ll get an MDI call, but to convert it would be very very difficult at 96.80. So, I have decided to chase my dreams again in 2012 season, and return even better prepared.
Lessons Learnt :
1. Sometimes hard work isn't what you need, luck matters.
2. Do not stop chasing your dreams, I may have lost twice, but I am ready to put in all the efforts again, as someone at pg said ( and I ofcourse read ) "Burn yourself for an year, and you will be the king for your rest of life.
3. No matter how good you are in a particular section, it will be difficult to nail it on real Cat day ( happened twice with me, scored 95.xx in QA in both 2010 and 2011).
4. There will be ups and downs during your cat journey, never let the down phase impact your confidence.
Having said all this, I end my post, with a hope of apending this post next year after Cat 2012 results.
Thanks for bearing all this, and apologies for those who had expected a success story.
All the best puys , for whatever you aspire for.
Disclaimer: This is going to be a pretty long post that might test your patience.
Season 1:
Cut to Dec 2007: Joined Wipro Technologies in Bangalore through campus placement after graduating in Electronics and Instrumentation engg. Was happy to have landed a coveted job and was already dreaming about onsite opportunities. 
Transferred to Chennai after training at Bangalore in March 2008. Things started to go downhill from here. Was put into a project with odd working hours and an odd manager to top it.
Slogged everyday and even weekends were spent in office cubicles.
Later, I realized that I had started to take my job very seriously which my manager exploited.
My Take: There are other things in life apart from slogging at work. Do not take it too seriously like I did that you cant focus on other activities. :)
In the meantime, thought of writing CAT and joined AIMCAT series of Time. Mock scores were always in the range of 60-90%ile. CAT 2008 was going to be the last paper based CAT and I wanted to crack it as I was nervous about the online pattern.
Jan 2009: CAT results out 94.68%ile. Damn.. most of the decent colleges like IMT and IMI set 95%ile as their cutoffs. Thoroughly disappointed that I missed them by a whisker. Got calls from IMI(HR), KJSOM and MICA.
Mar 2009: At work, had a tiff with my manager and was shifted to a different project for another client.
Was happy that I finally got into a decent project under a helpful manager. :)
Apr 2009: Rejected by KJSOM and MICA. Had disastrous interviews in both.
Converted IMI(HR) though.
Paid the initial sum and reserved my seat. Here, my mind started to play games.
Somehow, got convinced that I deserved something better and plus my current project was interesting. Also got caught up thinking that a minimum of two year work experience is needed for lateral placements in B-schools. So, having completed 17 months why not wait and gain some more experience.
So, I withdrew the amount I had paid a month before the course started and started preparation for CAT 2010 the first online CAT.
My Take : I was wrong. Two years is the criteria for laterals but if you are opting for a completely different sector post-MBA, then it will not be of much use.
Season 2:
Joined TIME AIMCAT series again as I was quite apprehensive about CAT going online. And again my scores were always in the range of 30 90%ile. Never crossed 90 despite working hard. 
Nov 2009: Wrote CAT with about 44 attempts and was not sure what to make of it.
Jan 2010: Results out.. 94.30 %ile overall with my strength VA proving to be spoilsport. Great.. so what next was the question on my mind.
Deeply frustrated I told myself to work hard at office and at least get an Onsite role that all my friends had already got.
Felt like a loser seeing all my peers who had moved ahead in life. :banghead:
Season 3:
June 2010: Transferred to Bangalore to work directly at client office. Was convinced by my manager that I would be sent abroad after completing 6 months at the client place.
Little did I realize what I was heading into.. Worked as a contractor at client place and was loaded with work right from day one.
Too much of pressure at work meant that I spent long hours again at office like my first project. But, convinced myself that it was a question of six months.
Nov 2010: Wrote CAT 2010 just for the heck of it. Had got used to it now.
Dec 2010: My manager who had promised to send me abroad had resigned and joined another company.
With Wipro offering virtually no salary hike over 3 years of service, put in my papers at office. :D
Ah.. The satisfaction on putting your papers felt unbelievable. 
Jan 2011: CAT 2011 results out.. 96.30%ile overall with DI at 58.xx%ile. Whoa.. That was a surprise..:o Had absolutely no expectations. Anyways, DI had killed all hopes.
Season 4:
Feb 2011: Joined new company in Bangalore. Was happy with salary raise (>90%). :D
Apr 2011: In a couple of months, realized that though I was getting paid well there was hardly any challenging work. Maintenance projects, I understood, were always like that.
