Advice for future CAT aspirants

A friend (NIT, 2016 pass out) resigned from his job in Nov. 2016. His passion was in management. And being a brilliant student, he was dead sure of getting into an old IIM. As expected, he got 99.95 percentile in CAT.

Here comes the twist: A, B, L, and I have not even shortlisted him for the interview. Out of the old IIMS, only IIM-C has called him. Another twist here: C has given calls up to 99.6 percentile, they have distorted the selection criteria in such a way that he is ahead of the last person called by only 1.47 marks. Now the fun thing: IIM-C awards 2 marks for academic diversity and 4 marks for work experience. So, he will have to give an extraordinary GD-PI performance to have any realistic chance of being selected.

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The purpose of this article is not to frighten or dishearten you but to provide a realistic view of the admission process of IIMs. It is written only for GEMs. If you don’t belong to General Engineer Male, no need to read further.

Most people think that getting into IIMs (old ones) is all about securing more than 99.5 percentile in CAT. Sorry for shattering your dreams, but that isn’t even 10% the battle. Your whole life counts. From the chromosomes that determined your sex to your graduation stream, everything is considered. If you happen to be a General Engineer Male, things over which you have no control, you are screwed. A girl having 92 percentile and a GEM having 99.5 percentile have equal chances of getting into an IIM. Gender is not the only thing going against you, they consider work experience, academic diversity, your marks in 10th, 12th & graduation and the quality of the work experience. If you somehow manage to get a call, your selection depends entirely on the interview. Engineers are seen with contempt there. They have so many to choose from.

Oh, and don’t even get me started on reservations.

If you are a GEM having less than 90 percent in 10th or 12th and below 7.5 CGPA in B.Tech, think twice before putting your time and effort in preparing for CAT. You might regret it later. Life is unfair and the Indian education system is even more so. Unless a revolution happens, don’t expect the end of reservation or such diversity bullshit in a hundred years. However, there is no point in fretting about things over which we have no control. Here is a plan of action you can follow if you like.

If you are a fresher:

1. Before starting your preparation, read the selection criteria of all the IIMs. Every IIM has a different criterion. Indore gives 76% weightage to your 10th and 12th marks. Others have similar weird process. Prepare yourself mentally for what you are getting into. Here are some threads (to depress you) https://www.quora.com/Is-it-possible-to-score-99-5+-percent…, https://www.pagalguy.com/…/all-i-want-to-speak-about-gem-ge… . Know the worst that can happen. It’s time you start practising stoicism.

2. If you are still in B.Tech, focus only on building your GPA. Forget about CAT (or at least don’t neglect your GPA for CAT preparation). You will have 4-5 years to go for an MBA after B.Tech. Remember that even half an extra mark in your mid semester will count. Bargain, beg, plead with the prof as much as you can.

I know that you hate the rat race for marks. I hated it too. But the MBA world is all about rat race. During my 2nd and 3rd year of B.Tech, I had some rules: I never sat in the examination hall for more than 45 minutes in mid sem and more than 1.5 hours in end sem. I regret it now. Make sure that you don’t have any regrets.

3. Try to gain as much expertise in your stream/area of interest as you can. If you can publish a research paper, do it. If you can organize/attend any conference, do it. Get yourself enrolled in as many clubs as you can. Get published in reputed newspapers/magazines. Try to get good internships. You have to show that you are different from the herd.

4. Consider other exams. If they don’t want you, why do you want them so desperately? Depending on your ambitions, there are good colleges other than IIMS. XLRI, IIFT, NMIMS, to name a few. Though I don’t suggest going for GRE/GMAT in this era of rising protectionism; if you are rich enough, you may consider MS/MBA from a foreign university.

If you are a working professional: DO NOT QUIT YOUR JOB. CAT is capricious.

Will add more things later.

The most powerful thing in the world.

Year 1991, PV Narsimha Rao was dying. His neck would wobble every time he opened his mouth to speak. Nobody thought he would live more than a few months. Then something miraculous happened. His health improved. Five years later, he retired after serving as the 9th PM of India, before finally dying in 2004.

What made PV Narsimha defy death and live 13 years more?

Freud had famously said that all motivation comes from two desires: the sex urge and the desire to be great. Desires rule our world. The most common of them are money, sex, and power. But a few people have still managed to control, even eliminate them.

The force that transformed a dying man into one of the best PMs India has ever seen was not Power. Not even Money. That intangible, yet the single most powerful force is the “feeling of importance”. The same thing which Freud described as “the desire to be great”. People have learned to tame the other natural desires, but NOONE can control this desire.

Everyone gets his feeling of importance in a unique way. Politicians feel themselves important when they are able to exert power over others. Criminals and terrorists get this feeling when they see others being terrified of them, and after successfully committing crimes. This desire is the reason why organizations give sexy and meaningless titles to their employees, to make them feel they are valuable.

But this desire to be great doesn’t necessarily comes from the ability to exert power or to make large-scale changes. Some people get it from as simple things as being different from others. This is what monks and hermits do. This is also what most researchers do, they feel themselves superior to others when they discover something the ignorant public doesn’t know about. This feeling of superiority drives the entire research area.

The same line of reasoning is used to brainwash people. “Do you want to live like millions of others who live a mundane life, those who take birth, have families, work like slaves all their lives, and ultimately die without achieving anything. Their life has no meaning. Their death doesn’t affect anything. Their existence has no value. Do you want to be like that or do you want to make an impact in the world?” From religious preachers to terrorists, everyone uses these lines to persuade people to join their organization by giving them a feeling of importance. The latest addition in this category is Anonymous. Just watch their last video.

