Story of perseverance: Odisha man gets into IIM in his 10th attempt

BHUBANESWAR: Perseverance and patience can go a long way in helping youths achieve their goals. The story of 33-year-old Dwibesh Nath from Angul district’s Talcher town is a case in point. After 10 attempts at different entrance exams, he has finally got admission into the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad.
Dwibesh said he had appeared for the Common Aptitude Test (CAT) 4 times to get admission into an MBA course at a reputed institute, but failed. However, he didn’t stop here. He appeared for a much tougher G-MAT, an entrance test for professionals, six times to taste success.
“I always wanted to pursue MBA from a reputed institution, but my educational background didn’t support me much. I come from an Odia medium school and my English was weak. I was criticised for my accent. It was disappointing and discouraging for me,” said Dwibesh, recalling his college days in Bhubaneswar.After completing his high school from Talcher, he got admission into a Plus II college in Dhenkanal. Later, he went on to pursue his B.Tech from the College of Engineering and Technology (CET), Bhubaneswar, now a university.
“I appeared for CAT for the first time in the final year of my engineering. Initially, the score was not good but later I secured good marks, but it was not enough to get admission into reputed institutes like IIM-A. In the meantime, I got a campus selection in a good company and, I took up the job,” said Dwibesh.
Despite working, Dwibesh never stopped his pursuit to do an MBA and continued to appear for the entrance tests. “I realised that with CAT, I may not be able to make it to any reputed MBA college, so I chose the tough path and decided to appear for G-MAT,” he said.
Dwibesh said he he scored well enough in his sixth attempt at G-MAT to get admission into IIM-A. “Even after clearing the examination, I was in the waiting list. It was a tough time for me, but I decided not to give up. I appeared for the seventh time in G-MAT and cleared again, but in the meantime, the waiting list got cleared and I got into IIM-A,” he said.