Back to square one.. what was I doing with my life was the biggest question staring at me. :banghead::banghead:
Jun 2011: Finally, made up my mind to write GMAT and try for B-schools abroad.
Jul 2011: GMAT day - I realized that I had misplaced my passport. Had my DL and Voter ID cards as proof and thought it should be enough. But , at GMAT testing centre, was told that only passports are considered as proofs recognized by GMAC for South Asian nations.
11000 rupees gone down the drain.. Himmat nahi hui phir se 11000 kharch karne ki.. Sadme se bahar aane me waqt to lagta hai boss :banghead::banghead:
Aug 2011: Joined the last weekend classroom batch for CAT 2011 at TIME, Bangalore as was offered a huge discount based on previous scores. Thought it would also help for GMAT which I was anyways going to write. Also joined IMS SIMCAT who also offered huge discount. Scores varied from 50 to 99%ile in both of these.
My Take : TIME AIMCATS , I believe, were of a little higher level than what is asked in CAT especially in QA section. Felt IMS SIMCAT papers were much closer to actual exam especially the VA section.
Oct 2011: Resigned at work after lot of thought.. Had to serve three months notice period though.
Nov 2011: Wrote CAT for one last final time.. Final I repeated this to myself umpteen times before the examination.
Jan 2012: Finished serving my notice period at office.
11 Jan 2012: 98.99%ile in CAT 2011 with 90+ in both sections.. Refreshed page many times to confirm the score.
Got calls from six new IIMs, MDI, NITIE, IITB, IITD, XIMB,GL till now. Was happy and sad sad to miss out on all the old IIMs, happy to have made it at least to the others. But also understood that making it to the hallowed old timers would always be tough irrespective ofmy CAT score because of my acads at school. (80 and 72)
Am still hoping for an FMS call which is a dream college for me am an eternal optimist you see.. :)
Summary: 4 attempts it has taken me to get a decent score my only advice is to think hard before taking any decision rather than regret it later.
With 4 yrs of total experience in IT, am still faced with the dilemma if I should join any of these if I get through or should I look at GMAT (ISB etc.) which I am writing in April. Any pointers and suggestions will be appreciated. But, we will keep that to a later date as I still need to convert these calls.
ATB 😃
Opening this thread after almost 3 years gives me goosebumps. I have read every heart touching story out here. The most famous ones, and the ones hardly read but I have read them all and motivated myself in some way or the other convincing myself that I was born to do this.
A brief Intro: I come from a typical Indian middle class family trying to make ends meet every month. Seeing the lack of money maybe burned a desire right from my childhood to make it big. IIT was the key to this lock. As confident as I was, I overlooked things and failed to qualify for screening. My parents didn't have the money or patience to fund for another year of my education. I just went for the best college I could get in my own state. But the dream of entering an IIT had gotten to me so badly that I thought I wouldn't mind if it was for B.Tech or M.Tech. So instead of going for CAT in final year I rolled over it for M. Tech., Wasted 2 valuable years but in the end realized this was not what I wanted to do after getting 98 perentile. Yeah, I was THAT stupid (a lot more to come in this area). But after joing the scammed company (Satyam) and without appraisal for 2 years. I decided it wasn't fair. So CAT it was.
CAT-2008:
It started out as an experiment in 2008 with my girl friend. Maybe you give your best shot when she is trying to put your aptitude to the test, I don't know, but I got a percentile of 98.9% without any preparation whatsoever. TIME offered a discount for class room coaching. Discounts always catch the eye of an Indian. So I went for classes. And then it started, the magical world of CAT preparation. The AIM CATs on Sundays, the cross checks with the Key and the flauntings of the percentile on Pagal Guy. Was part of the toppers counseling that TIME conducted in Hyderabad with special focus on city toppers . I just LOVED all this. I didn't really have a weak section as such. I always chose which section I wanted to nail. The only regret I had though that I got into CAT very late. It is hard to focus on studies when your friends are getting married/engaged/having babies. But nevertheless I was doing quite well and the applications opened one after the other.
