Students Speak!!!

Amogh Khanna
Converted - XLRI (BM), MDI, IIM K, CAT 2017

Ever wondered what Sachin Tendulkar would have been without Ramakant Vithal Achrekar or Manchester United without Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson. Though it is the players who work on the front stage, it is the hard work of the coaches and mentors which acts as the catalyst to the success. Sujit sir played the same role in my journey with CL. Though I had given IIM interviews last year, there was something missing, which I realized after my first PI with Sujit sir. As I was a PDP online student, there were not many face-to-face interactions with him. But, he was always available on call or on WhatsApp.

There was no CL centre in Kota. For once, I was prompted to join TIME in Kota for GD-PI preparation. But, the content and personal attention is given by the CL team, even though I was a test series student, removed all my doubts regarding the same and I enrolled for PDP personalized online course. I used to visit Jaipur centre for GD sessions, which gave a real boost to my skills I was allotted a mentor in December itself.

Based on my past experiences with CL gurus like GB sir, Gejo sir, and GP sir, I had an impression that my mentor would be no different. And I was not disappointed.

In fact, Sujit sir was more than a mentor. Despite being a senior faculty at CL, he helped me at each and every step of the process. There was not a single time when I had to wait for my form to get reviewed or for any other queries. He was always prompt in his replies.

PDP personalized Comprehensive online program is the whole package that a student might need to get into his dream B-school. The content, personal attention, newsletter, knowledge sessions and mock PIs help you not only for the GD-PI process but for all your future endeavours. For me, it was an eye-opener. The program made me aware of the traits of my personality that I need to work upon to achieve heights in my life.

The best part about the PDP was the knowledge sessions by Mehekka ma'am. The way she explained each and every topic, taking care of the variety of students. Being from an engineering background, it was difficult to understand some terms from commerce field. But, she made it seem easy by explaining all the minute details related to the topic. The newsletters by newscanvass were icing on the cake. There were approx. 50-60 of them on each and every topic that can be asked in the interview.

Then, there were sessions on interview rounds, GD sessions, and personality sessions.

The interview sessions by Sujit sir and Sreeni sir gave me some insights on how to lead the interview, how any question can be answered in an open-ended way, which would lead to another question. The goal-setting session by Sreeni sir inspired me to think differently towards my future and consider all the options. The way CL gurus delivered the lectures filled me up with confidence and motivation to face any interview or any situation in the future.

There would be something that can be included in the PDP online program. You can conduct online GD sessions which would be really beneficial for those students who don't have centres in their cities.

The whole process of PDP personalized was like a self-awareness program for me. I used to afraid of interviews and GDs. I lacked confidence, did not know what to write in my strengths and weaknesses neither I was aware of a significant reason for pursuing MBA. During my first mock interview, Sujit sir showed me the way to go ahead. He advised me to be honest with my answers, not to make up stuff just to look cool and to be thorough with my basics about graduation and work-ex. He told me to stick to the schedule of reading the newspaper daily and build up opinions about the day-to-day happenings. The sessions by Satya sir show us the way to be confident. It's not something, we can build up in a day. One can be confident, only by proper preparation and hard work.

Sujit sir also guided me in filling forms for different colleges. Sometimes I would be short of content to fill in the forms, he would help me every time. I learned how we can frame the answers in a better way to catch the eye of the interviewer.

Career Launcher is more than just a coaching institute. CL team is like a family and they will make sure you achieve your target. It was an exciting journey of a year with ups and downs. Now, as I step into the next part of my life, I would like to thank the whole CL team for helping me throughout my preparation. It has been well said, "It is not the destination, but the journey that counts".

