Relax...........CAT ho gaya na !!!!!!
Went thru CAT paper yesterday..... no i m not planning to take CAT again n go thru tht grinding schedule of written exam, GD/PI once again. I already hv my hands full here. Just the curosity of seeing the paper, which haunted me twice earlier made me go thru the paper once again. And again these people managed to throw a surprise. With the number of questions showing a downward trend, I think the focus hv shifted from speed to the 'content' part. speed is not going to matter. With -ve marking going upto 2.66 marks per question the street smartness which involved making intelligent guesses would be curbed.
Regarding the paper i feel the toughness level has increased. . Another year that the "great divide" between the quant-haves and quant-have-nots increases. Another year when no more punterbaazi (cracking questions by sheer common sense and presence of mind) not will work. Sumtimes i feel very happy n blessed tht i scraped thru when these things still ruled the roost......:)
I m suddenly facing a deluge of mails regarding my prediction of cut-offs. man i m not an astrologer. and it wud be really tough even fr ur neighbourhood 'swamiji' to predict the cut-offs. But after going thru the paper n seeing the scores of junta at various forums like pagalguy, my take wud be
VA-RC -20
Quant - 11
DI -10
a total of arnd 48 + wud start fetching the calls. I wud like to add the standard disclaimers..... so please do not sue me if u do not get a call even after achieving these scores. But IIMs hv known to follow 'mysterious' ways of giving calls taking a host of other factors like background, past education, sex ( yeah tht matters), work-ex n so on. Also sum people who do extremely well in 2 of the sections but do not perform well in third one also get calls as criteria which every IIM hv for sending calls is different. urs truly got 99+ percentile in his first attempt with 90+ percentile in each section but still did not get any call. but i m not complaining now after making it to the best in next attempt........:).
i think its time fr u all to put CAT behind n focus on upcoming exams. doesnt matter how u did this exam, its time to leave all this behind. chill out, watch movies with ur friends for sum days, party hard !!!!!! after all it wud hv taken an enormous effort from ur side. so u should relax.... visit all ur uncles n aunts who must hv been complaining tht they havent seen u fr sum time now. take ur girl/boy friend to movie .....basically enjoy urself n indulge urself in the interests which u missed during this struggle. For the guys who r working sumwhere, u wud hv to back to the office.... i can sense tht frustration. I hv been thru the same phase a year earlier.....
Still a number of exams are to follow, with XLRI, FMS n a host of others lined up, its not the time to lose focus. nor the time to lose hope. I hv seen many people who were screwed royally in CAT but cracked other major entrance exams. So its not the time to get engrossed in the feeling of being let down by a single exam. Do well in those exams too n hope fr the best
Amit
woh saat din ......
May 05, 2005- Blog 'http://enjoyingmyself.blogspot.com/' is incorporated
July 09, 2005- Blog hit counter touches the 4 digit mark
November 16, 2005- Blog hits touche the 5 digit mark
I m really thankful to all of u guys who really bore the incessant blabbering for the last few months n i hope to trouble u for some more time. Despite some of the long breaks tht i had to take, the blog have been able to survive n the no of visitors hv really grown. Thanks to all of u..... u all deserve a pat on ur back...:)
Meanwhile another major thing happened in ur's truly's life on 16th. The summer placement procedure was over and I got thru ITC. really lucky to make it thru one of top 3 marketing firms in the country and going by last 5 year trends the best marketing firm in the country. Had offers from a number of other firms from various sectors including finance, marketing as well as IT ones. now u wud be really wondering wht a non smoker like me wud be doing in primarily a tobacco company, but ITC hv really changed in last 5 years. from a 'cigratte' only company, they hv diversified into hotels, agro business n FMCG goods. n i may be placed in one of these growing sectors. The profile expected is sales n marketing. So please dont get surprised, if on a nice sunday morning in next summers, when u wud be watching a India- Pakistan thriller, with India requiring 9 runs of last 5 balls, Dhoni going great guns, suddenly u hear ur doorbell ringing. u open the gate in a really pissed off mood n u find a guy claiming to be an IIMA student working with ITC trying to get ur preferences over 'Aashirwaad Atta'...... Please dont beat up tht guy as tht guy may eventually turn out to be ur's truly....:)
The placements here hv been really wonderful this time. The placements here at A have been really gud always, just the fact that the no. of quality firms hv increased in recent years. Other IIMs are also making resolute efforts to catch on with us.Going by the placecom rules, i m not really allowed to disclose a lot of information about the placements here. But the quality as well as the quantity of offers hv increased a lot. The students hv become a lot choosy about the firms they want to join. Even big firms like McKinsey etc saw tht a major number of offers given by them were not accepted. The no. of day 0 offers increased to 73 with day 1 offers also touching 125. The whole batch got placed by the end of day 2 and a number of companies hv to go back with a sense of dejection as the students were not available.
As I mentioned in my last post tht summers provide u with an excellent opportunity to test waters in the profile which u want after u pass out from here. I also wanted to go towards marketing. My job was also made easier by the fact tht a lot of people here hv become finance oriented, sum due to the interest, sum due to the lucrative offers available but most due to the herd mentality.
Those seven days hv been really hectic. U cud see all kind of emotions of people's face on those days -anger, escatsy, frustration, despair, relaxed, depression....... People hving to attend 15 interviews in a single day n also still not making it in tht day n then hv to wait for their turn on the next day. This was really painful, but these experiences clearly shows how difficult and competitive the life can be. While sum of us converted the sole call of the day....... n cud see the expression of joy of making it. Lots of kudos to the placecom who deftly handled the show n avoided any major glitches. Finally everbody got placed by day2. n u cud see the smiling faces all around. I think these smiles were not merely due to the fact tht they got thru wonderful companies but also because of the fact tht the ordeal got over.
