Saumya Porwal

CAT'16 Student Converted IIM A, B and K

Currently a third year student of Economics Honours at Lady Shri Ram College, I joined CL's PDPP programme in January for interview preparation after the calls were out.

These three months were a process of self-discovery and motivation. Clueless, pessimistic, diffident etc. would be the adjectives I would use for the girl who came in initially. I still remember my first mock interview, I didn't know what my strengths and weaknesses, why I wanted to do an MBA, who I am as a person etc. Gautam Bawa sir helped me discover answers to these questions and made me realise that there is a difference between the girl who I thought I was and the person who I actually am.

I always had a very solid eye towards my goal and wanted to go to IIM A, B or C only. I had calls from IIM A and B. With a focused mind, I had decided to crack one of these. I went for holistic preparation and wanted to polish each and every arena before going for my final interviews. Reading editorials from two different papers along with the newspaper was a must. For academics, I chose my best two subjects and made sure that I have them at my fingertips. Others I revised superficially as advised by my mentor. CL's online sessions for general awareness (national & international) were of great help. I tried writing one WAT daily and discussed it with my friends to get inputs. Mock PI's by CL were very close to the actual interviews.

I would like to give sole credit to my mentor Gautam Bawa for getting through my dream MBA colleges. He gave me space to discuss my most trivial doubts and ensured that I was full of motivation and confidence throughout. He understood me more than my family members and friends and was there for constant support. He was the person with whom I could discuss my greatest fears and silliest doubts along with the deep academic queries. He handled me at my lows and helped me improve upon my weaknesses.

If you want to discover yourself, if you want to enjoy the process in itself, if you want your interviews to be about yourself rather than external factors, CL is the place you should go to.

My advice to next year students would be to keep reading the newspaper regularly, not that they ask things directly from it but it is definitely a confidence booster for the interviews and helps in WAT. Also, utilize December to the fullest. I panicked in January when I didn't know where to start from and was way behind the schedule. December would be the best time to kickstart the interview preparation