Thank you, CL

Gunjan Gupta
Converted - IIM-A, IIM-B, IIM-C, IIM-K, and MDI CAT 2017

I had my first interview on Feb 9 all the way to 4th April. With this lengthy timeline, and juggling between office, interview, and preps, I think I took a good decision of taking up the PDP-Personalized program of CL. From assigning of a personal mentor to handhold you through the preparations to multiple mock interviews with eminent faculty members - this program made a lot of difference in my actual interviews. The mocks helped me think on various aspects I could be asked upon and the feedbacks shared from the faculty were extremely fruitful. The mentors were extremely approachable - I remember having called them up a day before the interviews asking my last moment doubts or looking to quench my anxiety. The lectures and knowledge sessions really helped to give direction to one's reading/researching and having them up on an online portal ensured that one didn't have to miss any. All in all, it was a great learning experience, not just for interviews but probably for MBA journey as well. I was aided at every stage from filling up forms to last-minute doubts, from connecting to fellow peers through telegram groups to very insightful mock interviews – this is a journey I'd recommend every MBA aspirant. Currently, I've converted calls from IIM A,B, and C and can't thank the CL faculty enough - especially Sujit Sir, Sreeni Sir, Anand sir, GB sir and Vaibhav Mittal Sir.

My PDPP mentor Sujit Bhattacharyya was reachable not just in person but on calls/WhatsApp/email/through sis portal and was extremely approachable and warm. The PDPP sessions with him very helpful for the PI rounds as I got to learn a lot of things and read on the lines I was asked in the interviews and I could eventually drive a few interviews.

The sessions were very interactive and this helped as I had a lot of inhibitions about interviews and the sessions aided in free communication. Having multiple interviews with different faculty helped broaden the perspective and helped work harder for all rounded interviews. The frequency of interviews and the feedbacks helped drive away initial interview blues. By asking relevant questions and asking not just deeply but also widely helped me with content development and to know about the possible areas I should be updated on.

The PDPP is a really well-designed program and it inculcated the habit of regular reading. The best aspect being that it's 'personalized'. The knowledge sessions were very succinct and relevant & the uploaded videos ensured no one had to miss the sessions/lectures due to work/studies/distance.

Apart from Sujit sir, I also took interviews from Sreeni sir and Anand Sir - they also gave very good insights and it was good to see perspectives of various interviewers. It helped in getting different feedbacks from mentors.

Very fortunate to have been through this program. Cheers and Good Luck!

Shubham Pandey
Converted: IMT-G, NMIMS (Navi Mumbai Campus), DBE (DU), KJ Somaiya CAT 2017

I would give Sujit Sir the nickname of MIND-READER because with him I never had to explain my problem, very quickly he grabbed what possibly could be the trouble and used to answer in a concise manner. To me, it comes as a surprise because I myself have never experienced encounters where someone so precisely expresses my problems in words. Also, I consider myself a bit eccentric while telling my doubts and end up stuck but with Sujit sir, sessions were short, to the point, smooth and helpful.

He had rational points to tell and made me feel that the program was indeed personalized. He took the session slowly and approached the problems one at a time and in no rush.

The sessions with Sujit Sir were extremely helpful for my PI rounds. Most importantly I learned from my mentor to tackle questions precisely and answer in bullets with brevity, which also is his way of mentoring. This had a huge positive impact on my performance. Also, the problem with me was not that I did not have content but the way I organized myself was poor. His suggestions proved very helpful. And they used to be so rational and convincing that I gained a lot of confidence regarding my further improvement.

All I expected at the starting was that my mentor should listen to my problems and consider my problems exclusively mine. The feeling of hesitation should go away. And the same happened. He considered all that I had to say and made precise suggestions to all the doubts. Contact was not at all a problem, my mentor was available on all basic social mediums and was ready to help at all possible times.

By telling me what was important for a particular interview and why Sujit Sir helped me in content development. I had a lot of content but not all was to be poured out. In my first interaction session itself, my mentor told me how I have prioritized my content in a bad way and what the upcoming interview required from me. This type of mentorship gives a lot of satisfaction and confidence. PDP Personalised is a great program for interview preparation but more than that it impacts life in a profound way. Learning here is not just confined to clearing an interview. The program is very well designed too. It requires a good amount of efforts from our side to get benefits of the program. Initially, we have to watch videos and other content to get a chance to have interaction with the mentor. This in itself opens a lot of clogged parts of the brain and puts the picture clearly in front of mentees. I personally gained a lot of clarity regarding what actually my troubles are and questions should which I should pose to my mentor for better results.

