My journey from Humanities to MBA: Ujjwala Gaur

IMT, Hyderabad

I was first motivated by my father to do MBA, and later on, it became my dream. From the start, I was average in academics, so I opted for Humanities as my stream. I had some plans in life. As a part of my plan, I took up Psychology as the major for my graduation and English Literature and Economics as minors. Humanities was a stream of my interest, and I went for civil services exam because of that. After doing my graduation, I finally changed my stream to MBA in Marketing. I took CMAT exam, and with a good score, got into a good B-school that ranks among the top 50 colleges in India.

I appeared in a a number of entrance exams. I took different tests for different colleges, like NMAT by GMAC, CMAT, CAT, XAT, SNAP, MAH-CET, etc. SNAP was just for Symbiosis and MH-CET just for Maharashtra-based colleges. My preparations for MBA admission started way back in July 2016, during the final year of my graduation. TIME Institute is known as the best for those preparing for MBA, and so, I joined it. Being a Humanities student, I faced some challenges when I gave AIM-CATs, where I struggled to solve Quant and DI (Data Interpretation) questions. It was later that I realised that the best way to start preparing for these tests was doing a SWOT analysis on myself. SWOT analysis helps you analyse your key areas, strengths, weaknesses, plus the areas you have to make the most of. Reading newspaper editorials, going through online magazines and reading blogs helped me a lot during this journey. I practised Quant and DI daily, as I was a little weak in these areas. English and LR were quite easy for me. The best mantra to crack any MBA exam is to practice daily. Believe me when I say, I have seen people practising even when they are stuck in the traffic. As I was passionate about writing and reading books (GK specially), it helped me in developing my key skills, like essay writing, communication, influencing people, etc. These skills were further required during the interview process as well as in future. I cracked CMAT, NMAT, and SNAP, but lost the interview round of good colleges many-a-times. Finally, I cracked the test of second-best college of Hyderabad, i.e., Institute of Management Technology, Hyderabad. There is no rocket science behind getting selected for a college or, more specifically, a dream college. The first homework to do is prepare a list of colleges according to your preference (well, that includes location as well). Then, do some R&D of the course you’re interested in, whether the college is offering it or not, the location of the college, the faculty, the placement reports of the college, the low, average and high packages, fees of the college, etc.

After all these interviews and other processes, I got into IMT, Hyderabad for the 2017-19 batch through my CMAT score. The fees of the college is Rs 12 lakh (big deal for any person). For getting into a good B-school, one needs to have a logic behind every word. People should be able to answer “Why MBA?”

Now, the college life has almost come to an end and within 7  months I’ll be a proud graduate. Initially, I felt pretty dubious while taking the  step of joining MBA, wondering if I’ll be able to do it or not. My self-confidence was low.. But after a couple of weeks, you have lots of work to do, assignments to be submit before the deadline, and events to manage. You get no time for any second thoughts. IMT gave me opportunities to prove myself on the professional front. This is the first time I actually have enjoyed my college life, apart from the regular studies. The activities, events, fests etc., are the most engaging part of IMT.

About the Author:

My name is Ujjwala Gaur. I am a PGDM Marketing student at IMT, Hyderabad. My hobbies are like a bouquet of flowers. Basketball is my game. Travelling, writing, and photography are my passions. I am an adventurous person and have curious mind.