Scientist quits job to study at IIM-A

AHMEDABAD: The aura of being the country's best management school continues to attract students form diverse backgrounds to the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A).
While doctors and engineers have become common at the premier B-school, the institute's latest batch of its flagship course post-graduate programme in management (PGP) has a scientist also among them.
After working for three years, as a scientist under the Prime Minister's Office, 26-year-old Rajesh Kumar left his job to study at IIM-A earlier this year. "To do an MBA was my dream since college days. Many of my classmates got into different IIMs in the country after completing engineering," he said but, for Kumar, there were other issues that needed to be attended first.
Understanding the monetary constraints at home, Kumar opted to first get a job and support his as well as his two younger sisters' studies and happily accepted the designation of a scientist-B that was offered to him at the campus placement at NIT Kurukshetra.
When he was in fifth standard, his father temporarily closed down the power looms on the ground floor of their home at Nathnagar (in Bhagalpur district in), Bihar, as the noise and activities were disturbing the studies of children. While the looms never started again, His mother, a primary school teacher supported the family and studies of five children.
"My second attempt, at cracking CAT, got me a call from IIM-A last year. Since I had not completed five years of service, I was not entitled for a study or sabbatical leave. However, the decision was clear and I chose to give up the job and realise my dreams as my sisters were also completing their studies," said Kumar.
While his first year at IIM-A is reaching completion, Kumar is now looking forward to his upcoming summer internship with Tata Consultancy Services to decide on his next step.
"With the hands-on experience, I will get a better idea of my strengths and weaknesses. Then I will decide where to focus and what to do after the MBA," says Kumar.