Amid conclusive year of my Graduation in Mechanical Engineering, I began planning for CAT ‘12 having a fantasy of getting into IIM A, B, or C and when the application form was out I just ticked A, B, C and L for the choice of IIMs I wanted to be in. I scored 98.6%ile and I was having a tinkling of hope of getting a call from IIM-L but unfortunately I didn’t.
Since 2012 I have wanted to be in an IIM. I got placed in Tata Motors Ltd and joined it in Oct 2013. I did not appear in CAT ’13 because at that point of time I wanted to explore more in then recently joined TML.
After working for 10-11 months in TML I realized that although I was good at technical knowledge I did not want to be in technical field anymore, so I started preparing for CAT only via test series of different coaching centres (TIME, CL, Testfunda and SIMCATs) from 15th Aug ’14. Furthermore, this time when I filled CAT application form I ticked all the IIMs as I would not want to continue technical job. I scored 96.97%ile.
I used to take one or two mock tests a day every day from 15th Aug ’14 to 14th Nov ’14 and used to score 98+%ile consistently in AIMCATs. After getting the results for the recently taken test I would review it, the questions I had not attempted or attempted but incorrectly, I would refer the theory for those particular questions and then do the same for the subsequent mocks.
A little disappointed I was as I scored less in my second endeavour at CAT while I was hoping to get a 99+%ile this time, likewise I was performing admirably in my mocks. Be that as it may, I discovered that it happens with numerous; I was by all account not the only casualty :P .. It is rightly said “What you deny or ignore, you DELAY. What you accept and face, you CONQUER”
I converted all 6 new IIMs (Rp,Rtk,R,T,K,U) and chose Raipur over all other IIMs. As I scrutinized a great deal considering the parameters i.e. Placements, Infrastructure, Playgrounds, Permanent Campus, Faculty, Exchange Programs, Hostels, peers’ profile, Lateral Placements, Summer Internships, profiles offered and so forth and so on. After conducting extensive research on all the factors of all 6 new IIMs, Raipur emerged to be the best in my case.
First 6 months at IIM Raipur
The very first day in IIM Raipur was surprising. All that I encountered was more than my desires. Seniors having work exp. of the prestigious companies like Honda, Coal India, Accenture, Tata Steel etc. And when I was acquainted to my amazing peers who hailed from institutes such as IIT Bombay, IIT Roorkee, IIT Guwahati, AIIMS Delhi, different NITs, SRCC and having work exp of Herman, Bharti Airtel, Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata Motors, Deloitte, Make my Trip, Reliance and so forth. I was more than blissful.
And then I attended classes of our savant faculty, I have never attended such vivid classes. Every Prof imparts his/her awe-inspiring perspectives while solving distinctive case studies.
As the batch size is small one gets all the opportunities of performing in any activity one wants. Also, everybody gets individual attention from the faculty, whenever a student feels any difficulty in any subject, Profs are effectively receptive for any uncertainty, for any doubt at any time as every prof knows every student singularly.
There is zero communication gap between students and administration of the institute which is a very conducive environment for any student to self-explore him/herself.
ANKIT LALWANI
PGP 2015-2017
IIM RAIPUR
First published here
