Students’ Speak: Stay positive and make an informed choice

By: Rishabh Kalra

The period after the exam results happens to be a confusing time for aspirants. All their hard work comes down to one number - the percentile score. Those nervous moments and heartbeats pass and their fate is finally revealed which gives them the direction to their next destination in the career.

Some are happy with their scores and move towards shortlisting the colleges they can apply to. Some know they need to do better and decide to give it another attempt. But most of the aspirants belong to the third category. These are the ones who have got a decent score but they aren't sure whether they should go with that score and apply to colleges or they should give one more attempt.

Look for the areas of improvement

So, for the first category students, the idea is pretty simple. They need to start preparing for the GD-PI processes. This involves getting ready with all the national and international issues and getting opinions based on facts. They also need to start preparing for interview questions and answers. The students who have got a low score need a lot of self-introspection. An MBA from a good college would definitely help them grow. But it is not worth settling for a below-par college. MBA is an experience, not just a mere degree. So, they should consider dropping a year and analyse their mistakes. They need to see which are the areas in which there is a scope for improvement.

Work experience gives you an edge in MBA

For the people who have got decent scores but are confused about whether to pursue or drop, the decision is a bit difficult. There are various factors they need to consider. If they decide on a drop, they need to make sure that the increase in score is significant enough to explain the drop. Most of you would be working professionals. So, a year drop would require a lot of extra hard work with study weekends where all your office colleagues are going out to party. After all this, if you still think you can give it a shot, just go for it. And give a serious attempt with enough mock tests and analysis of mocks. And then if all goes well, you will end up in your dream college and would know it was all worth the extra effort. Having work experience would also help you in future placements as a more mature version of you would be the one going for an MBA degree.

Saving a year

If you don’t drop, you would always keep on wondering if you could have done better. After you join, there will be companies which would be preferring others over you because of the extra work experience. In those times, you may feel that the decision you made could have been different and getting a score isn’t enough. Score just gets you a call. You have to make extra efforts for conversion and that also isn’t in your hands. Sometimes, after you join, you feel that college doesn’t meet your expectations. There would be challenges here as well. But again, you will be saving a year.

As far as my experience goes, I took one drop year but the score improvement wasn’t significant. Some people told me to give another try but I made a call to go for an MBA. I didn’t get too many calls and conversions, converted great lakes and got into a data analytics job. So, in the end, it worked out.

The bottom line is both the paths are difficult in their own way with a different set of challenges. It won’t be easy and you would always wonder whether you took the right road. So, just analyse both the options and make an informed decision. Don’t look back after you have made the decision. In the long run, it will work out in your favour. Just stay positive and make an informed choice.

About the Author:

Rishabh Kalra has completed his PGDM from Great Lakes Institute of Management with a major in marketing and minor in analytics. At present, he is working with HDFC Life in the field of Business Intelligence.