MBA was not an option but a passion for me: Tanay Tapke

The year was 2010 when I received my SSC results and I scored 88.36%, which for me was a feat to achieve. The demand in those days was all about mechanical engineering and it drove me towards selecting Science Bifocal with Mechanical Maintenance as my subject for HSC. The CAP procedures enrolled me at Sathaye College (Vile Parle East). Life was different, everyone was preparing for engineering CET or medical CET, spending 24X7 in coaching classes. I also had the option to prepare for JEE but I did not, just because the topper of my school said it would be difficult.

Life during HSC was majorly spent wasting time in traveling. I scored fewer marks in CET and so I couldn’t get into top engineering colleges. I suppose my fate was RGIT (Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology, Versova). No worries as it was 10 mins ride from my home. My brothers were already pass-outs of RGIT and the Principal used to stay near my place, which made me finalize RGIT. I became an Electronics and Telecommunications engineer in 2016. During the course, I came across lots of ideas for startups and decided to learn about business management. MBA was not an option but passion and I targeted two colleges, Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies and Sydenham Institute of Management Studies Research and Entrepreneurship Education. I am currently with SIMSREE and the best part of SIMSREE is the fees. The other top B-Schools cost you 10/15/20 Lakhs for education and degree but at SIMSREE, you get it for Rs. 69,000/.

CAT, CET, SNAP, NMAT, XAT, CMAT, etc. are the exams one needs to give to enter top B-Schools in India. I gave CAT once and CET twice before joining SIMSREE. The colleges I targeted were JBIMS, SIMSREE, and FMS. I never joined any classroom coaching, just got the study material of CPLC (the video tab) for CAT, which assisted me in clearing all the concepts. For CET, the only important thing to do is practice mocks and then its analysis. The year was 2017 when I bought Times mocks, which was supposed to be difficult of all. Times mocks were the only thing I did for 2017 CET and due to some hard luck, I ended scoring one mark less than the cutoff for SIMSREE.

Next year, I bought Times, as well as CET King, mocks and was able to clear cutoff for SIMSREE and missed JBIMS by an inch. CET is a test of speed where you have 200 questions and only 150 mins, which makes practice very important. I also gave two-three mocks of IMS borrowed from my friend. Practicing mocks is the key to crack CET. The book one can refer to crack GD/PI is India Unbound by Gurucharan Das. It covers India's economic history along with modern economics. I subscribed to CET King's YouTube channel, which helped me stay tuned with all the updates regarding the exam.

SIMSREE is a student-driven college where student committees do all kinds of extra activities, placements, lectures scheduling and inviting industry professionals. I am a member of the Entrepreneurship Cell at SIMSREE, which engages me with different events related to entrepreneurship. The day of a SIMSREE student consists of attending lectures and then playing table tennis, pool or carom, chess to relax. The day begins at 7:30 am and ends at 9:30 pm. The course coordinators schedule lectures. Three days prior schedule is shared with the batch. The break duration exceeds 3-4 hours sometimes, which makes a day boring. Technical knowledge about the core subjects had to be learned by students on their own.

There are external faculty members for all the subjects and listening to them is sometimes a fun activity. There are many sports events and management events that take place all the time and which keep me busy. The Case Study competitions and many other workshops such as Business Analytics, Equity Research, Excel, Store Wars, and Six Sigma take place at campus keeping students busy. As a part of my learning, I have opted for many off-summer internships, which helped me grow as an individual. Throughout the month, placement activities and numerous lectures by guests take place. The GLs are mandatory for students otherwise fines of INR 700 are imposed on students. We invite many founders and CEO on our campus who provide valuable insights to students. SIMSREE has helped me grow my political skills and boosted my confidence to deal with problems.

The best part of college is the exams without any loads. The events at SIMSREE include B-plan, Case Studies, and debate competitions. Recently launched Joneses'19 was a debate competition, which had teams from premier B-Schools competing for the throne. At SIMSREE, students enjoy each other's company. What I want the college to do is to build a platform for entrepreneurs.

About the Author:

Hello! I am Tanay Tapke, a first-year MBA student at Sydenham Institute of Management Studies Research and Entrepreneurship Education. Being an engineer, it was a little easy cracking CET last year. My interests are in understanding real-life business problems and solve them. My hobbies include playing chess, trekking, reading, and swimming. For me, food is life.