The behaviour tests, LOCO test, and psychometric test are also a very well designed and are effort requiring process which in turn help a mentee understand himself or herself clearly.

Also, there is ample of time available to get comfortable and repeated sessions particular for different interviews. My content preparation was accelerated to a great extent because of resources provided by career launcher team. Online sites, groups, article collections and regular newsletter emails helped a lot in preparing new and quality content. Also, scheduling of sessions from current students of different colleges was a great effort to get our doubts cleared.

The thing is that these sessions are actually for anyone who needs clarity in life. Anyone who wants to do good at the interpersonal level would be benefited by such program. One cannot make changes in self just for the sake of an interview, these changes are permanent and make life better. These lessons come to us as life lessons and they help throughout life. Same happened to me, apart from performing good at interviews, I started to handle daily life hurdles better, my perspective to see things changed in a positive way.

I had a very engaging experience with the CL for this program. Schedules and sessions were taken care of in a very organized way and communication was smooth. What I learned these two months from my mentor will remain with me throughout my life and will keep augmenting my personality. There is a noticeable change in the way I carry myself now. Better self-awareness has boosted my confidence. Thanks to team CL.

Deepesh Mutreja
Converted: MDI, SCMHRD, NMIMS CAT 2017

Initially, after my first interview, I thought he is the strictest teacher as he gave me a lot of input in the interview which I found hard to digest. But later as I self-realized it all made sense and then there was a feeling of ease with which I could interact with him. It really helped me as I gave more interviews. Basically, I can say that one interview shaped my path to MDI.

My interactions with my mentor were mostly on call except during the first interview. Sujit Sir was prompt in his reply and that gave a feeling of care which is generally lacking in other institutes. The fact that he answered queries according to my personality and not a generic answer made a huge difference. He was straight to the point and told me the weak points in my CV which helped me decide what to speak and what not to speak. I really liked Mr. Sujit's way of conversation, it generates confidence.

The mentors gave points which not only helped broaden your horizon but made you question yourself regarding certain things. Also, the mentors made me realize that nothing is a small achievement and that gave me the confidence to tell something in the final interview.

The best part of the PDP Personalised program is the fact that it isn't really focussed on cracking interviews but making you realize your strengths and weaknesses which is basically what most of us don't know. For me, I knew that I can converse in an interview. What I lacked was the knowledge about what and when to converse. This is what PDP gave me and I'm pleased by the results.

Apart from Sujit Sir, Mr. Vaibhav was always there. He is THE go-to person for just about any doubt. Sreeni sir and shirk sir were also ever present with their vibrant views. The second interview with Shivku sir gave me the confidence I needed for speaking my mind. Sreeni sir gave me the confidence to believe in my achievements and also to accept the fact that I can't change my past but only improve upon it.

The PDPP teaches you what you really need to know to crack a b-school interview. It's a self-realization program more than an interview preparation program.

Ayush Singhal
Converted: NMIMS, MDI (HR) CAT 2017

Sujit Sir: A person who sees right through you. A person who sees the potential in you and encourages you to live up to that potential.

In the first meeting, he advised me to stay true to myself and said: "Interview is not about winning arguments, it's about winning the heart of the person." The sessions were really helpful for the PI rounds as they provided great insight into various topics. When you have desired knowledge and practise, it makes you more confident and the best thing a person can wear on his/her interview date is "confidence".

