From pursuing a career in biotechnology to opting for MBA | Srishti - IIM Indore

I remember it was August 28, 2013 when a typical Indian family deeply brainstormed about whether their daughter should opt for a career in Biotechnology or not. Does it have any scope in India? Should she study the subject of her interest or the one which has more scope? Disrupting the grave discussions, the doorbell rang and a courier arrived at the doorstep. When I opened it with utter curiosity, I found out that our family accepted US sponsorship. It acted like a messenger of God which let my parents opt for engineering in Biotechnology at DTU. So, the “Alladin Ka Chirag” finally knocked on the door. 

When I decided to pursue a career in Biotechnology 

Eventually, on August 29, 2013, I enrolled for B.tech in Biotechnology. My happiness knew no bounds. My heart was dancing and frolicking. I loved the subjects, liked experimenting in labs and interned at organizations of my choice. For the first two years, God had been immensely merciful to me. I was resolute enough for my research career in Biotechnology. With everything happening so nicely, it was kind of too good to be true situation.

We had our visa interview scheduled in December 2015. My grandfather (our sponsor) passed away just 10 days before the interview. This was a tragic twist in the story. All my dreams about pursuing a career in Biotechnology got shattered. You must be wondering, what’s the big deal. Give GRE and go grab your dreams. But you don’t know that I was a homesick person who was adamant about not going abroad without family.

Well, this article should talk about my journey to IIM Indore, not DTU, but the aforementioned part is inevitable in my journey to pursue an MBA in the first place. I had no clue about my career. And then, for many other clueless engineers, MBA appeared as a lucrative, high ROI panacea. 

When I began my journey towards CAT

What next? I commenced my journey towards CAT preparation. The rituals began as soon as I made the decision. The auspicious journey began with getting admission in time. The LR-DI, Quant, VA-RC, and GK started engulfing the free weekends. Coaching institute became the second home where I consumed meals from breakfast to evening snacks and tried to assimilate as much information as possible. At first, the on-board sessions were scary enough to make my way through for CAT. I dealt with a myriad of sessions about goal setting, dream visualization, staying confident, performing in an interview and maintaining a calm state of mind during the exam.

From self-doubt to breaking through the shackles of negative thoughts with the help of my favorite faculty, I realized that clearing CAT was no more the last resort for me. It evolved as the purpose of my life. Over this period of four months, I could feel myself getting connected to my goal which changed my thinking. The Quant lectures fascinated me as we learnt and practiced the tricks to solve questions. A boring subject somehow became magical.


Reading comprehension was altogether a different adventure when multiple interpretations came to me. I’d never done such diverse reading in my life and getting such exposure to different genres felt amazing. The convoluted problem of LR-DI seemed easy to me. A science student who was deeply immersed in studying Newton’s laws, Einstein’s theory of relativity, Mendel’s laws of genetics and Pasteur’s thing with vaccines, now got a view of the contemporary world. 

When things began to make sense

With the passage of time, I started feeling my presence in this world. I was able to get out of the clutches of all the siloed subjects. Relevant things started making more sense. I was way more confident in striking conversations with people as it was easy to break the ice with the knowledge of current happenings. It is true that all this wasn’t as smooth as it sounds right now. As I excelled in the preparation phase, I got a chance to explore myself. 

However, I failed at clearing the exam in the first attempt. I was kind of disappointed but not despondent. I was determined to stay firm with my decision which compelled me to prepare again. Well, I began the preparation with fresh vigor. This time, it was more like a challenge for me. By this time, my B.tech was over and I was working for a firm. I read about people writing their stories on Quora. But my heart and soul weren’t ready to accept. All I could think about was I wanted to get into an IIM. I could do it. I used to leave home at 8 am and would return around 10 pm after a long workday from work. My brain was getting sleepy but my heart kept on telling:

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep”.

With these words kept buzzing in my head, I felt my tiredness and fatigue going away. I stopped making excuses and started creating visual imageries of profound happiness. Also, I started reading people’s experiences of joy and pride after getting into IIMs. I started listening to Sadhguru which beautifully described how I’m a ‘kalpvriksha’ who’s capable of writing my own destiny. There were frequent crests and troughs of my mood but the only constant thing was my resilience which helped me transcend above all doubts, confusion, and apprehensions. Mental equanimity and patience constantly helped me to sail without drowning. 

When mock percentiles became the source of joy and gloom

This 19-hour activity became the new routine. While I used the weekends to revive myself. Doubt-solving sessions, AIMCATS and long hours of practice didn’t let me realize how the weekends flew by. There wasn’t any distinction between a Monday and Friday. All days felt the same but weekends felt more satisfying because I could spend good time towards my dream fulfillment. Mock percentiles became the source of joy and gloom. I was confident. It was just the curvaceous path. You can’t appreciate the true happiness of good times unless you’ve been through the struggles of low.

All I know is that the right attitude throughout the preparation phase, those three hours of CAT and interviews matter a lot. It is not tough to get a hold of concepts or to learn short tricks or elimination method. All that can be easily mastered through practice over time. But something that makes a difference in your journey is your willingness to sacrifice a few moments to enjoy great success. Another thing requiring our keen attention is that hard work isn’t scalar but a vector quantity. It is a function of both magnitude & direction. It is very much important for you to work hard to keep track of your pace. Therefore, an apt combination of constant efforts, the right attitude, and feedback mechanism can get anybody into this coveted seat. 

I could have talked about my rigorous schedule, long working hours, practice sessions, mock experiences and actual IIM interviews in a pretty much detailed fashion. But personally, my journey is more about the essence that one can derive out of the written piece. So this is how I opted for an MBA rather than building a career in Biotechnology