Never give up - A journey to IIM Lucknow ( AKA hel(L)) through the forest of failures.

Souvik Mukhopadhyay,

[INTERN at ANAR APP,  IIM LUCKNOW,  JADHAVPUR UNIVERSITY]

Linkedin: ( Souvik Mukhopadhyay )

“We regret to inform you that you have not been selected…”

 How many times have you failed?? Have you ever said to yourself that you are too old to try further? Have you ever said to yourself this is not a cup of your tea!

 Moreover, how many times have you risen after having a great fall?

 I have not been a very different person in terms of reacting to failures until I decided to prepare for CAT and pursue an MBA.

 An engineer from a college with good repute, opting for MBA is not a very uncommon thing, but the journey of getting into IIM Lucknow ( AKA hel(L)) was quite enriching and challenging, that I thought to share with you.

 In 2015, with a decent & satisfying job I appeared CAT ‘casually’ for the first time & landed with a score of less than 85 percentile.

 It was 2016 when I took CAT seriously along with 2 colleagues who were also thinking very seriously to appear CAT. Three of us enrolled for a coaching center in Kolkata; took 3 hours journey on weekends, after a 5 and a half weekdays laborious job. Appeared so many mocks and was scoring decent 95 percentile around. But in the end, I ended up around 90 percentiles only. One of my colleagues could make it to IIFT and the two of us didn’t get into any B school of our choice.

 In 2017, we two geared up again, we were already 26 then, a little too old compared to the overall student profiles in Indian B schools. Failed again, with only 91 percentile this time in CAT(1%tile more than previous). In most of the exams I appeared that year (such as CAT, XAT, NMAT, IIFT), I got eliminated because of missing sectional cut off in either of the subjects by a very narrow margin (even though my overall score was greater than the cut off). This time my other friend also made into SIBM Pune, and I started feeling left alone. It was a terrible period of my career. Also, all of my closest 5 friends of college got into premier B schools in India. The peer pressure was high and I was at the lowest point of my confidence. Amidst all these, I got the interview call for IIM C, IIT Kgp, ISI (Kol) run PGDBA, but here also screwed it up entirely. I still remember coming out of the IIM Calcutta campus in the stormy evening after the massacre interview, hiding my tears.

 At the same time, another thing happened that worsened my mental stamina... I used to work in Tata Chemicals. Tatas’ declared to exit from the fertilizer business and sold our unit to another company. The employees were very concerned about their social reputation, since they were about to lose the Tata tag which was a badge of honor to all of them. Most of the young employees, who used to be my closest buddies at the office started opting out for other jobs in different cities. The feeling of being left out started worsening; mental stress was increasing. I was losing patience, I was sort of on the verge of a breakdown. Thoughts came up like “it is enough and I should stop now”, “perhaps this is not my cup of tea”, “perhaps few things are never meant to happen”, “perhaps I should get settled now”.

 One person, I am lucky to have in my life who has been constantly motivating me to chase my dream no matter what, she is my girlfriend Sangita. She along with my closest buddies kept motivating me to rise like a phoenix and they made me stand up for another fight. But in 2018, I chose a conscious decision to switch my focus to GMAT. I although filled my CAT application for the fourth time, but was determined to focus on GMAT solely. After preparing for 3 months and scoring in the range of 670-690 in the mocks, I appeared for GMAT in August 1st week. But received a hard blow when the screen flashed a score of only 650. Those who don't know, taking GMAT every time costs more than INR 18000. I had decided to give another try. I took coaching for the Verbal part (that was my weakest part all along, perhaps still somewhat is). This time 3 straight 720s achieved in 3 consecutive mocks. But with my utter disbelief, on the D day, my score crashed down to 660 only(10 more than previous). It was November 12th, while CAT 2018 was scheduled on November 25th.

 I had completely lost all my hopes. How could one prepare for CAT in less than 15 days? It was literally a breakdown moment. I remember standing standstill for 15 odd minutes by the side of busy Rashbehari Avenue of Kolkata, feeling like stuck at the corner while all others are passing by at their own good pace.

 Again she came to my rescue and constantly motivated me to give it a last shot. She used to literally force me to appear mock tests before CAT while I had no hope left in me. You know what, it clicked this time, after so many failures. Maybe the GMAT verbal preparation boosted my CAT preparation multiple folds. I could not suppress my emotions when a score of 99.14 percentile flashed against my name on my computer screen. A success, at last, and the sweetest of one.

 The later part was also not very easy. I faced rejection from PGPEX VLM, PGDBA, SJM SOM IIT B. I managed to convert NITIE, new IIMs; but the happiest moment came when I saw a "Congratulations" against my IIM Lucknow application portal. I checked the portal twice, thrice and many more times just to reconfirm that whether what I am seeing is in reality or not. I was so happy that I cried a lot that night. I never expected that a 27-year-old guy, with decent academics and nearly 5 years of core work experience would end up in a premier B school like IIM Lucknow.

 Maybe I am currently one of the senior-most candidates among the entire batch, maybe I am not among those smartest ones who made it only one or two attempts. But one thing I am very grateful to almighty for this enriching experience. I am pretty sure about one thing –

 The coming days are not going to be cakewalks. Times will come when I will be low again. But one thing I am going to remember what my life has taught to me, Never give up.