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CAT-07 – CAT Conquered Again
The CAT got tougher in 2007. A tougher Quant Section, an English section that could be debated upon mindlessly and timelessly and over 2.1 lakh candidates! What is at stake really, looking from the perspective of a typical CAT aspirant? Months and months of hardwork, hundreds of hours of coaching classes, thousands of pages of material, dozens of mock CATs, and one dream, that of making it to a Top B-School - and just 2.5 hours to decide whether all that went as investment will get a good ROI or not. Does not seem fair, does it? But then even unfair is fair in Love and War. And for those who loved their dream of pursuing management from the coveted centres of excellence in management education, it was wartime. Fast gaining recognition as the most successful MBA prep offering, MBAGuru faced a gigantic challenge - not only because of the erratic behaviour of CAT in terms of its unpredictability, but also because with the excellent growth in its student base and diversity thereof. So, how did the "tough" (read MBAGuru students) respond to the tough challenge? The answer is as predictable as a Hindi film plot but equally interesting and impressive nonetheless. Over 2.1 lakh candidates meant an increase of nearly 20% over the previous year's number of CAT takers, without a commensurate increase in the number of seats at the IIMs or other Top B-Schools. So, around 4500 IIM calls for nearly 2.1 lakh candidates meant an average of 2.1 IIM Calls per hundred students. Compare this with the nearly 32 IIM calls per every 100 MBAGuru students at CAT-2007, this means a success rate that is nearly 16 times higher than the average success rate at CAT. The complete dominance of MBAGuru students at CAT, in terms of an unparalled success rate, year after year, inspite of their fast increasing numbers, was impressively supplemented by their superlatives results at non-CAT exams and institutes too. Overall, nearly 26% MBAGuru students achieved calls from Top B-Schools - including FMS, MDI, SP Jain, XLRI and IIFT. Initially focused upon a program for those who were aiming only for the IIMs, TeamMBAGuru realised that not even the best can be certain about their success at CAT. And that ensured that MBAGuru offerings became increasingly customised to ensure that each individual reached his/her best - whether that was an IIM, SPJain or an IMT. This bore fruit as the number of Calls from Top B-Schools per 100 MBAGuru Students rose to a phenomenal 90. This means every 10 MBAGuru students had around 9 B-School calls among them. Not only that, MBAGuru students expanded the gamut of B-Schools conquered by them and received calls from over a 100 B-Schools, thereby opening up multiple options to choose from. That meant that the efforts of TeamMBAGuru to customise the offering to suit the needs of individuals (what later concretised into a more concrete and even more comprehensive offering in the form of the copyrighted YOUnique© framework in 2008) were a resounding success. But more importantly, it was the will of the MBAGuru students, their belief in us, and perhaps most importantly, their belief in themselves which led to the successful journey of CAT-2007. A journey that was worthy of the glorious tradition of MBAGuru students. A journey that is but the beginning of a long and successful career for all these MBAGuru students!
CAT-06 – Tough is Easy, Impossible is Easier!
Rooters seem to be people who love to have challenges,
improbable ones for appetizers and impossible ones for
the regular meals. Probably that explains just how easily
impossible becomes IIM-Possible. Little surprise then
that Rooters have done a great job of beating the odds
yet again at CAT-2006!
What are the odds of a CAT aspirant making it through
the first stage of selection? In simple mathematical
terms, when nearly 1.8 lakh students end up receiving
around 4300 IIM Calls, it means about 2.4 IIM Calls
per every 100 aspirants. What Rooters achieved at CAT-2006
was an extraordinary 2 IIM Calls per every 3 Rooters
– which translates into results that are nearly
27 times better than the average success rate
at CAT. How’s that for IIM-Possible? And these
figures DO NOT include those people who appeared
for a free Test or joined a free workshop.
It is not easy to live upto a legacy that is as intimidatingly
impressive as that of MBA-Rooters from the earlier years’
batches. But hats-off to Rooters-06 for not just living
upto it but also building upon it. Some highlights of
the CAT-2006 results for Rooters have been as follows:
Rooters achieved 2 IIM Calls per every 3 Rooters at
CAT-2006 – a success rate that is 27 times higher
than that of others. 21% Rooters scored above 99 percentile
at CAT-2006 – a 21 times higher success
rate and as of February 3rd, 2007, 27% Rooters have
received calls from leading B-Schools in India (including
IIMs, XLRI, IIFT, SP Jain and FMS).
