ISEET to benefit Coaching Institutes !

News: "ISEET, the Indian Science Engineering Eligibility Test will be successor to the JEE and AIEEE. This new SAT-style exam will come into force in 2013. It will do away with multiple entrance examinations and reduce the stress levels of students. ISEET will have two parts, Main and Advance, each of three hours duration. Both tests will be given on the same day, between 10 am and 5 pm. ISEET 2013 will be held in either April or May.

ISEET will be objective-type exam and will test comprehension, critical thinking and logical reasoning. Its advance level will test problem-solving ability in basic science subjects. Both the tests together will indicate a candidate's scholastic level and aptitude for science and engineering."

Despite severe opposition from the IIT Alumni Network, one of the world's most dreaded examinations, IIT-JEE has somewhat been done away with and so have numerous other regional and national level engineering entrance examinations in India. For admission to IITs and NITs, about 40% weightage will be given to Class XII Board Examination marks and the remaining 60% weightage will be assigned to the ISEET (the common test that will replace all engineering entrance examinations). For Regional Engineering Colleges, the corresponding State can play with the weightage to the same components but the amplitude of variation will not be much. Whether or not this move by HRD Ministry is correct does not matter anymore. What does matter now is how the landscape would change for the parties involved – Coaching Institutions, Students, IITs, Schools, Publishers, etc.

Since the objective of this move by the HRD Ministry was mainly to squeeze Coaching Institutes out of business, let me limit the scope of this article to the effect of this change on Coaching Institutes.

Whenever we talk about Coaching Institutes, the first thing that strikes our mind is Kota. Each year, almost a lakh aspiring students from across the country go to Kota for their IIT-JEE preparation at Coaching Institutes like Bansal Classes, ALLEN, etc. Students start taking admission tests for these institutes even before their Class X Board Examinations. Students who get admission to any of the institutes automatically get admission to a school with which that particular institute has a tie-up. The student is not required to go to school regularly. She/he instead attends classes at the Coaching Institute. At the end of 2 years, the student just has to take the Board Examinations under the name of her/his school. If you go through the data of Class XII Board Examination marks of students preparing for IIT-JEE at Kota, you will find majority of students getting percentages not too far from the cut-off of 60% required to take IIT-JEE. This is because the focus at such institutes is always on the Engineering Entrance Examinations – be it IIT-JEE, AIEEE or any other.

The case discussed above is the same across the country at institutes where there are more than 2000 students enrolled, for example FIITJEE – New Delhi, K. C. Sinha Classes – New Delhi, Srijan Classes – Patna, JRS - Varanasi, Narayana Hyderabad, etc.

For smaller institutes and institutes that do not have tie-ups with schools, if students want to study at their center, they take admission to a school that does not have strict minimum attendance criterion (Government schools) or they juggle with their school classes and institute classes (I have done this jugglery in my time to qualify IIT-JEE and score among the toppers in Board Examination in the same year and trust me, it gets very difficult to maintain sanity).

To study the effects of the merger of all examinations into one ISEET on Coaching Institutes, let us divide the engineering admission evaluation from 2013 in two parts – (1) ISEET, (2) Class XII Board Examinations.

Coaching Institutes have nothing to worry as far as the ISEET is concerned. To help students rein ISEET, schools are not currently adequately equipped. I am not saying that schools do not have talented teachers. They do but their number is less and their mindset is tuned to Board Examinations rather than Competitive Engineering Entrance Examinations like IIT-JEE, AIEEE (until this year) or ISEET (from next year onwards). Schools also do not have sufficient time to groom the students for ISEET due to limited number of hours each day with holidays and vacations around the year unlike Coaching Institutes that can be comparatively more flexible in the number of hours of study, holidays and vacations. It is not even worth talking about the state of Government schools where majority of the low-income group people send their kids. At these schools, both the quality and attendance of the teachers are pathetic thus leaving no option to such kids other than relying on Coaching Institutes to enlighten their career.

The ISEET will be a one-day affair (or a two-day affair if the candidate chooses to use both of his maximum of two attempts at ISEET) that will decide the future of the aspiring students. Earlier, the risks were diversified as there were separate examinations for different Engineering colleges and not, just one combined test. With such risks involved from next year onwards, no student or parent would ever take a chance by not opting for a Coaching Institute.

So, Coaching Institutes will now become a must for students contrary to what the HRD Ministry and the IIT Council actually wanted. The only option available to students is to go to these institutes. Even poor parents would now have to shell out their entire life's savings to send their kids to these Institutes. The market size of Coaching Institutes is hence, expected to increase.

The challenge for Coaching Institutes will however be to predict the new examination pattern and teach accordingly and this is going to be a big problem for them. There will be some chaos about the new pattern of examination until the examination is first conducted in 2013 or until IITs publish a sample paper before 2013. Therefore, a lot of students might be misguided this year. Keeping this in mind, for next one year, more students will look to enroll at institutes that have bigger and reputed brand names like FIITJEE, K. C. Sinha Classes – New Delhi, Srijan Classes – Patna, etc.

