The long wait has not yet ended for me. The results for admissions to IIM Bangalore have come out and I have been Waitlisted for admissions with WaitList No : 48 . I do not know whether this is something which I should rejoice or be dejected about, for my next 1 year is still a mystery to me . My results are such that when told to someone they do not know what would be the right thing to say . It is very evident to me that most of you are stuck without knowing what my chances are and whether this result is good or bad. Frankly , even I have absolutely no idea as to what I should expect based on such a result. To help you interpret my chances here are a few facts:

Fact 1 : I am amongst the last 5 candidates to be shortlisted by IIM B in the General Category (52 is the total number )

Fact 2 : This Waitlist no does not indicate that 47 people not taking up their seat would result in me getting admission. The admission panel is smart, they have already given 23 buffer offers from whatever I know and this would mean at least 70 people turning down their seats for me to stand a chance of making it .

Fact 3 : Last year , the Waitlist moved till 46, with a probably lesser number of buffer calls and a lesser number of seats. This might indicate that my chances are better and I hope they are .

Besides the above facts remain the choices that people make . The growing popularity of IIM Calcutta and its outstanding finance expertise is also going to be a factor which will influence my results .

Today, I know that there is an extremely high probability that I would either be amongst the last candidates to make into the institution or be amongst the first ones to miss it . The latter will be a very difficult fact to digest, rejection is simpler to face , but knowing that probably not guessing one answer in the verbal section might have resulted in me making it will haunt me . Whatever the result, I still have hope to hang onto for at least the next 1 month or so and at the end of it I will be a different person.

P.S:

1. The Killer - I will be getting an admission letter from IIM Bangalore, I hope it turns out to be more than just a souvenir .
2. Congratulations to everyone who has cleared the final hurdle and heading to the best B Schools in the country to spend the next 2 years.

Before Nov 16, 2008 :

I knew that in all probability I would be spending the next 1 or 2 years working in Morgan Stanley , something which seemed really exciting at that point of time and I was more than happy to take up the same .Even though before I had reached campus for the semester I was intent on taking CAT seriously and trying to continue with education , the "dream job" offer changed my mindset.

Nov 16, 2008 - Jan 9, 2009

After what I thought was not a complete disaster as expected on the day of CAT, I harbored hopes of a few calls, with the more important question being whether any one of them would be from the big ones. As the days went by and I kept hearing scores of 200 and increasing, I had doubts as to whether anything good would come out at all on Jan 9th .

Jan 9, 2009 - Feb 23, 2009

When the results did come out , the time-tested weightage to academics pulled me through for a call to one call that mattered - IIM Bangalore . The next 45 days were a mad rush with me trying to get things in place and get them perfect and polished for the big day . The 4 hours spent in IIM Bangalore on the actual day was not the way I had dreamt of it, with a GD that was more than peaceful and an interview which was completely out of the blue. I did come out of the interview room with a big grin on my face , but that was more because I knew I had given my best shot, the preparations were over and now all that remained was to wait for the results

Feb 23, 2009 - Now :

Despite all the post-mortem analysis,PagalGuy visits to see how other competitors fared , I am presently back to a preparation phase. Preparing myself for the Chequered flag , trying to be ready to digest the message that will popup on the results page. Whatever the results , I will have to brace myself and face it. Easy to write and say,but when it does dawn on me , I have absolutely no idea how I will take it. To be honest,before this there has been nothing else for which I had put such a dedicated and concentrated effort to achieve.Unlike before when I was all geared up to work in Morgan Stanley, that would be a disappointment for me now.At the end of highly engaging discussions with Praveen and Psyche, fellow "wait-ers" hoping that April 10 comes sooner , the only conclusion that I could draw was that there is only so much we can do, the rest is the "secret ingredient" , give it whatever name - Luck,Destiny or Fate.

All the best to everyone of my friends and competitors who are expecting ( some including me - dreading ) and hoping that their efforts do not go in vain.