As far as Rooters are concerned, it is superlative
performance even without the surprises specific to this
CAT… and the credit deservedly goes to our students
– the highly talented and motivated bunch of Rooters.
We, at TeamRoots can only be proud of the fantastic
achievements of these winners.
For us at TeamRoots, it is the satisfaction
of Rooters that is the greatest reward. A few days back,
a Rooter from the 2004 batch, Sameer Sindhu wrote to
us saying “I had recommended a couple of my friends
who had IIM interview calls this year to try MBAGuru@Roots
for the GD-PI perparation. An initial skepticism and
a desire to go forth with the more "established"
names, finally took a backseat; and they were pleasantly
surprised and satisfied by the whole "customized
offerings" experience. Just a reaffirmation for
me on what Roots has been constantly trying to achieve
and the great work you guys are putting in!” Thankyou
Sameer, and please know that you are remembered as an
exceptional student, always.
And thankyou all the Rooters, for the inspiring words
that you keep writing to us so often. It keeps us charged,
it keeps us going and we need that energy just to keep
up with the ever-rising standards that the Rooters continue
to set year-after-year-after-year.
No wonder that no one else’s anywhere near. We
are working hard to ensure that CAT-07 is no different!
Rooters Defy Convention and Boundaries
While CAT-06 saw Rooters turning impossible into IIM-Possible
once again, Rooters-06 have looked to broaden their horizons
beyond the all boundaries – national ones included.
And how they have succeeded!
As many as 13 Rooters chose to write the GMAT and 9
of these Rooters have scored a GMAT score of 730
and above. History has been created as a proud Rooter
has achieved calls from Stanford and Chicago Business
Schools – an extreme rarity for a fresher!
Congratulations Akshay, and we hope that entire TeamRoots
is as much a part of your treat as your mentors,s Mohit
and Amit. We wish Akshay the very best for the interviews
that are round the corner.
Rooters have traditionally defied convention and chalked
out new paths where none seemed to exist. Over the years,
this has seen several Rooters make unconventional career
choices, and many others keeping their passions alive
along with their careers.
It is a joy to see Abhishek, an engineer who moved
on to a career in finance straight after his graduation
still carrying himself with the same modesty inspite
of his great success in the field of finance and to
see Hemant pursue his creativity and create an ad-movie
for a leading web-games portal. We absolutely loved
your Sholay, Hemant! Your energy seems to have rubbed
on to Deekshant at TeamRoots, who (impossibly)
managed to take out time to co-write songs for a forthcoming
film Shootout at Lokhandwala and the Fame-X finalists.
However, one of the greatest success stories (for us
atleast) at Roots this year has been the decision of
Rooters (Amit and Manoj) to begin their entrepreneurial
journey .. NOW .. without opting for their management
education. What else can we feel but pride, elation
and inspiration!
Tushar, another Rooter, is planning to give the best
super-bike makers of the world a run for their money
as he continues to inch closer to that minimalistic
bike design which will rule, shall we say, tread, the
world once it comes off. Just a matter of a few more
miles, Tushar. Keep going.
Another great initiative has been taken by Rahul, who
has launched his own NGO, Sparsh. We hope that you touch
a million lives and make their world better. Knowing
you, that’s not only very much possible, but also
highly probable.
So Rooters, keep defying the boundaries, keep making
the difference, and keep raising the bar! And yes, keep
making us at TeamRoots proud.
ROOTERS CRACK CAT-2005
With a phenomenal 87 IIM calls per every hundred enrolled students, Rooters have yet again proved that the only competition they are up against is themselves. Leaving the competition far behind, the Rooters also achieved the impossible at CAT-2005, as they raised the monumental standards set by their senior-Rooters at CAT-2003 and CAT-2004.
Few of the highlights of the performance of Rooters at CAT-2005 are as follows:
- A staggering 87 IIM calls per 100 enrolled students : a success rate which is 36 times higher that the national average.
