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33-year-old Dwibesh Nath from Odisha has waited almost a decade to get admission in his dream college – Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A). After trying for nine years, Dwibesh is now a student in the PGPX- Postgraduate Program for Executive Director at IIM-A.
He appeared for the Common Admission Test (CAT) debut in 2014 and went on to take the exam three more times. He even appeared on the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) six times, hoping to get a seat at the institute — and cracked it the sixth time. However, Nath continued to work alongside him in order to gain experience.
While preparing for IIM Ahmedabad, he was working as Supply Chain Manager at Maruti Suzuki. “I come from a mechanical engineering background and was assigned to Maruti Suzuki, however, I was representing a Maruti team at Toyota. This work helped me learn a lot,” he said. Indianexpress.com.
This international exposure turned out to be more advantageous for Doebesh who studied in Odia Medium School till Class 10 and moved to English Medium Institute in Class 11. He believes that his Odia medium education also became a hurdle in his management of entrance exam preparation.
“I couldn’t find any relevant reference books for my language that could help me prepare for CAT or GMAT. So, I slowly started learning the basics of English through “Wren & Martin” because I knew language was the biggest hurdle for me.”
“Don’t follow the crowd”
Nath has also shied away from coaching centres, and contrary to the popular perception that coaching classes are necessary to pass the Management Entrance Examination, he advises future aspirants to focus on self-study.
“I tried coaching lessons and different methods, but it didn’t help. I soon realized that following the masses wasn’t going to help because my background is different from the rest. In the old preparation methods, I would look through questions/answers or articles and think this is how it should be shaped It has the grammar, but my basics are not clear, so I try a different approach to understand the basics first, and then focus on answering the questions.
Not ABC, just IIM-Ahmedabad
When it comes to IIMs, many students prefer to secure a seat in IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore or Calcutta. Nath also secured seats in IIM Bangalore and Kolkata along with some foreign universities. However, his eyes were set on IIM-A.
Dwibesh Nath at IIM Ahmedabad
“It was only a few months in IIM-A but I really learned a lot from this institute, hence, coming here was worth it. This institute offers you opportunities to meet and talk with some experts in their fields. Professors here are working on real-life projects,” said Nath. Related to the G20 or the new education policy etc. They bring solutions to some real life problems, and that kind of exposure is what helped me grow so big.
He also added that although he has been working in the auto industry for 10 years, he has yet to learn about the industry. “I can also use my experiences as case studies and use those learnings in other problems,” added Nath.
Another reason for choosing IIM-A was the success stories of the alumni network which assured him that he would be able to start his life in the corporate world again after this course, despite the ongoing wave of layoffs around the world.
Nath explains that his IIM-A experience teaches him new skills, both academic and non-academic. “Because of this experience,” he said, “I became resilient and confident knowing that even if I faced any failure, I would be able to gather what I learned from it and use it to my advantage in my next attempt.”
He claims that the process of joining IIM-A has built an attitude of risk-taking within him, which helps him turn his failures into positive lessons. “I am not disturbed by the news of layoffs all over the world. IIM-A has given me skills that can even help me create my own company in the future if necessary.”
Another key learning from Nath’s IIM-A is that stress increases your capabilities, and it shouldn’t intimidate you. “You will be asked to make tough decisions in a high-pressure environment, and these courses prepare you for that,” explains Nath, when presenting a hypothetical CEO position.
His advice to fellow hopefuls is not to complain, and instead focus on seizing the opportunity. A believer in “what matters is how you perceive challenges,” Nath advises IIM aspirants not to worry about past experiences and use those experiences for their own advantage instead of following the crowd.
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