If you know this one thing, you know the secret of all negotiations and persuasions. This is the ultimate secret of effectively dealing with people. Find out how the other person gets his feeling of importance, and give it to him. If you are able to do that, he is your slave.
(Some ideas taken from How to Win Friends and Influence People)

P.S. I am back to writing, so expect more interesting articles.

Review and lessons from Rich Dad Poor Dad

Through this book, Robert Kiyosaki has explained the different actions and thought patterns that separate the poor and the middle class from the rich.

Lessons from The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

• ·    In order to change, you have to address your character and not your behaviour. Our behaviour is formed by our personal fundamental principles. We see the world, not as it is, but as we are──or, as we are conditioned to see it. Our perception is not an objective reality, but rather a subjective interpretation tinted by the paradigm-glass we wear. To overcome an ingrained habit, we have to first identify the fundamental principle which forms the habit.

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Review of Think and Grow Rich

Written during the Great Depression, Think and Grow Rich is probably the most famous self-help book. It is available in more than 120 editions and has been purchased over 30 million times. I had heard a great deal about this book, and moreover, its title is also catchy, so I decided to give it a shot.

Summary of Who Will Cry When You Die

 Read the full review here.

I am here giving the crux of Who Will Cry When You Die. The number written before each point represents the chapter number. For the full list of chapter headings, click here.

Review of Robin Sharma's Who Will Cry When You Die

Before reading this book I had no idea about its genre. I didn’t even bother to check its reviews nor had I read any book of Robin Sharma before this book. I was browsing through Amazon to buy some other books and bought it just because it was one of their top 25 books. After reading it, I can surely say that it was a good decision.      

This book is a collection of life lessons. The author has profusely used quotes and life-principles of other self-help writers and philosophers. Some principles have directly been copied from other books. I read Think and Grow Rich and The Power of Your Subconscious Mind just after this book. Some content of his book matches with these books. So basically, the author has only collected teachings of some wise men in one book.  

But that does not decrease the value of life lessons this book contains. Most of the self-help books are written on motivation where the writer tells you about the power of your mind and urges you to be overly optimistic and fear nothing. This simple message is repeated all over the book in different words. This book is not entirely about motivation. It contains a total of 101 lessons. Each lesson is concise and different from the others. If properly followed, this book can make your life less 

complicated, increase your productivity, and bring joy to your daily routine.

Reading this book will make you happier and might change your perspective towards life. It emphasises on finding joy in simple stuff. I recommend you to read the full book as it will barely take three to four hours. However, if you don’t have even that much of time, here is the crux of this book. Summary of Who Will Cry When You Die

I am also giving the headings of all the lessons, most of the headings are self-explanatory. 

1. Discover your calling
2. Every day, be kind to a stranger
3. Maintain your perspective
4. Practice tough love.
5. Keep a journal
6. Develop an honesty philosophy
7. Honour your past.
8. Start your day well
9. Learn to say NO gracefully
10. Take a weekly sabbatical
11. Talk to yourself
12. Schedule worry breaks
13. Model a child
14. Remember, genius is 99 percent inspiration
15. Care for the temple
16. Learn to be silent.
17. Think about your ideal neighbourhood.
18. Get up early
19. See your troubles as blessings.
20. Laugh More
21. Spend a day without your watch
22. Take more risks
23. Live a life
24. Learn to live
25. Bless your money
26. Focus on the worthy
27. Write thank-you notes.
28. Always carry a book with you.
29. Create a love account
30. Get behind people’s eyeballs.
31. List your problems
32. Practice the action habit
33. See your children as gifts.
34. Enjoy the path, not just the rewards
35. Remember that awareness precedes change.
36. Read Tuesdays With Morrie.
37. Master your time.
38. Keep you cool.
39. Recruit a board of directors.
40. Cure your monkey mind.
41. Get good at asking
42. Look for the higher meaning of your work
43. Build a library of heroic books.
44. Develop your talents.
45. Connect with nature
46. Use your commute time
47. Go on  a news fast
48. Get serious about setting goals.
49. Remember the rule of 21.
50. Practice forgiveness.
51. Drink fresh fruit juice.
52. Create a pure environment
53. Walk in the woods.
54. Get a coach.
55. Take a mini-vacation.
56. Become a volunteer.
57. Find your six degrees of separation.
58. Listen to music daily.
59. Write a legacy statement.
60. Find three great friends.
61. Read The Artist’s Way.
62. Learn to meditate.
63. Have a living funeral
64. Stop complaining and start living.
65. Increase your value
66. Be a better parent
67. Be unorthodox.
68. Carry a goal card
69. Be more than your moods.
70. Savour the simple stuff
71. Stop condemning
72. See your day as your life
73. Create a mastermind alliance
74. Create a daily code of conduct
75. Imagine a richer reality
76. Become the CEO of your life.
77. Be humble
78. Don’t finish every book you start.
79.  Don’t be so hard on yourself
80. Make a vow of silence
81. Don’t pick up the phone every time it rings.
82. Remember that recreation must involve re-creation.
83. Choose worthy opponents.
84. Sleep less
85. Have a family mealtime
86. Become an impostor
87. Take a public speaking course
88. Stop thinking tiny thoughts
89. Don’t worry about things you can’t change
90. Learn how to walk
91. Rewrite your life story
92. Plant a tree
93. Find your place of peace
94. Take more pictures
95. Be an adventurer
96. Decompress before you go home
97. Respect your instincts
98. Collect quotes that inspire you
99. Love you work
100. Selflessly work
101. Live fully so that you can die happy.