The other significant effect would be an increase in tie-ups of institutes with schools and vice versa. In case of smaller institutes, the institute teachers might go to the school to conduct classes on behalf of the institute, especially for ISEET.

With 40% weightage being assigned to Class XII Board Examination marks, the Coaching Institutes will now modify their approach a bit and also start teaching for the Class XII Board Examinations. They will have to manage time more efficiently to cover the +2 portion for the students. They will also have to increase the number of hours of study at their center, which in turn would increase their pricing (tuition fees).

For the students to score high in their Class XII Board Examinations, the institutes will also now hire teachers for English, Hindi, Computers, Economics, etc. as opposed to having teachers only for Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry currently. This will increase the cost to the institutes again leading to an increase in fees for the students. The institutes will however keep an option for students to not opt for the Board Examination preparation at their center.

To cater to students going to schools affiliated to different boards (CBSE, ICSE, State Boards), the coaching institutes will have to make separate batches for each Board as there is a difference in the syllabi of Boards.

I have been to quite a few villages and small towns where if you pay the School Principal and/or invigilator a good amount, he will arrange for a separate room for your kid to take Board Examinations with text-books open. Even after examinations, I have heard influential people paying hefty sum of money to the teachers who correct the examination papers (and this happens mostly in case of State Board affiliated schools) to manipulate the marks. Now, Coaching Institutes and also common people would be paying huge amounts to the School Principals and/or invigilators for their kids to score more in their Board Examinations illegally.

The worst part of the current move by HRD Ministry is that the Coaching industry will become even more fragmented. More coaching institutes will open now, even those that would not be capable of teaching IIT level would open up their centers and claim to be training institutes for admission to IITs. The move will also prove a blessing for school teachers who would encourage their students to enroll for private tuition with them.

As far as I think, in a few years, the ISEET will go online. So, institutes should start strategizing right away in that direction. Last but not the least, the Coaching Institutes will also start diversifying their focus to other competitive examinations like the entrance examinations for the Medical Colleges.

What also needs mention is that it does not matter how hard the HRD Ministry tries to eliminate Coaching Institutes, these institutes will always be there. Even if one changes the admission criteria for IITs and other Engineering Colleges to be something as basic as tying one's shoelace, the Coaching Institutes will still be there preparing students to tie their shoelace in the most innovative way.

In today's world, it's always "survival of the fittest" and in the case at hand, I have to say that the Coaching Institutes (and not our schools) will prove the fittest.

IIT-JEE abolished from 2013 - for better or for worse???

On September 15, 2011 at around 0700 hours, I received a call from the Director of a reputed Coaching Institute for IIT-JEE, “Abhishek Sir, sorry to disturb you so early in the morning but I was so tensed, I had to call you up. Have you heard about IIT-JEE and other Engineering Entrance Examinations getting abolished from 2013? We are ruined. I have no idea what we should do now.”

“Such issue had been brought up a year ago too by Mr. Kapil Sibal and the IITs had declined. This time too, the IITs will reject it. I am sure this is a proposal that will need approval of other parties involved. Let me have a look at the news and call you back. Until then, do not worry,” I replied.

“Yes, it is a proposal and I hope it gets rejected. I will wait for your call. Please call as soon as you read the news,” he said.

News :

“IIT Council on September 14, 2011 decided to have a common entrance test for IITs/NITs, state government-run and private engineering colleges throughout the country from 2013. It also decided to go in for a complicated fee hike structure. But there is a catch -- both the decisions are subject to approval from the state governments and the finance ministry. In case it does not meet the states' approval, only IITs/NITs – under the central government – would have a common entrance test.”

When I read the news (as quoted in italics above), I was shocked! This sure is a proposal that needed approval of State Governments and the Finance Ministry. But even if the proposal is declined by any one or both the concerned parties, IIT-JEE is sure to go down the drains and there would be a common aptitude test for admission into IITs and other Engineering Colleges. Weightage will also be given to Class 12th Board Examination marks. The final list for selection into IITs and other Engineering Colleges will be drawn on the basis of the common aptitude test score and Class 12th Board Examination marks. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Kapil Sibal with the Directors of all IITs which meant that the proposal was from Mr. Sibal and IITs agreed to a common entrance test.

The next thought was how students, coaching institutes, IITs would be affected as a result of eliminating IIT-JEE and having one exam for all Engineering Colleges.

For students, the decision is more negative than positive. Let’s see the positive points first.

The positive for students is that they will just have to take one examination. They will have to study less and not need to work too hard. Board examinations are such that 2 months of study will be sufficient to score top marks (I know I had studied for just 15 days for my Board Examinations and still stood 3rd in my State).

There are however umpteen number of negatives.

