Here's how he made it to India's leading b-school

Maruthi Raj, a first year post graduate student at IIM-Ahmedabad finds time to pen down his journey right from cracking the CAT to getting into India's leading b-school. He shares his experience here. Read on.

Who says it takes a mere percentage to determine your destiny? Take the example of Maruthi Raj who once scored 92.17 percent in his first CAT attempt in 2006 yet found the determination to work hard for the next three years. He scored 99.75 percent in his CAT 2010 and thus made it to India's leading b-school.

Probe him further and he will tell you why he calls himself a Type II error, which he says, is a term synonymous with MBA aspirants, something like a 'statistical error', he jokingly remarks, calling himself lucky for being selected after four years because till date, he cannot tell exactly what it takes to be into the IIM -- determination, luck or a mix of both.

Nevertheless, let us believe that Chennai-born Maruthi definitely had a spark in him that led him achieve his dream. Currently, he is a first year post graduate student at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad.

Maruthi completed his B Tech in Electrical and Electronics from VIT Vellore, and worked at Tata Consultancy Services before appearing for the Common Admission Test in 2010.

He scored 99.75 percentile in CAT 2010 and chose to join the IIM-A to pursue his post graduation.

Here, he shares memories of his journey right from cracking the Common Admission Test in 2010 to finding his place at India's leading b-school. Besides, he goes on to narrate the three things that distinguish an IIM-A student from the rest. Read on to find out.

The Common Admission Test

First of all, I would like to wish Best of Luck to all the candidates who are appearing for CAT 2011. I know how important an exam it is for all those who aspire to study at the prestigious b-schools in the country. I had a similar dream. And to achieve that dream requires determination with passion and not to forget, preparation.

If you ask me, CAT does require a significant amount of effort at the first attempt, because most of the degrees including engineering do not have Maths till the sixth semester.

Test Series is the most important requirement for preparation, more than classes and workshop. I have met people who have never prepared for CAT, still made it here and also those, who had studied six hours a day while they were still employed.

There is only one person who knows the amount of effort required for making it happen and that is the candidate himself. Also, it is very important to use the support system to the fullest; my parents always supported me and it was my friends from college who convinced me to give CAT a second try and helped me fill u my forms/SOP (Statement of Purpose).

Since I am writing this now, when the CAT exam has already begun and there is hardly any time to make significant progress in your preparation, it is important to approach it as just another mock CAT.

The Indian Institutes of Management do have their own brand name and a history associated with them, but they are just a catalyst for success and not the success itself.

To put it down more subtly, they are a set of institutions that offer post graduate degree in management and are open to admission to any Indian citizen who is eligible for CAT.

Let me believe that this approach would probably help reduce a lot of pressure among the candidates. At the same time, if one has been passionate and has worked hard through the year to achieve his/her dream, s/he should not worry.

Disclaimer: There are bound to be Type I and II errors in the CAT selection process -- yours truly is a Type II error.

CAT results and GDPI

I was on a family trip with my parents when the results were announced. My friends had checked the results for me and needless to say, they were eagerly awaiting my arrival.

It was an exhilarating day when my friends informed me about my CAT score and memories of that day is still fresh in my mind.

There was a month's gap before the interviews were scheduled. I was an IMS test series student and continued with them for GDPI (Group Discussion-Personal Interview) coaching.

I attended as many mock interviews as I could. I did not concentrate much on preparing for Group Discussion as I had realised that my performance in GD would not be evaluated in the elimination round.

Also, except for IIM-Calcutta and IIM-Lucknow, the rest have done away with GD and moved on to essays.

The interviews were mostly based on your self-understanding, career aspirations and knowledge of current affairs. Professors give you a free hand to guide the interview in your preferred direction.

I owe my short term success of making it to IIM-A to my parents and friends (50paisa, my gang of friends) who supported me through my tough moments.

Life at IIM-A has been nothing short of an enriching and lively experience for me. There are three distinct identities that each one of us at IIM-A can identify with.

The first is being a faccha, as the first year students are called in IIM-A lingo.

The first year in IIM-A is hectic, sleeping as late as 02.00 hrs is considered very early. The classes start from 08.45 and end at 13.10, but we have a lot of other activities to do including preparing for the next day's classes.

There is a concept of surprise quizzes that we dread the most. In fact, the quiz is usually announced right after we complete our lunch and the daily preparation and the marks we score do not have much correlation. The tucchas i.e. second year students (our seniors) are very helpful and are forever ready to counsel and give their 'gyaan' whenever we need them.

The second identity is that of belongingness to a dorm. There are 29 dorms, as of now, and each of it has a name apart from the official number allotted to it. There are dorm-specific tempo shouts and pizza parties (dry state, to be specific) wherein we eat so many pizzas that we get high and start dancing. Each of us is rechristened with our dorm names that also remain as original names to a few.

The last but not the least, since each of us belong to a section, IIM-A has a tradition called T-nite which is a clash of the sections that unfold in the evening after we finish the regular classes in the morning.

Apart from performances, a lot of weightage is given to enthusiasm and togetherness of a section. Again, the results and the performance/enthusiasm have no real correlation but the purpose of the event is to create section bonding and it does perform the same wonderfully well.

Some of the alumni members (super-tucchas), who visit the institute for official reasons, also visit their dorms, reveal their dorm lives and egg us on to do dorm tempo shouts or talk about their section.

Although we do not get much of leisure time; few days ago, around 50 of us took time out and managed to catch the first day first show of the Tamil movie Mankatha starring Ajith. Few things never change, do they?

Lastly, I have just one quick message for my friends -- This life is yours to miss if you do not perform well on the D-day due to stress. So, just be cool, anyways.