As I highlighted earlier, my interaction with Sujit sir, changed my perception towards interviews. He highlighted my strengths, weaknesses which helped me to prepare better and crack my dream B-School. Mentors helped in harnessing these capabilities. With each Mock PI that I took, I discovered myself in a better way. Mentors highlighted the areas of improvement which when I worked upon made me more aware and confident. For various B-Schools application forms, Sujit sir reviewed my answers and provided his valuable feedback and helped me to refine my answers and a well-filled form leaves a good impression on the interviewer which in turn increases the chances of selection.

PDP programme is well designed to groom a person and uncover different aspects of preparation. PDP videos, Gyan session, Mock PIs, GDs and of course mentoring are extremely helpful for any student to convert his/her dream B-School. Beyond immediate PI session, PDP Personalized programme helps you in choosing the right b-school after your convert and arranging pre-joining sessions which really helps a student to be prepared for what a B-School will offer when he/she joins it.

The CL Team is quite responsive and willing to help you in each phase of your preparation. They help in solving your trivial queries like which is the nearest metro station to arranging the desired session. The entire process is smooth. Special thanks to Vaibhav sir for accommodating all my queries and doing the needful.

I had a smooth experience right from joining the PDP Personalised programme to converting my desired B-School. All the sessions were arranged and conducted in a timely manner giving a leg up in the preparation process. Entire CL staff was friendly and willing to help. CL will not only fulfil your expectations but exceeds it. I will strongly recommend CL to any aspiring student for MBA preparation. Thank you, CL.

Neha Gupta
Converted: IMT Ghaziabad, IMI Delhi CAT 2017

My sessions with Sujit sir were very interactive. I used to discuss my profile and seek guidance on what should be my next step. They laid a strong foundation for the PI rounds and helped in personality development, confidence building and self-awareness.

Sujit sir used to review the forms, sop and then suggested where to make the necessary changes. He is motivating, approachable, and suggested how I can make my profile better.

The best aspect of the PDP Personalized is personality assessment tests that help us in knowing about self in a more logical way. The current affairs tutorials were enlightening. WAT and GD mock sessions were also helpful.

The program has helped me in identifying my skills, strengths, weaknesses, and how to address them by interacting with my mentors. The best part about PDP Personalized program is that it helped me to know myself in a better way.

It was a mesmerizing experience with PDP PERSONALISED & CAREER LAUNCHER as a whole. Be it preparing for CAT or preparing for WAT-PI, everyone wanted to see the best out of me. The faculty was always motivating. I feel grateful for all those enlightening moments I had with CL & PDP Personalised.

Shreya Srivastava
Converted: XLRI HR, IIFT, XIMB, IMT Ghaziabad, IMI Delhi and NMIMS(PGDM) CAT 2017

I joined CL in September and since then my journey has been a very transforming, rewarding and enlightening one! Even though I joined late, I was given enough time and extra classes to cover all the lessons and get all my doubts cleared. The PDP course is the most amazing. The real understanding happens here. Other than the immensely diverse peer group I got to interact with, the lessons taught by the faculty is one of its kind. The constant interaction with them, self-introspection and mock interviews helped me a lot to nail the actual ones. :)

Sujit sir is the best confidence booster. Now, I am very weak with general knowledge and History. Basically, Social Sciences was my weakest subject. I also used to be bad at current affairs. I remember his words when I told him that I wouldn't know the answers to many questions asked by the interviewer. He said, "People with 10 I don't know in a row have made it to the best of colleges". I guess that was my turning point and I felt all the more ready.

For any mentor at CL, my first impression was very knowledgeable, enlightened and comfortable to talk to. All that remained till the end with Sujit sir as well with few more adjectives added. He helped me understand that being honest and original was the ultimate key to success and as per my results I definitely know it is true.

The PI sessions were the ones that helped me the most along with the GDs. Through the PIs I understood how to link my questions and how to answer them comfortably. I remember my first PI with Sujit sir. There were a few questions where I didn't know the answer and hesitated. The learning from that was being confident in saying no or asking for some hint to help me further. The best thing was Sujit sir took care that his students were not only interviewed by him but also interviewed by other faculties so that we could get an overall perspective as to what can we face in the actual interview. The 5Ws and 1H helped a lot (what, why, where, when, who, how). I understood how to present myself in the best possible way in the panel.

