Hello !
I've got this bad habit of posting long posts when I get emotional 
So here we are. Tomorrow what you will do might just change your lives forever. Tomorrow is when all the blood, sweat and tears you've shed will culminate into the starting of a journey which will take you to heights never dreamt of and lows never expected.
It's been a long and hard journey so far for most of you. You must be tired, but you must pick yourself up one last time, and go and give it the shot of your of life.
At the risk of sounding repetitive, I'll say some stuff which I've said before on PG. I genuinely believe all of this, and I think it can make the difference between making it and being stranded in a so-close-yet-so-far situation.
Remember 1 things, guys. It's all about you and you alone. There is only ONE competitor when you write CAT. You. It's you you are fighting with to give your best on d-day. It's you who can pull you down, and you who can take you up. The rest of the world can go take a hike. It's your life, your hard work, your d-day. 60k, 100k, 200k, 500k, bring them on, should be the spirit. 10.30 to 1 on Sunday it's YOU and the printed sheets of paper on the table in front of you, that's where the world starts and ends. It's time to forget your friends', your family's and other well-wishers' aspirations. You are there because YOU want it, more than anybody else in this world.
You can tell yourself that you are good enough, or crumble against the pressure of competing with thousands of brilliant souls in the country. Yes, there are thousands of brilliant people, many of them way better than you who will be writing the CAT. But none of them can stop you from maxing your performance in the paper.
If you are not feeling confident, if the chips are down, remember...
A huge chunk of people here comprise of the following :
- Those who had an average mock score in the lower nineties or higher eighties
- Those who never crossed even 85 percentile in mocks
- Those who never studied and didnt even give mocks... they turned up on d-day without a worry in the world and cracked it
I came in here thinking that this place would be full of people who regularly featured in the toppers list and who cracked mocks easily. I was wrong. I think the mock non-achievers easily outnumber the ones who performed well.
What made them not give up and be where they are today? The ability of not giving up. If you think you aint gonna make it, if you havent been performing well, say 1 line inside your head : If I am going down, I am going down fighting, fighting till the very end, fighting to the point where I know I have done anything and everything to make it.
Need some more last minute inspiration? Here is where you should head to :
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-an...eak-about.html (All I wanted to Speak about CAT)
For 3 years, I read and re-read this thread and dreamt of the moment when I'd see those magical words on the screen. Read, and go dream.
What's the use of solid foundations if you have dont have previously built castles in the air to build them under?
Something else to cheer you up....An inspiring video....
Life at IIM Ahmedabad
Lastly.... some unsolicited gyaan
Never forget 1 thing. Life is too short and too unpredictable to keep all of it at stake for a single thing. Maybe this is not the right thing to say at this stage, but you need to always keep the bigger picture in mind ( other than for those 2.5 hours, of course!! ). At the risk of sounding like a party pooper, I'd like all of you to keep in mind that often in life, things are beyond our control in ways we would have never imagined. As much as I hope that everyone here succeeds tomorrow, I know from personal experience that life often has very unpleasant and unexpected things waiting for us round the corner. How you take these and move on depends a lot on how prepared you are for them. Dont rule out the possibility that you might not make it anywhere - if that does happen, you've only made the hole you are gonna be in way, way deeper.
I made this stupid mistake over a year ago, and boy, I paid for it in ways I am still discovering. I had 5 IIM calls, and I had just assumed that I would make it somewhere atleast, but I did not. What followed changed my life in ways more than I can understand and imagine. The IIMs I could always have a go at again, but what I ended up losing as a consequence of that mistake will probably haunt me for a long time.
Remember that the IIMs - and other b-schools - are but one part of life, and are something which you can keep trying for a few times. Understand that there are other things in life, the people you love, with whom you might not have another chance. Dont let a defeat which can be undone in a year change something which cannot be, ever.
Sometimes, the best is but an illusion, and can come at the cost of something far more valuable but completely intangible. In the end, it's these intangibles that make life worth living, not a high flying job and truckloads of money.
All the best, guys. Its not very long till your fate will be decided, but try to think long-term, and value what and whom you have in your life. This might sound very pessimistic, but pessimism is often a very sensible approach to prevent life's nasty surprises from really getting to you.
Cheers,
Harshad
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