From a failed attempt to IIFT, know how Yugant made it to his dream B-School!

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Life is all about ups and downs, sometimes it makes you feel on the top of the world but at times, pulls you down. But what is important, is to gather your courage, regain your strength and stand up on your feet again. And this is exactly what Yugant Swaroop Nayak did and is here to share his story of making it to his dream college IIFT (with 97 percentile) after a failed attempt. Let us hear about his inspiring journey and his interview experience!

Hitting Rock-bottom

It was 18th April 2019 when it all happened. I was returning from the office when I got a call from a friend who informed me about IIFT declaring its results. Parking my bike by the side of the road, I downloaded the two PDFs and tried to search my name through it. But alas! No Results Found!

My heart sank. My world shattered. I started doubting my capabilities and asked myself a question, “Will I ever make it to a premier management institute?”

Regaining the lost strength

A person’s character isn’t defined by how he or she savours victory, but rather how s/he swallows defeat. So, I thought of giving it another try and was determined to add that elite ‘Indian Institute’ tag to my back which of course many people dream of.

Overcoming fears

• Quant- Quant was my Achilles Heel and I knew that with the guidance of a good teacher and practice, I would finally cross this barrier. My Quant Teacher made sure to stress important points and some formulas like MPG and all made Quant look really doable. He used to reiterate every important point and the clear-cut explanations of the problems really helped in my Cat preparation.
• Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR)- Coming to the second part DILR, there is only one thing you can do in this section - PRACTICE.
• Verbal and Reading Comprehension (VARC) - Coming to ‘Verbal’ skills, I thought I was pretty equipped as I had a strong foundation in the language. But hold your horses, man! CAT’s VARC part has nothing to do with your communication and strong debating powers. It needs voracious reading, extensive RC, and para-jumble practice (especially VARC sectionals).

After CAT, I started preparing for my dream college IIFT without wasting any time. Thankfully after giving all the exams and getting a good percentile in both CAT and IIFT, I started preparing for the interviews. Trust me when I say this, exams will take you to the gate of the institute, but interviews open the institute’s gate for you.

The interview

I will share with you the excerpt of my IIFT Writing Ability Test (WAT), Group Discussion (GD), Personal Interview (PI)-

Upon entering the interview center, we were taken to a large conference room where we're made to sit with probably 18 people for a WAT and GD round.

Our WAT topic was ‘Is everything in the world Black and White?’ I divided my essay into four paragraphs limiting my count of words to 200 and tried to take a stand on it in the last paragraph.

The GD topic was ‘Workplace Diversity'. Everyone was given a minute to introduce the topic and then an open house discussion started. Being the second member of the team, I gave a good introduction stating few facts and also took 2 to 3 more entries into the open discussion.

Then came the dreaded Personal Interview process, which can either carve your way to IIFT or show you the way out. I have seen people with 99 percentile in IIFT not clearing the exam as they had messed up their interviews. Being the second member, I was not even given a moment to enjoy the famous ‘Karachi Bakery’ biscuits (well-known brand if you are in Hyderabad) and the Irani chai. Then started the process:

Middle Interviewer: So, Yugant…Epic name...tell us what it means to you and give a short introduction to us.

Me: Answered confidently…

Right Interviewer: Yugant I checked your Facebook timeline, you seem to be a huge fan of Elon Musk, tell us something about him

Me: Answered…

Right Interviewer: So, what differentiates him from others, and do you know about Hyperloop?

Me: Talked about Musk’s out-of-the-box thinking and threw a few points about Hyperloop.

Right Interviewer: Can you educate us about how the Hyperloop works?

Me: I have just read about it sir, but I don’t know how it operates...

Right Interviewer: You are the budding youth force of the country Yugant, you should know about it!!

Me: (Thinking…Bhai main IT engineer hun mechanical nahi!!)

Right Interviewer: You still play football tell me what is offside, sweeper, winger, your favorite club and ISL club, match you saw latest and who won and by how much?

Me: Answered everything as it was my strong point (Gained a bit of confidence)

Left Interviewer: Yugant, tell us how the budget declared two days back is going to affect trade?

Me (faltered): I tried to give some points…

Left Interviewer (giving a glance to me which clearly meant “Kahan se utha laate hai aise specimen”), I am asking about the effect on Trade not the highlights of the budget.

Me: Sir, I have read about the main points of the budget, I have not read extensively about its effect on trade.

Middle Interviewer: Ok Yugant, tell us why you want to join IIFT?

Me: Answered...

Right Interviewer: Yugant, you are working in an IT MNC company providing IT services, what if the USA tries to shut down its clients to you, what will you do as the CEO of the company?

Me: Answered about searching for other clients in potential locations and then trying to innovate something of ourselves.

Middle Interviewer: Do you think electric vehicles would be running in India by 2030?

Me: Surely if all things go well and if there is proper infrastructure and R$D for it…

Middle Interviewer: Okay, you have researched quite a bit on automobile sector...tell me…I read an article a few days back which wrote that the concept of MBA has become redundant in the USA and people are not going for it nowadays, then why are you interested in doing an MBA?

Me: Crafted the answer weaving it around 2 points; People management and Leadership skills.

Middle Interviewer: Ok Yugant, Thanks we are done here...All the best.

The Results

After waiting for around 4 months for the result, I finally converted IIFT along with the New IIMs and Baby IIMs. Life has been cruel for all in 2020 but somehow it was a sense of relief for me that I was going into a premier management institute of India and it was only possible because I did not let that episode of failure pull me down. If I can, you can too!

For more such interesting stories, read:

1. From acing CAT with 99.48 percentile to securing admission into 6 renowned MBA colleges
2. Avani Raghuwanshi's journey to XLRI will help you ace MBA exams!