Chalo its the time to relax a bit this weekend. Classes hv started the work load again seems to hv increased a lot. This place doesn't give u an opportunity to relax, but as somebody rightly said ' Opportunities r not offered, they hv to be created'..... n i m busy thinking of doing somthinh different this weekend
amit
P.S: For all those guys who love singing the 'sutta na mila' song would now know whom to contact if they do not get their 'dose'.....just kidding....:)
Whats going on here
The exams are over today. somewhat similar to the first term though the number of papers was less. 3 days n 6 exams.....n everything gets over very quickly even before they cud realise wht's happening. also we have started to become immune frm this pain now......
Exams were there, but the focus for them was just not there. The summer placement process are is going to start just immediately after exams. So many of us wud finish the last paper last paper at 4:30 pm and they wud rush to attend ppts from 6pm onwards. This place is really hectic and you hv to really move fast to catch up with the system. First 2 days are known as Day 0 where there wud be multiple i-Banks like GS, Lehman, Barclays n consulting firrms including BCG,MCkinsey, Bain etc wud be participating. Most of them are foreign offers and there is a mad scramble fr these offers in the campus.
Then comes the turn of the Indian firms on day 1 and day2. Most of them are also really gud frms to work with n give excellent opportunities to know abt the business during the 2 months in summer. This is just the kind of opening u need to know abt various functional areas of business. It provides a gud opportunity to explore - see if u feel more comfortable in a particular domain n r u ready to pursue a career in tht domain in the future, or was it just a fad n then u realise that ur strengths n capablities do not fit well with the domain u choose. Some firms require to to sit in cosy air-conditioned rooms, designing glamourous ppts, 'trying' to make strategies which the companies may explore in the future.....sum others require u to 'hit the road' starightaway. u talk to people, know wht they want n then help company realise how it can provide the values customer want to derive from a product.
from today evening the shortlists wud start to come out. n then there wud be real stampede. people checking mails every 5 mins, people who dont believe in God starts praying, some real hard competition, people start communicating in English n so on.... i cud just hope tht everybody get good job, but one shud know tht if he doesnt get his dream job, then also its not end of everything. Every job is as good as what u get out from it. So though a 'good' job gives u an initial advantage, but finally it boils down to the person's capablities and wht he aspires to achieve in his life and how he goes thru in achieving it. As sumbody rightly said- 'Ur attitude determines ur altitude in life. Skills and knowledge can be gained any time, but wht matters in the long run is ur attitude towards achieving ur goals'
The tears that you spill, the sorrowful, are sweeter than the laughter of snobs and the guffaws of scoffers."
- Kahlil Gibran, "A Handful of Sand on the Shore"
Best of Luck to everyone
wish me luck !!!!!!!!
Amit
Happy diwali
'Amit, you lazy bum, get up, we have to go for the presentation'
'But i am just coming from a presentation'
'Doesnt matter, that company was from IT sector. This one is a finance one'
'So wht........ i dont want to go now......... i m getting a bit tired of these ppts. cud u just go n note down all the gyan they give. n then u cud give me a 5 min ppt on wht they said in an hour's lecture. i cud give u a treat in canteen for tht'
' no way....just get up....we r getting late'
'k, hang on.....i am coming'
this was part of a small conversation between myself n my neighbour an hour earlier. n thts one of the major reason i hv been away frm this blog fr a while n wud remain away for some more time. busy attending ppts, filling application forms n goin thru websites...... initially this seems very exciting...... high ranking employees of top notch firms coming and pitching for the students here.......u start to feel the power the IIMA brand exerts n there is sumthing which gives a lot of boost to the egos......but gradually the fatigues sets in....... n then u start feeling tht i cant take it anymore. But this is the beauty of this place. u think of giving up n then suddenly from nowhere get tht latent energy to get up n go to auditorium to attend the ppts.
meanwhile tomorrow is Diwali.... n there is sumthing different n sumthing peculiar i m feeling abt this diwali..... this wud be the first one i wud be spending away from my family. no younger brother here to pester me to light more crackers, no cousins here to egg me on to get more crackers, mom is not here, i miss her n her advice, 'beta, take care while playing with crackers. they can be be dangerous'. papa is not here, otherwise he wud hv been calling me to sit in the diwali puja. life can be sumtimes be very ironic. u work hard, study hard, so tht u can keep ur family happy, but fr achieving the same thing u hv to stay away frm ur family, sit in ahmedabad n just think abt the next form u r going to fill....... i m seriously missing my family now, yes mom - i never tell u this thing on phone, but i really miss u.
fr the cricket fans there hv been certainly gud news.... the god is back in the field n back to perform wht he is best at- murdering bowlers with tht nonchalant arrogance. n back r the exquisitive drives, blazing pulls, charges down the wicket n tht hunger to regain the no 1 spot which has been truly his. gone r the self-doubts which had plagued him fr 2 years. n we r getting to see the same sachin whom we had been earlier accustomed to. the mood in in the indian team has become positive n there seems to be new vigour in the team. seems we r in fr treat fr sumtime now
meanwhile happy diwali to all of u, ur families, ur friends, chachas, chachis, mamas, mamis n ........... enjoy urself n take care while burning crackers..... hv i started sounding like my mom.... seems time to log out
amit
