Mystory@Akula Harshavardhan Rao: How my college education impacted my career

Mystory@Harsh Vardhan Rao

I completed my schooling from Vidya Niketan High School with 70 per cent marks. Apart from academics, I was active in extra-curricular activities including dancing and sports. And like so many Indians, cricket is my favourite sport. I’m happy to share that I was successful in representing my school at district level for NSC – National Science Congress and I was fortunate to meet the collector and also received a trophy.  

Coming to under-graduation i.e. Diploma, I opted for Electronics & Communication Engineering and completed the course with 71 per cent marks. Electronics Day conducted in our college grabbed the attention of many people and I was fortunate to grab an opportunity to get my picture in EENADU newspaper.

How I got admission into Siva Sivani Institute of Management (SSIM), Hyderabad

I decided to pursue MBA and was in the process of finding a suitable MBA college for myself. Factors including IIM-A faculty and 100% placement assurance made me choose Siva Sivani Institute of Management (SSIM), Hyderabad for PGDM.

Siva Sivani Institute of Management (SSIM), Hyderabad, follows book review session, company review session, article review session, which is all very useful and essential for a management student. It helps a student overcome the nervousness one feels when having to do a presentation. SSIM also conducts guest lectures which gives students an opportunity to have an interaction with delegates from corporates, so that we can improve our networking.

To take admission in SSIM, I started with sending an application to the Institute where I qualified the eligibility to get a seat. Then they conducted an online Psychometric test (which is just to test the candidate’s aptitude), which helps one take the desired specialisation in 2nd year. (My test result suggested Marketing specialization, which I am looking to take in 2nd year.) This was followed by a group discussion which is a very common round conducted in most B-schools to check the candidate’s general knowledge and communication skills. I cleared it to reach the personal interview round.

I had worked on previous years’ CAT papers to know the test pattern and prepare well. I followed the guidelines given by my family members, friends, and seniors to get a good score in MAT and CAT exams. I also took MBA entrance exam coaching from Time Institute of Management. In order to have a chance of admission in some MBA college everyone should get a minimum of 50 percentile in aptitude tests like CAT, MAT, XAT, ATMA etc. I scored 85.4 percentile in MAT, which got me a seat in Siva Sivani Institute of Management very easily.

How I made the most of my college experience

My college experience has been really awesome. It's really a life changing experience for me and I am very happy to be part of the SSIM family. Coming to PGDM, I thought of grooming myself in a diversified manner. Apart from academics, I was interested in all the intra- and inter- college events in terms of paper presentation, research papers, etc. I used to take a lot of initiative in college events which helped me to earn more practical knowledge. For instance, in Sneha (it was our alumni meet) I took upon myself to do cold calling to seniors, which helped me interact with different kind of personalities and learn from their responses.

Snathak was the convocation event for our college super seniors, wherein I was given the task to manage the

stage and the delegates, which itself is a very big task and a challenging role which helped me improve my spontaneity. I became the coordinator for cricket during Sammelan, an annual sports event conducted at SSIM. I got the task to design the event schedule and the game rules to be followed, and it helped me improve my analytical thinking process.

I worked as a volunteer during Samaroh, an international seminar to get current market insights about the specialization you are opting for, in which many delegates from various industries come to SSIM. Samanvay, our college fest, is the milestone in my life. I was made the vice-president for the fest, and it gave me a very rich experience in everything like spontaneity, stress, multi-tasking and almost all the hardships but it helped me learn how to manage time, how to prioritize work, how to build a strategy, how to conduct meetings, and most importantly how to deal with colleagues, how to maintain a team, and how to control others. It also taught me how to strike a deal with sponsors, how to negotiate with them and other partners and how to handle conflict.
Apart from these aspects I was also a member of guest lecture committee, blood donation camp and various other events in college. It’s my dedication that worked for me to get into this situation.

My learning from my first job is that dedication and determination is required to get recognition in your job and sales job always has its own kind of flavour. Finally, I can say that I chose the right career path for myself. I got placed in ABOOTT India Pvt Ltd, which I am looking to get into it.

About the Author:

I am A Harshavadhan Rao. I completed my PGDM from Siva Sivani Institute of Management. Presently, I am working as a management trainee in Abbott India Ltd. My hobbies are Surfing the Internet, socializing, listening to musical instruments, and I would like to visit various parts of the world. Apart from this, I am a college representative of Institute of Management (SSIM), Hyderabad, at Shiksha.