Dream of beating GMAT

" It was 8;30 in the morning on a tedious Monday, I was sitting alone in the office thinking if this is what I ever wanted to do in my life . I liked the job but I always wanted to be involved in bigger things, have more responsibilities and see myself taking decisions that have a direct impact on the organization I work for. It was then, I decided that I would do an MBA and acquire the skill set I would need to get into such a position.

Now the confusion arrives. Where to do my MBA? Which exam to take? CAT or GMAT? Target the IIMs or the US Business Schools?After a lot of interactions with my consultant and other mentors, I decided to take GMAT and target a top 25 Business School in US. I did all my education where I was forced to run after the results and was always under pressure to score well in the examinations rather than to learn something. I wanted a change and I saw doing my MBA in US as the one I one I was looking for. Finally I made the decision to take GMAT and started to search the ways I can prepare for the exam. I searched on the net, asked my friends and finally shortlisted a few institutions. I took a day off to visit the academic centers personally and decide where to join. I started with one institute near my residence and then another one and finally reached this place called JAMBOREE. The name didn't sound good and the center was equally gloomy. I entered with an opinion to just have a look and move on but when I did enter I never knew my life would be changed forever, for the good. I met this awesome guy called Rohit Ghosh, the man who emits knowledge and energy. He told me one thing, give me your time, never give up, work till the day you take GMAT and I promise you a top score. He is the faculty for both quant and verbal sections and also the one who strategizes the preparation for all the students at the pune JAMBOREE center. I was impressed and my GMAT journey started in the next 15 minutes after our talk ended.

My preparation started well. I gave up on my weekend fun and started to attend the classes regularly. After a few weeks, some doubts started creeping in my mind. Whether I can achieve this? Is it in my range? I failed in a subject during my under grad, where even a average student will not and here I am trying to achieve something many people don't even dare to dream...a 750+ GMAT score. I could not concentrate and my morale got low. I went to Rohit and had a discussion about everything that bothered me and he just asked me to believe in myself and keeping moving forward. Those words got strongly imprinted in my heart and I restarted my preparation. The course was completed and I have completed the study material and started to give my mock examinations. Just at this moment I got transferred to Hyderabad and now I had to make a decision, either to take a break in my preparation or to take leave for a month from office, prepare and take GMAT. I know GMAT is my priority and I am not giving up on it. I have applied for sick leave for a month and decided to stay back in pune to prepare for the exam. My leave was not approved and had to struggle a lot to get it done but all I was saying to myself was not to get irritated with this and that when I achieve my goal , all these things will become sweet memories. I finally started my Mock examinations.

I took my first mock, did very well in quant and bad in verbal. I was not worried as it was expected and started working hard on verbal. Mock 2, 3,4,5,6 no change in the verbal and the number of mistakes in each exam started to increase and I panicked as the date I was supposed to take GMAT was approaching and I am not at the level I wanted to be. The next day I went to take my 7th Mock and when I was travelling to the center, I got a call from my home with terrible news that my mother's younger brother died of heart stroke. I took a flight, went to Hyderabad, attended the ceremony and came back after a few days in a sad state. I got myself up and went to the institute to continue with my mocks and did even worse on that day. I thought that would be the end and I that cannot make it. I decided to take GMAT in the next few days and get a 650 score or so and move from pune to Hyderabad. I was about to book a date for the exam, only to be interrupted by Rohit. He came to me and said, "Nandan, you are not prepared enough to give the exam, just give 15 more days and I promise you a very good score". I thought for a while, and then realized that my decision is not the right one. I said to myself, "when someone who doesn't have anything to do with this believes in me and is ready to invest time and energy in me...why am I not ready to do that?" I felt ashamed and started to put in a lot of effort to get my verbal preparation on track.