In Board examinations, the difference in marks obtained is not much among students. Scoring high marks in these exams is not that difficult. There is nothing special in these exams. The same questions in the same pattern are repeated. These exams are there to test Rote Learning rather than Actual Learning. Even an average student can get more than 90% easily. Now, where will the difference in marks come? You guessed it right – the common aptitude test score.

The aptitude test will not be of more than 3 hour duration. So, for students, it will be a matter of 3 hours that will decide their career. If any student falls ill or has not been able to sleep nicely the night before the exam or is having a bad day on the day of the exam, his career will get ruined. Earlier, the risks for students were diversified. If a bright student could not do well in one entrance examination, he could do well in another and still end up in a reputed college.

Mr. Sibal and the IIT Directors thought it was a financial burden on the students’ parents since the student had to apply to many entrance examinations. Well, I wish Mr. Sibal had cared to conduct a survey among the school students’ parents and tried to explore whether that really was a financial burden or not. The cost of application of Engineering Colleges are minimal and the parents will always be willing to pay that much to avoid the risk he is imposing upon them by having a common test.

Mr. Sibal has been very concerned about the stress levels of students. [That is the reason why Grading System was introduced for Higher Secondary Examination (Class 10 Board Examination) because of which several students this year with 10 GPA could not get admission in Class 11th at top schools because several hundred others had the same perfect GPA.]

There are so many suicides happening because of this. He thinks the stress levels would decrease as a result of this change. To further reduce stress levels in people, he might also think about BANNING marriages in India because the stress levels are so high in married couples that quite a few of them have committed suicide and several others are on the verge of it. Also BAN employment because majority of people have increased stress levels because of their job.

What Mr. Sibal does not realize is that he is actually weakening the current generation of India. When these students grow up with minimal stress, I wonder how they are going to cope with the serious stresses that the world will present them with. The suicide cases might increase at IITs because students who have faced so little stress before getting into IITs might not be able to cope with the rigorous curriculum of IITs (where we are often required to take 7-8 tests in just 2 days). IIT-JEE and other Engineering Entrance Examinations have been there for decades. So many of us took the stress of these examinations and the-then curriculum as a result of which we are mentally tough and ready for any level of stress. Do not make our current generation “Phool-kumaris”.

The common aptitude test is a curse for students weak in language. Such tests are primarily language based in which misinterpreting a word or a phrase in a question can result in a wrong answer. If you notice, majority of students in villages and small towns are weak in language and hence they will be at a major disadvantage.

Many deserving students might get marks in their Board Exams lower than those of below-average students with rich parents.

I have been to quite a few villages and small towns where if you pay the School Principal and/or invigilator a good amount, he will arrange for a separate room for your kid to take Board Examinations with text-books open. Now, more people (even Coaching Institutes) would be paying huge amounts to the School Principals and/or invigilators for their kids. Corruption therefore, would increase to higher levels. Mr. Sibal did nothing to support Shri Anna Hazare to eradicate corruption but he is doing lots to increase corruption.

With this proposal, Mr. Sibal wanted to put an end to Coaching Institutes as they were extracting a lot of money from students’ parents. While rich people could afford sending their kids to these institutes, poor people especially those living in villages and small towns could not. So, it was not fair for these poor people. But had Mr. Sibal thought a little deeper, his assumptions and conclusions would have been different.

First, the schools in India never teach anything related to the aptitude tests nor is there any aptitude course planned for future. This means that students will flock to Coaching Institutes for guidance. For example, you see Coaching Institutes like TIME, Career Launcher, IMS, etc. for CAT (MBA) earning millions to provide coaching for CAT’s aptitude and verbal tests. Even now, does he think Coaching Institutes will go out of business?

Second, now the school teachers will also start their private tuitions because Board Exams will become important. How will he stop them? Does he have any regulations or restrictions in place?

Third, has he first ensured a proper school education in Government Schools? Does he have any idea about the quality and attendance of school teachers in villages and small towns? Both are pathetic. So, how does he think students will study for their Board Exams seriously now? Obviously, they would need the support of Coaching Institutes that will now modify their approach a little and start teaching for Board Examinations.

My point in conveying the above is that however hard Mr. Sibal or IIT Directors (or whoever for that matter) try to eliminate Coaching Institutes, these institutes will always be there. Even if one changes the admission criteria for IITs and other Engineering Colleges to be something as basic as tying one’s shoelace, the Coaching Institutes will still be there preparing students to tie their shoelace in the most innovative way.

Why the hell then, is Mr. Sibal trying to go against these Coaching Institutes? Let them earn and pay taxes to the Government. If there is fungus on his neck, does he cut his neck off or try to cure just the fungus? If his concern was to reduce financial burden on the poor caused by these institutes, he could have imposed restrictions on the fees charged by these Institutes. He could have invested his time in coming up with regulations in the Coaching Industry rather than unsuccessfully trying to eliminate the Coaching Industry as a whole. Instead, why doesn’t he invest his energy in eradicating prostitution? Is that more noble an industry than the Coaching one? Or he fears his rich friends might not have company at night if prostitution is eradicated?

