Mystory@Mayuresh Deshmukh: How I chose my course and college

Mystory@Mayuresh Deshmukh

My decision to choose a course for XI-XII was because of family and peer pressure. I belong to a small town in Jalgaon District. The decision to take up a course after 10th was considered to be one of the most important things there (Half of the town was interested in this decision!). So it was decided for me that I will opt for Science stream and then traditionally, go on to pursue Engineering. But honestly, I was interested in Commerce stream and wished to pursue my career in the Finance. But, as there was no option left for me, and it was pre-decided that I had to take admission in Science stream, I went on with the flow. My XI-XII studies were average. My grades decreased substantially, but somehow I got admission into Engineering in one of the colleges in Pune.

After relocating to Pune, initially I started exploring the place. It was like a whole new world for me which I was not exposed to before. I got to know that no stream is superior and it’s your area in the course which will help you in the future. So one day I just called my father and told him that I am dropping out from college. Engineering was not my cup of tea and I preferred to look for other options before finalizing a definite course for myself.

So after a lot of brain-scratching (and brain-washing too!), I took up the Bachelors in Commerce degree in Garware College of Commerce. These 3 years of graduation taught me a lot. I read almost everything that I could get my hands on. My interest for Finance increased and that’s when I decided to study CFA®. Meanwhile, I also started working for a very famous financial magazine. After working for some days, I was sure that I wanted to be on a campus again. So I took the MBA-CET exam and secured a seat in PUMBA to relive the campus experience.

How I cracked college admission

During my graduation days, I kept preparing for all the MBA entrance exams. I prepared for CAT and all other exams that time. Unfortunately, I did not get a call from any of my target colleges. Disheartened, I started preparing for MBA-CET in January 2016. An honest study in graduation days for all exams helped me a lot here and I directly started paper solving and analysis. This saved a lot of time m y time and 2 months were more than sufficient to get good marks in this exam. My study partner for all this while was T.I.M.E. The study material and their test preparation series were excellent.

Honestly, I was not trying for any other college- I had my mind and heart set on PUMBA only. The reason for this is that I knew about the culture of this college beforehand, and also, I was already working on my own idea. I knew that only PUMBA will understand my dream and will give me a little freedom from the hectic schedule of MBA studies to get started with my own company. And luckily, PUMBA helped me at every step!

What I gained from my college experience

Honestly speaking, managing education and work was not very difficult for me. Here’s the thing - if you have a strong passion for doing something and establishing something of your own, that feeling itself does half the work for you.  After that it is just about how sincerely you are following your schedules and managing your time to prioritize the most important things first followed by the rest. These things will not only help you when you are on campus or when you decide to begin your start-up, but will lend a hand to you in whatever you do in life.

Adding to it, the culture at PUMBA itself is more focused on co-curricular activities. With more than 6 cells managed by students, everyone here is doing something great of their own. This was really fascinating to observe the academic and professional progress of my peers and see them go beyond all limits.

The most important (and indeed the best part) of an MBA degree, while doing your own business is that you are in a win-win situation. In college, we discuss different business strategies used in the past by leading business houses across the world – I am actually taking help from those strategies to make my business grow. Every lecture is teaching me something new that I can use to grow my business. From HR and System to Marketing and Finance, every lecture is important for me from entrepreneurial point of view. Adding on to this, my presentation skills are definitely improving. Thanks to the continuous presentations and analysis demanded by our professors.

LearningPotato is an education institute that provides private tutors to student as per their needs. It is a one-to-one tutoring platform. Once I’m in the campus, I look at how our Professors teach, and this gives me perspective of what I should be looking at while shortlisting potential candidates willing to work as a tutor with us.

For time management, the best option is a good schedule for your day. It is always better to have your schedule with you every time, everywhere. I have my detailed schedule in Google Sheets. Making every small entry in these sheets for the next day helps me save a lot of time and most of the stuff assigned for the day gets completed on time.

Adding to it, I prioritize the work for the next day before sleeping so that the most difficult or time consuming work is done in earlier period of the day. This optimizes my time and I can move to the next task quickly.

About the Author:

Co-Founder, LearningPotato, a Commerce Graduate pursuing MBA, a CFA® Level 3 Candidate, keen interest in Equity Investment, likes to read and play chess.

My Dream: “To be so good, that I don’t need an introduction!”