Every MBA student dreams to get admission into IIM-Ahmedabad, which is India’s top B-School at the moment. The cut-off percentile is very high i.e. 99 percentile and for many students, it is an IMPOSSIBLE aim. However, this guy from Haryana Vidit Garg (A general category student), made it to the IIM-A just with 89.7 percentile in CAT exam, can you believe it? Even students with 95-98 percentile find it difficult to get entry into IIM-A, but luckily Vidit got a call, all thanks to his thorough preparation and confidence.
89.67 percentile is one of the lowest entries into IIM-A. Here’s the proof of his CAT score;
Credit goes to Vidit’s hard work!
Vidit’s personal interview went really well. He was attempting CAT since 3 years and this time he thought there was no need for CAT coaching; however, he joined the institute Edmyt to take coaching for interviews. For Vidit, this news was more of a shock than a surprise. When he got a call from IIM-A regarding the confirmation of his admission, the first thing Vidit asked his sir was, “Sir, do you really think it is a genuine IIMA call or just a cruel mistake?”.
Vidit completed his graduation (BA) from Delhi University; since he wasn’t able to clear his CAT for 2 years, his father suggested him to continue with family business. However, as plan B, he applied to universities and started his preparations for the 3rd attempt.
Source: Edmyt.com
He gives a lot of credit to Vijay Jha, his trainer at Edmyt; although the process was a difficult one, his professor pushed him hard and made him believe in himself.
His preparation!
Rather than believing in coaching, Vidit believed in himself. 3 weeks before the exam, Vidit used to study for 10 hours a day; Mr. Jha said,
“The preparation started with a rigorous round of ‘self-analysis’. We listed down more than 50 expected questions each from five crucial areas- namely past academic records, extra-curricular activities, work experience, goal clarity, and why IIMA.”
To get through the AWT, Vidit wrote on 35-40 AWT topics and assessed them on various parameters like logical consistency, style of writing and content.
How he got admission despite scoring just 89.67 percentile?
Basically, IIM Ahmedabad selects students on various factors like performance in AWT, performance in CAT, overall academic performance, extra-curricular activities, work experience as well as personal interview. So, even though students get low scores in CAT, they are still eligible for admission. Vidit’s case was something similar; he showed an exceptional performance in personal interview due to which he bagged the seat. Moreover, since the weightage of CAT score has been reduced from 35 percent to 28 percent, it helped him.
Hard work has no limits! Work towards your goals with dedication and no one can stop you from achieving them. APJ Abdul Kalam rightly said;
Vidit’s admission is definitely a historical change, isn’t it? Do you know any other students who have bagged a seat in top colleges in spite of low percentile? Share with us in our comments section below.
