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.
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