Now this part of my life is called being stupid, I was so damn confident that I didn't have a plan-B in place. Infact I was stupid enough to check only IIMs A/B/C in the application form and leaving out I/K/L ,and filled out XAT too. I was sure I would bell and nail the CAT :-D. All I wanted was the D Day to come before I got too old. And so it came. It was tricky mainly because there were 40 questions in verbal and only 25 each in QA and DI. But I wanted to remain unpeturbed. This was too big an occasion for freaking out. With butterlies in stomach I breezed through VA and DI and also QA in no time. I just couldn't wait to know how others did(afterall that is what matters right). Watching the faces in exam hall and seeing the people discuss outside how tough it was, I smiled to myself. But I had to check the key before I acted a jackass. With hands shaking and mind bursting I sat down to check answers with TIME, CL and IMS. All the of them read the same QA-42, DI-42, VA- 57/62/52. I was to get a projected percentile of 97 and above in every section and an over all of 99.6. Is this THE dream score or what. Blimey, these were moments where I dreamed nothing short of IIM As hallowed portals every night before going to bed. I went to the old shops of hyderabad and bought magazines like TIME, India today, the week and what not of past 2 years . I wanted to EVERYTHING and nothing short of it. I remember taking the magazines in a big heap in a gunny bag home. :-D
I was so happy doing all this that I skipped writing XAT and was partying with my girl friend in Mangalore. (Talk about being a moron)
The F-Day:
It was actually the day before the results were to be announced. But as my fate would have it, I got to know my results that very day. I was working in night shifts and was all alone in the building with the security. I opened pagalguy as usual. To my utter surprise I saw people posting hall ticket numbers and others responding with their results. I checked the calender, thinking maybe I over slept a day, but no, I was right, the results werent supposed to come that day. But I couldn't help but post my hall ticket number on the forum. Then in a minute came someones reply. It read QA- 42, DI- 19 , VA-57. OA- 118 a percentile of 97.89. A cold piece of ice was jammed right into my heart and twisted and turned. I could feel it contracting into a ball and failing to give me energy. Some part of me said the guy who posted is a farce, this cannot happen. Some part of me said, well the QA and VA scores are mine and my full name is displayed, this had to be true. It was only when I saw this with my own eyes that I believed even this could happen. I was supposed to get a score of 42 in DI but got 19. Period. Did I miss the order of marking the answers in he OMR, Did the system not scan some of my answers? Did the IIM people saw my jackass attitude on the application form (filling only A/B/C) and decide to ditch me? I have no clue to this day. But all I knew was that I couldn't change a thing. I remember crying on the floor of the office that day. I didn't know what to do. I didn't take XAT. Didn't apply for MDI, IIFT nothing. There in a flash of a moment my whole year of hard work had evaporated into nothing.
I used my connections in TIME to get in touch with some people and the best advice they gave me: Accept it and move on. I felt cheated and violated and utterly helpless. I remember my beautiful parents telling my relatives proudly that I had gotten 97.8 percentile in CAT in my first attempt. I just didn't want to show my disappointment to them for they would feel worse and it was likewise for them. They wouldn't tell me how badly hurt they were. It was the most unusual 10 days for me. Some times I opened books but with memories as fresh as that, it was impossible to concentrate. TIME came up with another discount this year. Albeit small, still enough to make me enroll. AIM CATS didn't start until April and it wasn't fun any more. And with CAT going online in 2009, I started cribbing more and more. Who knows if my only chance had passed away.
CAT 2009:
This year I didn't open pagalguy, I didn't want to see all those calls people got and all those converts. I just wanted to stay away from everything that reminded me of CAT 2008. But AIMCATs were average, effort was not upto the mark. Having denied an offer to work from London office (where I could save a lakh per month) just to prepare for CAT didn't help the cause either. It was more like I denied to go to London to make a point than to actually prepare for CAT. But after a few set backs, I got back where I was. Riding the tide of toppers in AIM CATS and being one of the city toppers. The same toppers counseling and all. It felt nice. Except this time I didn't try to be a jerk and applied to ALL the top 10 colleges including IIFT and MDI and a few IITs. IIFT was the first. Did ok, but definitely not good enough. It was one of those bad days. CAT went very good. 20 questions in each section. It was a litle too easy, but so would it be for others. I remember solving 19/20 in quant, 20 in DI and ofcourse 20 in VA. Fingers crossed. I remember writing JMET well too, got a rank of 500 I guess just missing cut offs for IIT mumbai and Delhi. Same was with IIFT, missed cut offs by fraction of a mark.
Then came CAT. To be honest I was hoping I would get my own marks atleast, didn't matter if it was 99 or 90. The result read: QA: 83%, DI: 99+, VA: 99+ OA: 99 exact. No way in hell I could get 83%. I was in doubt for one question and 18/19 were correct for sure. This time I could not even verify. Wonderful aint it?