A year ago, Mr. Sibal had tried to introduce the criterion of minimum 80% in Board Examinations to qualify for admission into IITs. That proposal was rejected by IIT Directors. With the current proposal, the minimum 80% (or even more) criterion will tacitly be imposed upon students. I do not understand why the IIT Directors could not read between the lines this time.

I would be wrong if I said that the Coaching industry will be unaffected. As I said earlier, the Coaching Institutes will start coaching students for their Board Examinations and the aptitude test. The teachers in current Coaching Institutes get handsome pay package because of their superior level of understanding of concepts. With the level of difficulty reduced (due to the possible introduction of weightage on Board Examinations and a common aptitude test), there will be an increase in supply of teachers and hence the pay packages will see a decline. Mathematics teachers stand to gain the most as aptitude tests need superior Math skills. Even school teachers will now open Coaching Institutes to teach students of their school and earn some extra money which means there will now be a Coaching Institute at every corner. In a nut shell, the current major Coaching Institutes will decrease in size and scale, and many new ones will open (who might not even register their institutes with the Government or pay taxes). The industry will become even more fragmented leading to many problems (tax loss being one of them).

For IITs, their brand is going to get diluted. I have travelled across the world and worked in international teams. People looked at me with respect just because I had the tag of IIT on me. No IIT alumnus would refute that IIT is an exclusive brand which Mr. Sibal is relentlessly trying to dilute (may be because he could not qualify IIT-JEE). IIT-JEE is considered one of the toughest in the world and dreaded by most. That is why only the best make it to IITs. With IIT-JEE possibly getting abolished, I have my doubts over the quality of new IIT Alumni.

At this point of time, I can only advise the IITs to conduct separate subject tests and use the aptitude test to screen students or think of something better. The IIT Alumni Association should also be involved in the decision-making. And all this should be done before it’s too late. A brand takes years to build but only a couple of months to get ruined. A brand like IIT has been flying like an eagle high in the sky. Time to protect it before a couple of morons force it down grovelling in the ground.

The Transformation - From Employee to Employer...

I graduated from ISB with one short-term goal in mind. I planned to stay with OW for a year and then start my own company, a publishing house [Will talk about my long-term goal when time is right for it]. But entrepreneurship is all about grabbing opportunities at the right time and I saw one in October 2009 and clung to it. It did not take me long to put in my papers and go ahead with what I wanted to do in life.

I was inundated with criticisms from almost everyone – from my closest of friends to my closest of relatives. Feelings of some showed concern while those of others smacked of anxiety (for some spicy gossip).

“Why are you leaving such a high – paying job? Carry on with it and run your new company side-by-side,” my parents said when I apprised them of my decision.

“I have done so many things because somebody else wanted me to. Now, I want to listen to my heart and do what I want to. No salary, however high it may be, can now keep me from it. To answer you second question, if I start a company, I would want it to be the best in not just India but the entire world. Achieving this will be difficult if I worked part-time. I am getting into it full-time,” I said.

“Well, then why the hell do you want to start a publishing company? You are so qualified,” my parents said.

“Do you think Nestle is a good company?” I asked.

“Yes, it is. Do something like it.”

“What does Nestle do?” bang came my second question.

“It analyzes the market to understand market needs, decides the product attributes, manufactures the products and sells it through distributors and retailers.”

“Bang on! And this is almost what my company is going to do. The only difference is that Nestle’s products are chocolates, etc and my company’s products would be books, etc.”

I don’t know where that reply came from but it sure did its job.

After quitting my job in Dubai, I had been to my would-be in-laws’ home to meet my fiancé. My in-laws first lectured my fiancé about convincing me to join a job and forget about business. Once that failed, I was called into the hall by my parents-in-law and one of my elder sis-in-laws.

“Why are you quitting? Do not run away from problems. Face them. Further, the people of our community can never be good businessmen. Don’t be rigid. Join your job back. There is no “business line” in your palm,” my in-laws argued.

“Well, well…I am not running away from problems, I am running towards them. Entrepreneurship is one of the toughest things to take up. Jobs are easy. When I am dying, I do not want to have a feeling that I wanted to do something but ended up doing something else. I wouldn’t be able to reverse the time then and make it roll again. I want to die content and rich. I do not want a nice apartment in a posh locality; I want a bungalow there. I do not want a Honda City in my garage, I want BMW, Audi, Porsche and Ferrari in it. Regarding the community thing, I do not really believe in communities that much but if you all do believe in them, there’s always a first time. Let me set the trend for others in the community. As for the “business line” on my palm, I have heard old lines change and new lines appear; my “business line” will appear soon.” I replied.

I knew what was bothering my in-laws and my guess transformed into a fact that day itself.