My interaction with started off with a group discussion and then I had the first PI with him. In those 2 interactions, most of my doubts were cleared and I had a base/foundation on which I had to build myself and my answers. The online "Who am I?" answers' feedback from him helped me pave my path and understand how the answers needed to be formed. Other than that, I kept on asking him about the topics that needed brushing up for certain institutes and how to work on my weaknesses. So he was very interactive and informative and helped at every instance whenever needed.

I believe I did have a personality of my own which Sujit Sir helped me polish a lot. He helped me present myself in a lot better way. He helped me highlight the best characteristics in the crispest and short way. Earlier I used to get tensed thinking what would happen if I don't know the answers to the questions asked of me during the interview. "Saying 'I don't know' is ok and there must be no hesitation to say so" were his exact words and the biggest learning I took from which really helped me boost up my confidence. This is one thing I'll remember throughout my life. Being a human, I am not entitled to know everything but it is my duty to know the depths of what I have gained. There had been so many things that I rarely ever appreciated or put it out but Sujit Sir helped me put those in my introduction and make it my USP. I always had a good personality, but Sujit Sir helped me enhance it for the better.

Sujit Sir always said one thing; he wasn't there to develop or make a content for his mentees but rather was there to enhance it to make the narrative better. A false story/content was dangerous if not backed up with fool proof stats and thus should be avoided in all circumstances. He made me write my whole biography with the tiniest of details along with my learnings and experiences and how I felt about the various incidents and how they had affected me. That was the best learning I believe. When I earlier thought I had no story, I actually discovered that my story was a very interesting one, thus realizing that actually, every individual has a unique story. From there started the content writing and presentation skills and the discussion regarding what portion of life to presented in what manner and in what capacity in which question.

Sujit sir is a very composed person and his answers to my queries made me wonder at the time, how it could be that easy. But that attitude of his' made me want to become that kind of calm and composed person. He always told me to just work on myself and everything will fall into place and to relax and have a friendly conversation with people. Even while talking to him, I learnt how to converse and have a pleasant smile on my face. It definitely helped me relax and have the "bring it on" attitude for my further endeavours. So yes, his attitude and his conversation style and his feedbacks and suggestions regarding my experiences and queries were some of the attributes I liked the most.

In the PDP Personalized, I found people who had cleared CAT last year and received calls but couldn't convert them. But now after going through this program they actually succeeded in converting their calls. So I believe, the best aspect is the enlightening and transformation that I went through while the path of doing so was shown by the mentors. It is very different as in my case when I started off in this program, I didn't understand how it was going to help me nail my interviews. But while I was doing what I was told to, the confidence building, the narrative capacity, a better delivery of expressions was happening alongside. The effect of those came out only in the GDs and PIs that happened at a later stage. So the program is very interesting in nature and definitely, as the name suggests, helps develop the overall personality.

Other than the mentor, the whole team of CL has been very helpful to me. Starting from Vaibhav Sir, who played the key role for scheduling all our classes, providing space only for students to schedule our own GDs, resolving any kind of queries or guiding whom to contact for them etc, to Shivku Sir, who helped me channelise all the knowledge I had gained into a productive output and to Sreeni Sir of course. His extra motivational speech and his brilliant voice modulation during the lectures triggered the fire inside me to be my own self in whatever situation I am because that is the key solution to everything.

Other than the personal interview session, the program helped me open up to people, understand their viewpoints, learn constantly and develop a cordial relationship with everyone. It helped me interact a lot more and obviously increase my network which I guess is important not only in career but also in life per se. Due to this program, I have become a more informed person who understands the importance of self-awareness. The experience from it, I believe, is not only a takeaway for my MBA but is a learning for life. It taught me how to get ready, with all the armour on, to fight the war that comes up at any point in life.