Mystory@Sreeharsh Gundlapalli: How I chose my course and college

Mystory@Sreeharsh Gundlapalli

The implication of any decision is only 30% known beforehand, 70% of it is learned after implementation.

As soon as I passed my Intermediate with 96%, I aimed for B. Tech at one of the top IITs. I appeared in JEE Exam and thought I did pretty well. Unfortunately, I got a rank of 12000, thus I couldn’t do my BTech in IITs. I was very upset but destiny had other plans for me.

I initially thought of taking a drop year (as my parents suggested) but decided against it. So, I thought of pursuing a UG course a good college instead. I chose GITAM University. The next big confusion was specialization. Choosing a specialization has been the toughest choice I’ve made so far in my career. That’s because there wasn’t much information available on the internet regarding it. After listening to lot of opinions and experiences of others, I chose Electronics and Communication as my specialization. After joining GITAM, I found out that the approach towards studying B. Tech is quite different from the way we studied Class 11 and 12. This is the sole drastic change one faces in academics and I was no different. However, as I was pretty good in my academics I was able to do well in my B. Tech and completed it with a pretty good percentage (88%). After completing my B. Tech, I had 3 options in front of me. First, take up a job at Accenture offered through campus placement. Second, going into technical field and third, studying management. Again, after lot of deliberation, I chose Management.

How I cracked college admission

I wrote CAT without any preparation and secured around 87 percentile. Thereafter, I managed to do well in GD/PI rounds and got into NIT, Trichy. In my view, after a particular stage, marks don’t remain to the most important criteria. Communication skills help a lot. Communication skills help us in creating a good impact on the interviewer which is the key. I wrote various exams conducted by various universities like SRMJEE, VITEEE, EAMCET etc. I have also appeared for many competitive exams but the only time I prepared seriously was for JEE. However, I feel that performing well in an exam requires a lot of preparation. Sometimes you might have prepared well but your mental stability during those three hours of the exam hinders your performance. So, I always tried to keep my mind stable and uncluttered before the day of the exam. During the exam, we need to quickly adjust to the surroundings, as we might be writing our exam in a new place most of the time.

My college journey so far

In my B. Tech, I used to play a lot of sports after my classes and would participate in many fests. Later, I realized I was not concentrating on my course. Though I was able to get good marks, I felt that I need to gain more knowledge that will prepare me to meet the industry expectations. So, currently in my MBA, I am doing certification courses which are not included in my curriculum. It helps me to know more about my field and stay up to date with the current trends in the industry. These courses also help me in molding myself in the way interviewers expect. I have started to study books and novels in order to improve my vocabulary and improve my communication skills.

My college campus is completely run by the students, so we perform multiple jobs. As a part of that, I am currently the student coordinator of Public Relations. This role has led me to represent my college at various events and has helped me improve my leadership skills. I have got quite a bit of experience in leading a group already, as I was the class representative for my batch in my Bachelor’s. I feel that apart from knowledge, a good physique also add to one’s confidence. So, I dedicate one hour daily towards fitness. I do swimming to keep myself fit. After joining Master’s, I have started to adjust to new conditions and feel that in order to become successful one should be able to adjust to any situation.

My MBA batch has students from 16 states each having their own culture and thought process. Initially, I felt a little uncomfortable but later on adjusted myself and now enjoy a good rapport with each one of them.

About the Author:

I am Sreeharsh, pursuing my MBA 1^st year at DoMS, NIT, Trichy. I have completed my B. Tech from GITAM University, Visakhapatnam. I am good at logical and analytical skills. I love solving puzzles and playing sports. My strength is my leadership skills. I have led my class as a class representative for 2 years during my engineering years.