When none of their arguments worked, my mother-in-law said,

“Son, nobody would like to marry her/his daughter to a guy who is jobless.”

I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard this. My mom-in-law is the sweetest human-being I have ever met in my life and I knew she loved me even more than she loved her daughters. And this is probably why her comment hurt so much. Whether that comment was just a trick to persuade me to join my job back or it was their serious concern, I still do not know.

I replied, “Marry your daughter to me only when you are convinced that I can take care of her financial needs. I know you think you will not feel proud of me the way you have been feeling for the past one year because in your views, I will be a jobless guy as you are not used to the idea of entrepreneurship. I know you are feeling embarrassed because you have already advertised about my current salary to your family and friends, and are thinking what you would tell them now. But should I change my decision just because of this? It is only me who is responsible for my future. I am pretty sure you would not want to take the blame for ruining my life if anything goes wrong in the future. I will listen to everyone…imbibe only that which is positive for I can’t afford negativity…and do what I think is right. I have already taken a decision and I will not change it.”

It was difficult for my parents and parents-in-law to adjust to my idea of entrepreneurship. My sis-in-law even forwarded my CV to a software company she worked in, in Pune. The HR head had called me up and interviewed me. I did enjoy the interview experience but after the interview he asked me,

“So, what are your salary expectations?”

“30 lakhs p.a,” I replied.

That guy lost words for a minute and said he would get back to me later. Man, I laughed my heart out. I told my fiancé about it and she told her sister. Her sister was mad at me like anything. She purportedly responded,

“What does Abhishek think of himself? Who the hell is he? I am trying to help him and he is acting smart?”

I never cared to reply because I was not answerable to her. I was answerable to my soul. I told my fiancé that I did not need anyone’s help. I know what I have to do and I will do it.

That night when all this happened, I took my fiancé Isha for a drive to marine lines.

“Isha, do I have your support?” I asked.

“Yes Abhi! I am there with you in whatever you do and I will never leave you alone. We will face this phase together,” she replied.

I never grilled her deep on this issue and she never expressed exactly what she felt about my plan. It was only later when I came to know what I couldn’t tacitly understand.

All this while, I always had two wonderful people supporting me unconditionally in my decision. One was of course, Isha and the other was my elder brother Anurag. When I had told him of my decision, his reply was, “When you have already taken a decision, there is no looking back. Go ahead bro! I am there with you.”

Eduwiser Publishing Group was then born with its Head Office at New Delhi and branch office at Patna. Name sounds good, doesn’t it??? We brainstormed a lot and came up with a lot of names. But this one was suggested by Anurag who is one of the most creative guys I have ever worked with.

What is Eduwiser about??? Well, we publish books, educational software, novels etc. Our job involves product conceptualization and design, production, manufacturing (printing), marketing and sales through different channels (distributors, retailers, online etc).

I knew I was just facing the strong, gusty winds of questions at the shore of an ocean of problems waiting to gulp me.

Aal is well, aal is well is what I said and set off into that ocean!!!

Day ‘1’

Today was Day ‘1’. I could not sleep last night because my mind was preoccupied with placement tensions.

I reached ATK interview venue at about 0800 hrs. I saw some guys congratulating each other in the atrium and wondered when I would get the same opportunity. As soon as I saw Pranshul, I asked him about my pending ATK interview. “I will arrange it, do not worry,” he replied. I saw other candidates being called for the interview while I was totally ignored. That companies like ATK could be so unprofessional, was beyond my imagination. I was kept waiting until 0900 hrs after which Pranshul came and said, “Abhishek, you can go ahead and finish off your other interviews, if you have any, and come back within an hour.” I had my Aditya Birla Group (ABG) interview which is why I excused myself only to wreck my ABG interview so that I could be back in time for my ATK interview.

I reached the ATK interview venue back at 0930 hrs. I was again kept waiting until 1100 hrs with no updates. In the mean time, I talked to people who had appeared for the final round of OW interviews. They said they had received final offer from OW through the Placement Portal and had also got a call from the Placement Executive of ISB to sign the offer. I had not received any call from anyone until then. “F*** you! OW is out too.” Right then, Pranshul came to me and told me that it would not be possible for ATK to interview me because the final list was almost out. I was like, “I have been waiting so long for my interview. How can you reject me without even interviewing me? You had said everyone will be interviewed. What about your commitment?” All Pranshul said was, “I am sorry but it is too late now. Let me know if I can be of any help to you in future.” I was damn irritated. “You do not need to be sorry. You have helped me enough. Thanks!” I responded.