Hmm. Where did I stand? A big boot from all the IIMs obviously. So 3 results out and I was close to where I was after CAT 2008. :-D. XAT was the thin ray of hope. I got a percentile of 98.92 in XAT but in one section I had a percentile of 90 something and I missed cut off for BM by .5 percentile(WTF!!%). So all I had was good old MDI. Yeah I got a call, converted it and didn't want to wait until I have kids to join a B-school.
Life @ MDI and after: Here I did something unusual. I applied for internships in the most unique ways. I mailed CEOs of boutique IBs with exceptionally drafted cover letters all over Europe and US. I got 2 offers, both competitors. One based in US, Silicon valley (who asked me to come on a tourist visa and work illegally) and the other based in Munich, germany (who promised a job after the internship ended and legal documentation support). It wasn't a hard choice after all. I worked my ass off. With no difference between a week day and weekend. It was M&A; and I got to talk with some of the most inspiring CEOs. As inspiring as they were, their companies wouldn't sell for nothing. So my boss thought, when you don't have work why hire a new employee (although I have to tell you, my salary was like peanuts for him). He was more focussed that his associates shouldn't get free time at all (which they would if he hired me). But anyway I finished the internship In a bad and abrupt manner. But I had the experience which was priceless.
Placements @ MDI: When I say this, I guess I say this on behalf of every B-school student in the country. Placement time is the most depressing time in life at a B-school. Atleast for people from a middle class family who have education loans to pay off and have parents to support. I was no where making progress with my work search outside. As I understand looking for an internship is easy and less complicated than looking for a job. I bet you wont get a single response for a full time job even if you send 500 applications in Europe. That is the ugly truth of it. So MDI was the one and only hope for me. Right from the beginning it was made clear that placements would be worse this year. (recession ofcourse!). This combining with the fact that MDI is known more for marketing than Finance made it a cat fight for people who specialized in finance. Having 50% people specialize in finance and chasing a handful jobs, my odds were sucky even before it started. Add to that a full time work experience of 3 years in IT. The IT companies came first and it was the same question everywhere. You did your internship in Investment Banking, The role our company is offering is too low profile for you. It was as if I was being penalized. Although I convinced myself and others that I wanted to work in IT, things didn't pan out. I couldn't get placed in 3 whole of weeks of IT and consulting companies. Finally SBI CAPS announced its short list. I was there, so were 13 other people. SBI planned to take 2 people.. and I was one..
Will be an M&A; analyst at SBI Caps very soon..
With a thousand smiles,
Siva
Golden quote form 'Bladerunner (1982)', something that gave me strength throughout my journey to CAT and beyond.
CAT O'09 : The Pehla nasha
My first stint with CAT started out in my last year of graduation, when I saw people cramming packages and discussing the AIM CATs. Though, being a CSE student I was deeply into the technical aspect of IT and ITeS, the number of 00000's behind the packages of IIM grads published boldly in news daily caught my eye.( Also a lot of prodding from parents left me with little option than to go for CAT.) Come September 2009 and I had jumped on the CAT bandwagon. Joined the nearest coaching center's weekend classes and was bombarded with assignments. Life became a never-ending routine involving long hours of metro rail travel and sitting in 4 hour long sessions. College exams went from good to okay to barely passed as I found an excuse to not to study.
I always felt that it's when you decide to win you actually win. In 2009 I had not and I did not. The mocks I gave reflected the dismal situation I was in. CL mock results came with a graphical analysis and a smilie
representing your score and mood. My smilie was always sitting sad at 70 -80 %ile . And as it happened frequently, I stopped seeing my scores and gave mock just for the heck of it. I registered to PG but never logged in twice that year. The day arrived, I gave the exam and to no surprise I was again at meager 89%ile. Though I was happy that I scored better than mocks
but in fact it was a lie to me. There are no 80%ilers in CAT. Not expecting anything and being at onset of placement season in college I resigned the MBA Idea. Converted a job offer and went to Goa for a fortnight of beach and booze :cheers:. I was living life of a typical Indian c-u-m-pooter engineer. Work on weekdays and booze on weekends :drinking:, life was easy until there were talks of fresher's being laid off due to coming recession. Insecurity started digging in and further education started to look like the only way out. GATE was too tough and GRE was uneasy. It was early October when again the CAT insect started buzzing in my head. CAT O'10: The fluke
Got myself engaged into the hectic schedule of packages and mocks scoring lowest ever. I could barely manage 70 %iles. Life was coming to a halt. I remember the words of a guy who was in Board of Directors of some Top notch college, "Life mein mediocre ki jagah nahin hai, ya to Daud bano ya phir Kalaam!" and I was at that time another IT guy with nothing new to offer. It was the time of depression, peer pressure at the highest (my cousin getting shortlisted for IAS twice:sneaky:) and me searching for Govt. jobs in Employment news:nono:. Every Monday I'd be standing in some queue of bank depositing fees for a job offering as low as 12K in some cases.
