Preparing for MBA entrance exams...

Four of us had a mission, getting into an MBA institute right after engineering and not getting stuck in the muck called IT (sorry for calling it so....but if after rubbing my ass for 4 yrs in a completely different field...if all dat i hav to do is sit on the bench...then its simply unacceptable to me). Yes we can start another MBA entrance GD on the topic, 'IT companies and their contribution to rising middle class', but lets save it for some other time. 3 of us are where we wanted to be and the only one remaining is soon to get what we had all set out for.

Abhishek Nayak (Nalayak) has joined IIFT, Pranav Awasthi (sasti)is in IIM-K and i have joined NMIMS. Aditya (adi) is appearing for GMAT this year.

During the end of our 2nd year of engineering we realised that we were not meant for technical stuff and that MBA would be a much better choice for all of us. With this in mind, we joined a coaching institute in our third year. We were all in the same class of EC-A and the rivalries between EC-A and EC-B were at their peak(dunno y i hav mentioned it here..but some later blogs will definitely shed more light on this critical issue ;) ). Most of the people in my class were trying for MBA or MS and many of us got through to the colleges of our choice.

But what worked to our advantage was the fact that, with 4 motivated people out to achieve a common objective of getting into a premier B-school, there was no dearth of motivation or loss of focus. Our motivation was invariably multiplied by 4 almost all the time.

Getting together at each others place to solve mock CAT papers and then evaluating them, xplaining to each other different approaches to solve the same question and discussing various issues in an attempt to prepare ourselves for the GD's and interviews that follow the written exams had become a daily routine. By July 2006, we had really started putting in that xtra effort to achieve our goal. We would pick up any and every Mock CAT paper that we could lay our hands on from PT, IMS, TIME, Career Launcher. Reserving the last bench for ourselves so that we can engross ourselves in some CAT material, while the prof delivers his lecture was a daily routine.

CAT preparation can get really boring if you intend to walk the path all alone...i guess the much talked about team work concept starts playing its role much before the actual MBA course starts.

Today i meet so many people wanting to do MBA (more so bcos its bcome a fad) but when it comes to putting in effort, either most of them dont get the time cos of their jobs or they are just too de-motivated or disinterested that they eventually lose whatever little steam that they have.
And i find this 2 year work experience before going for MBA a big misconception atleast in the case of Indian universities. Believe me your IT experience on the bench really does not bring anything to the classroom.

The competition has only got tougher over the past 1.5 yrs and with this there has been a growing trend towards taking GMAT and applying to foreign universities. Infact some people are even ready to join newly opened or lesser known colleges,which are nothing more than money minting organizations. How it helps them or their careers is yet another GD topic ;)

All in all the time that i spent preparing for MBA exams was as enjoyable as the time that i have spent so far in my MBA course.

Right now i am really getting pissed off by my roomie's music sense...and its making me lose my senses...so i'll be back when am in the right frame of mind....:)