I then headed straight to my interviews with another Consulting major. During my first interview itself, I knew I was in. But you know, you do not want to believe until the expected good things actually happen to you. They kept telling me in different ways that they wanted me. I sailed through their 3 rounds of interviews. Before my final round of interview for this firm, one of the alums in that consulting firm took me aside and said, “Dude, they like you. You are almost in but see that you don’t ruin it in the final round. All the best.” Still having 20 minutes to kill before my final round, I thought of checking my emails and orkut in the library. I took out my laptop and opened my inbox only to be stunned. “Oh my God! Should I believe what I am seeing?” I felt my lips moving but my vocal chords were too shocked to output the sentence I wanted to speak. I was ecstatic. I saw there was an offer from OW. I just could not believe it. I read that same email umpteen times to make sure the offer was not a result of any human error. I rushed to the Placement Office to sign OW’s offer letter. I saw the salary figures and was bubbling with joy. I got one of the highest packages with a placement abroad. My happiness doubled because this was the company almost everyone had applied and wanted to get into (probably because of the package).

Quite a few people at ISB were surprised at my selection because they thought I was a kid and could not compete with others at ISB. Well, kiddo or no kiddo, I was selected. It’s the intelligence/smartness that matters, not the age.

If I have to give credit to anyone, it will be to my closest friend. Though ambitious, she did not think twice before she left her job and came to Hyderabad only to look after me when I was terribly ill. She was the one who made me dream what I achieved. I am glad I have her by my side even now. She definitely deserves a blog post. Let me work on that while you take a short break and come back for more blogs…only on abhishekchandra.blogspot.com

DAY '0'

When I heard the alarm of my cell phone, I had two simultaneous realizations – one, it was morning and two, I had my eyes open even before the alarm rang. I am not sure whether I slept that night or not but yes, I was having a severe headache which normally happens when I do not sleep and am tensed. Day ‘0’ had begun and I was nervous :(

At this point of time, let me tell you what Day ‘0’ means. In ISB and IIMs, we have a placement week during which almost 95% of the junta gets placed. Companies mostly come for their placement process during this week. The placement week lasts from Day 1 to Day 7. Each company is assigned a Day of the week depending on the preferences of the junta. Day 1 companies are the ones that are the most sought after. At ISB, Day 1 companies are the consulting biggies like Mckinsey, BCG, Oliver Wyman, Booz Allen Hamilton etc and IBs like Deutsche Bank etc. Since their selection procedures are lengthy and last more than a day (these companies have multiple rounds of interviews), they come a day before the Day 1 so as to wind up their selection processes by the end of Day 1. This day just before Day 1 is called the Day ‘0’ of placements.

I had as many as 13 back to back interviews scheduled on Day ‘0’. I had my first interview with HUL (formerly HLL) scheduled at 0830 hrs. HUL people missed their flight from Mumbai due to which their GD/interviews started late. Therefore, I could not participate in their GD because their new GD/interview timings clashed with my other interview timings. I did not even have time to make a request to them. So, HUL was out :(

I then rushed for my A T Kearney (ATK) interview. Just then I got a call from Oliver Wyman (OW) guys saying that my interview that was scheduled at 1500 hrs had been preponed. Since OW was my dream firm, I did not want to turn down OW’s request. I talked to ATK guys about my problem (without taking OW’s name) and they agreed. One of the ATK guys, Pranshul (name changed) said to me, "Do not worry Abhishek. Each and everyone shortlisted will be interviewed, be it even at 0200 hrs tonight. ATK understands the problem of students having multiple shortlists." I breathed a sigh of relief and moved on :)

I was damn serious for OW. May be, that was the reason why all of my OW interviews were pretty good. In the afternoon, I did find time for my ATK interview and I thought it went pretty well. I got some 15 minutes off in the afternoon. I headed straight towards the Canteen on the ground floor to fill myself in but as soon as I got down to the ground floor, my cell phone rang and a female voice asked me to appear urgently for my next round of OW interview. I had no option. OW was above anything else. The fact that OW’s request was coupled with a female voice, made my choice easier ;). I said to myself, "Never mind pal. No breakfast, no lunch…hope it pays off and I have a grand dinner tonight." The interview was good.

By the time I wrapped up initial rounds of interviews of other companies like Accenture, it was around 2000 hrs. OW people said there was just one final round remaining and they wanted to interview me right after the candidate who was then getting interviewed. Pranshul of ATK wanted my next ATK interview right then. The student volunteers who were managing OW interviews made a request on my behalf to ATK guys to let me off for another 30 minutes so that I could finish my last OW interview. Just then Accenture people started searching for me for my second round. I requested them to give me 15 minutes so that I could get done with OW, and they obliged. Accenture and OW interviews were happening in adjacent set of rooms. Accenture guys saw me waiting for my OW interview in the adjacent seating area for the next one hour (and I had asked them for just 15 minutes). OW people literally locked me up (with my consent) in one of the rooms so that Accenture and ATK guys could not pressurize me to interview with them.

My final OW interview was my 11th of the day. I was very, very tired and so was the interviewer. I was asked to solve two cases and was told it was ‘make or break’ for me. I somehow managed to solve them. I knew I was through as the interviewer dropped enough hints to cement my inference :))

According to the ISB Placement Policy, the results are actually released at 1800 hrs on Day 1. Since it was Day ‘0’, the companies were not supposed to release their results. But it is not that you will have no inkling of your selection. You will.

