Saturday, December 13, 2014

Competitive yet benevolent: Thanks to you all! -arnab chakraborty, co2017

2014 started for me with a resolution. A resolution to change life for the good. In the last ten years of my life, I have gone through a lot of stress and hard work and when one fails to achieve the expected, it does pain sometime. So, that was my story- lots of gambles, lots of ups and downs, a few winners in the 90th minute, but at the end, the ride has taught me a lot about life and the toughness we need to build in us to get ahead. Following my graduation as an engineer in 2011, I did join a major power sector company in India and came in with a sole intention to learn as much as possible. Yes, I wanted to stay with the company for a couple more years but then, there wasn’t any impetus and then, in my ride with the company in the last three years, I was quite different. Having been put in a remote location, I was cut off from the fashionable galore of the external world and even my friends circle reduced to may be 5 or 6. It wasn’t a job that I would say I enjoyed but then there was scope for me to learn the nuances of management in a major industry and that solely was the thing that attracted me. However, my taste was always different. A person who dreams of being at Anfield for Liverpool someday, a person who wants to be in the centre of the world built around the Taylor Swifts and the Katty Perrys – sticking to the realms of a heavy industry was not the call. But then, coming from a simple middle class Bengali family in India, it was always a big ask to quit a well paying job and start following your passion. But then, I had to change the way I was living. My life was nothing besides the power plant, the closed small room whose roof leaked and a place which offered no entertainment and a barren life, where the only mantra was to learn the culture of a public sector life.

2014 was that year which I marked for myself to call it quits and start building a new tomorrow. My inspiration drawn once again from the world of soccer- the likes of Luiz Suarez, Lionel Messi, Steven Gerrard. The theme – resurgence. The motto- to build. And that’s what I did. Took steps in a well structured and diligent way and scored a 720 in the GMAT. I took 60 mocks, scored a 700+ in 55 of them, worked hard alongside the shift duties and tasking challenges of the new project at work. It was plain determination. I wish I could have been lucky and scored 20 points more but that’s fine. At least I knew I was walking to a new dawn. The application cycle for fall 2015 started and I was down with my research for B-schools. After all, I needed a formidable education to walk into a management domain.

Coming from a small family, I always knew that I needed a scholarship to pursue my studies but my score was way behind the needed to crack the top 15 in the USA. Europe- I wasn’t even looking for due to the eurozone crisis. I did want to go to Europe/UK because there’s where the hub of soccer is but that might have to stay for some years now. I landed on the pages of Cox Business School and found out in my research that it had almost everything. Located in the heart of Dallas, a fledging city in Texas, it attracted me with the gamut of opportunities that was very hard to find in the other B-schools in my range. A Global leadership program sponsored by the American Airlines where you get a chance to visit different countries, an exchange offer with some of the top B-schools in the world, a unique opportunity to learn about Disney in the BLC- Disney Institute program in Florida, a personalized leadership development curriculum, a one-to-one mentorship where you are guided by some leading industrial faces, located in Dallas- you also have the opportunity to network with a potentially vibrant network, an international classroom, a small closely knit community and a placement statistic showing a 96% placement in track record, home of FC Dallas, Texas Rangers. Very unique, yet vibrant. Bigger than all these, I liked the positivity in my conversations with the admissions team who were very supportive and accepted me for who I was. I must thank Cox for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this community and helping me with a very generous scholarship amount of $70,000. And then there are internships and Graduate Assistantship roles/part-time jobs on campus that will help me cover for my funds.

I come from a very humble background and what more could I have imagined for. I am going to be an MBA in 2 years ! Cox has given me the scope to exploit the wide range of opportunities and I am thankful to them. It shall also be my responsibility to give back to the society in unique ways.


In my journey of 2014, I have learnt a lot. To play hard for your life. I suppose, I will give Cox my best too and take the name world-wide.

No comments :