I used to follow everything Rohit said and completed all the material that he has given me. I almost did 2000 sentence correction questions that improved my accuracy from 30% to 95% in that section. I started to improve on my scores each day and after a week I booked my Exam date just in a few days. Every day in the morning I used to be the first one in the center, write a mock and wait near the door of Rohit's cabin to have his time for a quick discussion and finally leave after everyone left. I did this for 14 days and the results started to show. I had to take a leave extension, had people who believed in me along with me and life started to look good again. My friends Aravind and Vasudhar were there with me all these days and had a big role to play in my success. They used to listen to everything I say about my Mock, My exam and everything and always there for me. Finally the day I waited for so long had arrived and I went to the Examination center. I was scheduled to start my examination at 10 am in the morning and started it with an Essay in the Analytical writing. I did pretty well in quant and finished 17 minutes ahead of time and started my verbal. I never find time sufficient for verbal section but on the day I finished it 23 minutes before time and submitted my exam for the final score. I was terrified to see so much time remaining and thought that I did something wrong. I didn't pray for any score but just asked god to give me the attitude to take any score in the right way. To my shock I saw a 760 on the screen and I screamed out of joy. I took my passport and rode to the Jamboree center. I didn't say anything to anyone, didn't call even my parents, went straight to Rohit's Cabin and waited near the door as the way I used to everyday. After a few minutes he noticed me and was surprised to see me as it is 1 and half hour before the scheduled time, I was supposed to complete my exam. He screamed "Nandan! Didn't you write the exam?" I calmly said I did and gave my score sheet to him. He didn't say anything for a moment and I could see pride in his eyes. What better sight for a student than seeing pride in his teacher's eyes? He congratulated me and I was on top the world and in the awe of getting such a score. I never knew that I was just half the way and the real struggle is waiting for me.

People started calling me for GMAT prep help. I got new friends and all of a sudden I became a famous guy in the world I live in. From a lazy talented to a hard working guy , from the one who had a backlog in college to the one who achieved a top score in GMAT, I had an amazing transformation in my life and with all this I started applying to the Business schools . I didn't know the reality, I didn't do any research. People started to praise my score to whomever I talked to and I took no care to script the essays or the LORs with all the pride I got. I applied to all the top schools and just one safe school. Got rejected from everywhere else without getting interview calls except the admit from the safe school. I decided not to join and that I would reapply for the next year. I was disappointed that not even one school called me for an interview but later realized that I never deserved one. I read my essays that I submitted and felt bad for the way I lost it with my negligence and pride. I got my feet back on ground and realized I need to work harder than what I did for my exam to get into the top schools and started my work well before the application deadlines.

I started to get involved in the business side of the work I do in TCS. Got into a role of Functional consultant and started to interact with the clients that added value to my resume. I gave time to get to know myself, what I wanted to do with my career, what are my strengths and how am I planning to use my time at the school. I interacted with alumni from the schools I planned to apply and got to know what are the ways the school can help me achieve my goals and how I can best use my time. I have scripted good essays this time around and applied to all tiers of schools in a good shape in round 1. The result I got was a reject again. I was down and lost all hope. I got rejected at my dream schools and my target schools waitlisted me. I took a break and analyzed what went wrong. I ran, I walked, I crawled but I kept moving and never gave up. I took extra care in penning down the essays and applied to schools again. Finally after 413 days of wait got my first admit at Tippie school of Business, university of IOWA with 100% scholarship and I was over the moon. I started to get the admits from all the schools I have applied in round 2 and finally got into McDonough School of Business, Georgetown university, one of the top 25 schools in US. The moment I saw the admit mail, all the days of hard work and struggle flashed in my head and tears of joy came out without a stop. After 2 years of continuous hard work often coupled with distress and disappointments, I emerged victorious and achieved my dream of getting into a top 25 business school in US and now I definitely don't want to do the mistake I did before. I have learnt that success is not a destination but a journey and I want to continue my effort until the day I decide to hang my boots and relax. I don't know what I would with my career post MBA but definitely every passing day I will try to be better than who I was yesterday and keeping moving towards my dream. And I did live my dream of doing an MBA and I am proud to do so..."

This topic has expert replies