I then went for my Accenture interview. After going through 11 interviews, I was enervated. Though I needed a job on Day ‘0’, I was sure I did not want to join Accenture. Everything became clear in my mind as to which company I wanted to join. The interviewer was literally holding my hand and making me solve the case. I finally gave in and gave it to him straight, "Amit (name changed), I am sorry but I am not interested in Accenture." The interviewer was kind enough to leave me. I then headed straight to Pranshul for my ATK interview. It was 2300 hrs. "Hi Pranshul. Can we have my interview now?" I said. Pranshul replied, "Abhishek, we are done for the day. Rest of the interviews will be conducted tomorrow. Why don’t you come at 0900 hrs tomorrow? Do not worry. We will definitely interview you. Go to your room and relax."

I was tensed though I knew OW was in my kitty. Unless I got the OW offer in written, I could not have assumed that I got the job. I did not feel like having my dinner. Sleep dumped me as if it were my girlfriend who had caught me two-timing her. Tring, tring…my cell phone rang at 2345 hrs. "Am I talking to Abhishek?" a male voice croaked from my phone. "Yupp, you are listening to Abhishek. May I know who is calling?" I replied. The guy responded, "Hi Abhishek. This is Pranshul from ATK. I just called up to assure you that your interview will be taken and that you should not worry about it. Have a nice sleep and come to us tomorrow at 0900 hrs." I had my Aditya Birla Group (ABG) interview scheduled at 0930 hrs the next day. I wondered how I would make it to the ATK interview on time. The next thought that crossed my mind was to ruin my ABG interview and rush for the ATK one.

Amidst all what I went through on Day ‘0’, I could not talk to my inspiration – my ‘best friend’ for the second consecutive day. She did not know my placement week had already begun. When I called her up, she was upset and I did not have the energy to explain things to her. I had no good reasons. I told her that I was having mock interviews for the placements but she was clever enough not to buy that reason. Had she known about Day ‘0’, she would have tried her best to help me out and relieve me off my tensions but... :((

Just when I heard her disconnect the phone, I also heard the silence of my room mock at my helplessness. Lying in my bed helpless as if in coma, I waited for another inevitable stressful and grueling day just like an old man awaiting his death which he can't evade...

Reliving the Placement Experience…

My sincere apologies to those who wanted me to come back with my new posts much before than I actually have. I was a little busy with my family business. I now have quite a few experiences to write about, the first two of which would be my state just before the placements and my state during the placements.

As I told you in my last blog, I did not form a group for my interview preparations. What happens in an interview prep session is that one guy in the group interviews the other. The rest of the group members observe and later give feedback. Group members take turns and interview.

Almost everyone had a group by December ’07 end. On the other hand, I kept on procrastinating joining a group. In January ‘08, when I returned from Patna, I started to feel the heat. I asked a few groups to let me in but they were already overflowing with additional members. An offer from a group of IITians finally came and I joined them. I attended their prep sessions for a week. After a week, I left their group because their objectives were not in line with mine or rather we had different ways of working. They were a sincere bunch of guys but they were reviewing different courses before they would get into case-study interview sessions. I knew Management Consulting was my priority and case-study interviews formed a major portion of these interviews. I do not work more than what is required. I, therefore wanted only case-study interview sessions. I then joined hands with a girl named Neha Iyengar that did help a lot. Though I had only 2 sessions with her, I learnt a lot. I think I will seriously remain indebted to her because she cleared all my doubts and also filled me with confidence. Other offers to join any group were turned down by me because those groups might not have been of much use to me.

I started prepping (preparing) on my own. I used to interview myself. [Wait a minute. Do I hear guffaws???] I know it sounds weird but this is what had happened. My quadies (‘quadies’ comes from quad-mates which means the students I used to share our quad with) had laughed at hearing this. Anyone would. But they used to say I would get the best job. I guess they knew my capabilities or may be, they were just being sarcastic.

One week before the interviews, I was totally lost. Jaundice made my life tougher. Check out my pics on my orkut profile at

http://www.orkut.co.in/Profile.aspx?uid=12944013261399948546&pcy=3&t=0

in the albums to see my condition just before placements. I had shortlists from all (except one) Consulting companies. The issue that worried me was whether I would be able to convert at least one of them. I always knew I would get the shortlists because I had a powerful resume. Few alums (alumni) who reviewed my resume told me that their companies would think that I had a fantastic resume and that I had done in 1.5 yrs what others do in 4 yrs. They thought I was pretty sharp but then the next thing that came to their mind was, “This guy is just 23. He is still a kid.” The alums scared the shit out of me when they said I had done a big mistake by not forming an interview prep group. My friends used to look at me with pity. My confidence plummeted leaving me worried.