- 4% Rooters scored more than 99.90 percentile : 40 times better than the national average.
- 23% Rooters scored more than 99 percentile : 23 times better than the national average.
- 32% Rooters received calls from the IIMs and other leading Indian B-Schools such as FMS, XLRI, MDI, IIFT and leading International B-Schools such as ISB (Hyderabad) and NUS (Singapore).
- The average percentile of Rooters at CAT-2005 was an astounding 96.95 percentile, a tribute to their ability and work-ethic.
More than just the amazing success that Rooters keep on achieving year-after-year, it is the entire experience of MBAGuru, the classroom preparation program at Roots, which leaves them completely delighted.
According to Sumit Kumar (99.99 percentile at CAT-2005; 6 IIM calls), an MBAGuru student,
"Roots was just like home for all of us! It seemed the teachers knew before hand all the mistakes one could commit and were ready to shower all their experience on us. The frequent sessions on Macro-economics woke up a dormant giant inside me and persuaded me to learn more and more about economics; so much that my interview at IIM Bangalore was heavily inclined towards economics and they even suggested me to do a P.hd in economics :-)"
What does it mean for the Rooters who did not make it to the IIMs? The world still offers plenty of opportunities to suit their ability. Anubhav Bhushan, a commerce graduate and a Rooter who had a bad day at CAT-2005 did not manage any IIM calls, more than just made up for it by securing admission to the prestigious 2-year MBA program at National University of Singapore (NUS).
According to Anubhav,
"The innovative pedagogy being offered at Roots helped inculcate a solid understanding of the nuances of competitive examination(s). It not only guided me writing mainstream MBA entrance examinations in India, but also, helped me prepare for GMAT and other foreign based MBA entrance examinations."
Gurdeep Singh Chhabra, another Rooter who couldn't manage any IIM calls, got something equally valuable - admission to the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad.
Several other Rooters simply chose to chart their own different paths instead of joining the IIMs. Aditya Agarwal (an IIT Delhi student and a Rooter who scored 99.96 percentile at CAT-2005), preferred to go for his job stint with BCG (Boston Consulting Group) rather than appearing for his IIM interviews.
THE WINNING HABIT
A recent mail from one of the Rooters who made it to IIM-A last year made our day. It read as follows: "Congratulations for another phenomenal performance of Rooters. As you may be aware, the first batch of Rooters has cracked the placements. Amongst others, Apurv parashar (IIMB) is joining UBS and Kapil Dalal (IIMB) is joining HSBC. Let's hope future batches will continue the tradition of success even in IIMs and beyond."
Hearing about the success of Rooters from earlier years is always a pleasure, for we take great pride in all their achievements. And the first batch of Rooters, which is now on the verge of passing out from the IIMs, will always have that extra-special place in our hearts.
Nitin Gupta, about to graduate from IIMA, had given a flying start to the batch of Rooters-1 when he bagged the PPO (Pre-placement offer) from Lehman Brothers during his summer internship last year. For someone who was not even sure of a career in management till a few weeks prior to CAT-2003, Nitin has surely come a long way in bagging a PPO from arguably the most sought-after firm across all IIMs. We are sure that the entrepreneurial spirit in him will outlast and outshine the million-dollar luxuries and challenges that his job at Lehman would bring, and he will soon return to become a successful business leader in India.
Going by the mails of his motor-biking escapades, Hitanshu Gandhi (IIMA), the genius, would have us believe that he had ridden his bike for more days than he spent studying. His landing a plush offer with British-Gas seems to suggest that he is planning to ride his way through his career as well.
Never the one to be left behind, Rajat Malhotra (IIMC), also cracked a job with Lehman Brothers at their New York office. Ashutosh (IIMC), the sophisticated philosopher and a delightful speaker (except in GDs!) meanwhile cruised to RaboBank, Mumbai.
As we wait to hear from scores of other Rooters who would have landed great job-offers and internships at some of the world's most renowned and reputed companies, there is one thing we seem to be having an excess of: PRIDE. The success of Rooters for us does not end at successfully cracking the CAT. That is, in fact, just the beginning. For with Roots as strong and deep as theirs, Rooters will continue to scale ever-greater heights in their careers and their lives. We wish them the very best - now - and always.
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