I had spent no time for preparation and CAT was becoming a forgotten dream. The Day of CAT arrived and I chickened out. Yes, I forgo CAT 2010 just because I thought I can't take another low score. I went for XAT, SNAP and other low graded colleges. I got scores all averaging around 80-90%ile but never took interest in these colleges. My parents too resigned to my idea and we all thought its job for me for the next 2-3 years more. CAT 2010 ended and left me in shambles when I heard many of my colleagues had made the cut to IIMs and other colleges. Even more depressed and tired I had turned to frequent use of toxics to get high.
CAT O'11: The reconnaissance
It was June 2011 and the work of IT industry slowly seeped in. I was doing the same non-technical thing day after day. Though pocketing a good salary but the work satisfaction was into negative. Meanwhile, I saw how experienced and good natured employees get treated like rugs when they don't go bootlicking their managers. That was the wake up time for me. It was then where I decided to take control of my life. I stopped going out with my colleagues. No movies, no lunches and no weekend trips = no friends. I was now the most asocial person on the entire floor. People started ignoring me and I wasn't called for birthday parties and movies.
This time too CAT seemed to be a tough nut to crack and with better sense prevailing I checked for other options. Regular MBA after 2 years in IT will add me to the pool of crowd so I searched for other avenues. IRMA and a couple of other institutes popped up in search in pagalguy.com. A bit of research on PG left me wanting more of such institutes.
I asked for 15-20 days off prior to MBA 2011 season since it takes 4 hrs to travel to office and leaves me 2 hrs / day to study. Initially my manager agreed on the condition that I take up graveyard shift and I did. I spent 3 hrs in morning solving previous year material that I had for the next 3 months. A month prior to CAT 2011, I was ditched and my leaves were denied. I was told I could get at max 10 days leave from office. I still remember the conversation with the manager and how he indirectly told me to f*ck off
if I had any problems. Nevertheless, I made full use of night shift, which includes from solving packages and reading novels to getting a nap. CAT 2011 arrived and I gave it a good shot, did well in LR, VA but missed a couple in QA, DI. As for the results, I had crossed the 90%ile barrier but was lagging at 92%ile. CAT dreams had ended for me that day. Post CAT'11 : The awakening
With other results pouring in, I had plenty of options to go for(SNAP, XAT and others). With GD PI's lined up I took up night shifts voluntarily. Worked in night and gave GD/PI's in the day. Also,I went for IRMA, a college with a different perspective for MBA and I loved it. Did well in GD but PI was average. The serene and calm campus swept me off and I decided if not in IRMA its no MBA for me this year. For the next 2 months I ate, sleep, dream IRMA. (Watch the movie 'The Secret' and you'll know what I mean.) My chances of getting to IRMA were meager since I belong to Delhi and being from IT background, offer no mix in the quality of students. The results were announced and I had 'won'. I just read "Congratulations " and went blank. First time ever, I had achieved in life what I wanted not what fate got me. I'd be joining IRMA this year and hope to do well and do something for the society.
As for office, I resigned few days back to the shock of manager and that too before my bond period expires. Though I have lost many friends in the course and been named 'the-nightshift-guy' I take it as a reward for my efforts.
As SRK had said "agar kisi bhi cheez ko dil se chaho to puri ki puri qayanaat tumhe use milaane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai." I had asked for MBA with a difference and I got one.
The journey of CAT showed me that to achieve what you can and want to, you have to give 'everything'. I let go friends, relatives, day-shifts, movies (no movies since last 4 months), parties and not one but 2 prospective girlfriends. But, believe me the journey is all the fun, results will be forgotten but not how you achieved it. All those moments would be lost, like tears in rain but not the feeling of what made them special.
Not the end.. but a life with a meaning begins from here. I hope to post life@IRMA and life after IRMA too. Best of luck to all the aspirants.