Pressure never eludes me. My uncle (my mother’s cousin), a graduate from IIT KGP and IIMB had already bagged an offer from Barclays, London. Let me tell you, Barclays offers a hefty package. Comparisons between him and me were inevitable among our relatives. That my friends from other IITs always kept saying I would get a 1 cr package obviously did not ease the pressure off me. People do not understand that it is only 1 or 2 guys who get the 1 cr offer and not everyone. Even those who get it have considerable experience under their belt whereas I had just a year and a half. Every relative and most of my friends I talked to were like, “You will get lacs of rupees. Tumhari to life ban gai hai. You are so lucky.” Yes, this is what happens. You slog your guts out to get into IIT, to get into ISB, to get into companies like L&T and Oliver Wyman, etc and people will call you ‘lucky’. They will not appreciate your hard work (may be because then they will have an excuse for not being in the same situation as me). Do not get me wrong. Do not think I am contradicting myself when I say I am just average. But yes, I wouldn’t refute having worked hard and having been focused on my aims. I cannot comment on whether their wish of me getting one of the highest package was genuine or not but I certainly knew, it was not doing any good to me. I did not tell my parents and other relatives/acquaintances that the ISB Placement Week was just a week away. I did not even tell my closest friend about the placements. However, she always told me I would get the best. It seemed the objective of every expectation in this world was to intensify the pressure on me. And the problem was that I could not share it with anyone. Had my head been made of some highly elastic material, I would probably resemble an alien with a 5 feet diameter head. I still wonder whether everyone was conspiring to convert me into an alien.

My “orkutting”, talking for hrs on my cell phone, chatting on gtalk, going back to Delhi, Mumbai or Patna in each of the 7 term breaks and also thrice during the terms seemed determined to let me down. It was then that I decided to talk to myself. I told myself I could do it in a week’s time too because “Impossible” says “I M POSSIBLE”. I then prepared all alone 18 hours a day for 4 continuous days. I interviewed myself about 50 times in these 4 days and after each interview analyzed my performance.

February 14, 2008 - Valentine's Day was the day before Day ‘0’ of placements. I was nervous. To make matters worse, I had arguments with my closest friend too. I couldn’t tell her that I had my interviews the next morning because that might have pressurized me even more. I had thought talking to her about other things in the world without telling her about the Placement Week, would calm me down a bit. I know had she known about my situation, she would have supported me a lot and would have talked to me until I felt better. So finally I was left all alone…no close friends, no relatives with whom I could share my fear, my nervousness, my anxiety…My condition was so pitiable that even my sleep betrayed me that night :(

Each time I talked to myself, my brain and my heart said in chorus - "Jaane hoga kya."

My Mind’s Extramarital Affair…

“Hi dude! Kahan ja raha hai? Any assignment due tomorrow?” I asked one of my batchmates at 2000 hrs last night. He replied, “Nahi yaar, going for case-prep.” The placement week is not too far and everyone at ISB is busy preparing for interviews.

Almost all the students here formed their groups for interview preparation in November itself and since then, have been preparing for case-based interviews (in which you are given a business problem and you are required to solve it), personal interviews (in which you are asked behavioral questions) and technical interviews (mainly for areas like finance). The fact that these guys here are so sincere and hardworking makes me wonder whether ISB did the right thing by letting me in.

If you are an ISB aspirant or an ISB new admit and reading the above paragraphs made water vapor condense on your forehead, just relax…ISB is not full of these guys who slog it out day and night just to crack an interview in which you are asked a simple case. There are also a FEW studs ;) who never formed a group and are pretty cool at a time when more than 95% of the junta here is slogging.

I am one of those “groupless” people at the moment (though I am not a stud). I did a few cases in different groups but dropped out very soon, after I realized that cases are not that difficult to crack; you just have to be logical and need to have good reasons for your assumptions and recommendations. Moreover, I am bored of the set procedures that we are supposed to follow in the case-interview (and I do not think this boredom is because of jaundice that I am suffering from). If I prepare more, by the time my actual interview day arrives, I will be bored of solving cases which would undoubtedly show on my face during the interview. I do not think cases require the kind of preparation these guys are putting in. I will not call there preparation an ideal preparation. They are working like school kids and are probably memorizing the cases by heart.

I normally remain cool but when I see these people preparing so hard, I cannot resist asking myself, “Should I become like them and start slogging like they are, or should I believe in my capabilities and be what I have always been – abhishek ‘cool’ chandra???”

May be they are not wrong and do not deserve the criticisms I am bestowing upon them. May be I have a different way of working that suits only me. I know it won’t be long before I have these hypotheses verified. But until then, my mind that is married to “my aims” will have a tough time sleeping with “the above questions”…And I can’t help but be a mute spectator to my mind’s extramarital affair…


Note: Guys, I promise to increase my frequency of writing blogs but it will be after the placement week. Though I am not working too hard and stressing myself, I think I should at least pretend to ;) !!!]