Mystory@Srinjini Agrawal: How I chose my course and career path – Challenges and learnings

Mystory@Srinjini Agrawal

Choosing a stream in school was easy for me. Parents asked me if I wanted to become a doctor or an engineer and I took the easier path. My sister was a doctor and I wanted to avoid burning the midnight oil to become a doctor myself.

Hence, I chose to take up Math with Science in Class XI-XII. But yes, one affinity that I had back then was for Economics. Out of my zeal to study Economics, I took Economics with Pure Science. And like it goes, I became an engineer, worked for a while and now doing MBA when Economics comes again into the picture.

Having worked as an engineer for three years, I decided that MBA was the next thing for me. And what better stream than Finance to give a serious twist to one’s career. Thus, I decided to pursue my masters. I feel Delhi is the best city to be in if one wishes to have a lucrative career. Hence, I decided to pursue MBA from the Capital city.

How I cracked MBA admission

I was working in Bangalore. Having decided to prepare for MBA entrance exams, I joined Online Classes and I believe that was the best decision I took. Preparing for exams along with work is not an easy task. The classes made it possible for me and provided me with the best approach towards Quant and Verbal. With a lot of confidence, I decided to appear for CAT and XAT.

CAT 2015 was an unexpected outcome for me. Got 94.3 percentile. Having a decent score, I applied to colleges like IITs, IMT Ghaziabad and IMI. And then started the preparation phase for the interviews. Finally converted IMT Ghaziabad and IIT K, Roorkee. Among all other options, I chose IMI as it provides the best faculty for Finance. The college has very good courses for Finance and hence, here I am in my college pursuing the course.

College life: Classes, extra-curricular activities and more

At IMI, time just doesn’t stop. There is so much to do. So many activities going on at the campus at all times. The classes are quite interesting. There is a mix of courses in the first year. However, my personal favourite have been the Financial Accounting and Marketing classes that I had in the first semester; both subjects equally critical for us. Accounting was something totally new for me back then, but the way the classes turned out was marvelous. We had an awesome professor who ensured that we were all well versed with the course.

Other than academics, there are so many events by various clubs that always keep me on my feet. The case study competitions, sports events, or simulation games have their own uniqueness and keep me tied to the grounds of the college always. I am a member of the IMI New Delhi Toastmasters Club, which is a public speaking forum, and it fires me an intense zeal to bring out the best in me. These small events and instances have been very big eye-openers. Participating in extra-curricular activities doesn’t mean the academics get sidelined. Hence, these have brought about many changes in the way I think. I have realised how essential it is to manage one’s own time, and learnt to prioritise things in life.

MBA is all about Management and this management is not just about academic management subjects that we study, it is about managing yourself with the fast pace of the changing times. It is about how you manage to study, do your projects, do some extra-curricular activities and maintain a social circle at the same time.

My college provides a very wide platform to pursue one’s career in their desired direction. College provides the right options to pursue the course with our own choice of electives as per our interest area. There are regular exams and surprise quizzes that keep a good check on how we are doing. Moreover, my college supports us in all the extra-curricular activities. Students get full assistance from college if they want to represent college outside campus. The guest sessions conducted by some industry experts provide us with the relevant life experiences that are essential. This provides us with good opportunities to outshine and win awards outside academics as well.

MBA is not just a degree, it is actually an experience. An experience that teaches us many things in a secret manner. It’s these experiences that we take with us when we step out from the campus into the real world. These experiences matter the most and they are sure to guide us towards a successful career and our life’s goals.

About the Author:

I am a first year student of IMI New Delhi, pursuing my MBA in Banking and Finance. Prior to joining IMI I was working for L&T Tech Services as a software engineer in Bangalore.

Reading books and travelling have been my favourite hobbies and I love to explore new things in life.