To New Beginnings

Almost ten months back, I was facing a huge dilemma. It was the financial year end and I was putting in 11-12 hours daily at work. It was my first job and I had been working for around six months. As a trainee, I wasn’t expected to work till late but since everyone in the department was doing it, I too felt responsible to do the same. At the time of appraisals, I was informed that even though people with six months experience were eligible for the appraisals, I wouldn’t be considered for it as I was a Trainee Engineer. I was speechless. I had put in a lot of hours for the company when I wasn’t supposed to and that’s how the company repaid my loyalty. This made me question my choice to work in the company.

After I had given my 12^th std. board exams, I visited my elder brother’s workplace at Mahindra and Mahindra. He worked in the Engine Production Unit and I was fascinated when I saw how they produced 325 engines in one day. The planning and scheduling that went into successfully completing their production target was commendable and that was the moment when I decided to do an MBA.

During engineering, after months of research, I had decided to work for two years and then pursue MBA. But with the current scenario at work, I decided to take a leap of faith on my ability to crack the management exams and put in my resignation. It was a huge risk on my part to chase my dreams but I had made up my mind to continue with my bold step and not back down.

By the time I took this decision, the most-dreaded management exam of the country, CAT, was just two months away. Knowing that being in the top 1% in CAT wasn’t a realistic option, I weighed in my other options. I found that apart from CAT, there were many other exams like IIFT, NMAT, XAT, SNAP etc. which provided similar opportunities (though nothing like the coveted IIMs).

My one month notice period went hassle free and I still managed to study four hours every day. After I was done with my job, I made sure I studied every day for at least 8 hours. The first exam of the season, IIFT, was an eye-opener for me as I was unable to complete my paper. Being an engineer, I blindly tried to solve all the questions and it was my undoing. I learnt from my mistake and worked on strengthening my question selection while increasing my speed calculation ability. This helped me in NMAT, SNAP and XAT. The results were out in December and I had done exceedingly well in NMAT and SNAP. My risk had paid off and I had cracked these exams.

It was now turn for Phase 2- Cracking the Group Discussion-Personal Interview. Now, students have this inbred fear that without knowing specific facts, one cannot crack a GD-PI. It’s a myth. As long as you’re confident with your preparation and make smart entries in a GD, you’ll do just fine. By the time I completed the GD-PI process of my converted calls, I was totally relaxed as I had honestly given my best shot.

On 4^th March 2015, I received a mail from NMIMS that I was selected for the full-time MBA course. My hard work had paid off. This is but just the first step. The future looks bright again and I’m looking forward to beginning a new chapter in my life.