Problem with rubbing CAT Percentiles with IIM pictures!

Scroll your feed to unfailingly find yourself drowned in the sea of meretricious GYAAN philanthropists humbly posting score cards with high percentiles, if not already on their about section, 15 recent posts, seemingly candid IIM XYZ pictures and convert calls(SINCE CORRELATION IS +1 & CAUSATION IS DATA BACKED!). Now that they are no longer the regular Tom, they now are THE TOM, 99.93% CAT ’22 who goes to bed that night) Pretending to be certain of a MANTRA, rubbing it on face, with forms of evidence to a point of obnoxious annoyance like the worst stench which you cannot immediately escape. A filibuster by con-artists for an algorithm?

UNCERTAINTY of life!

The UNCERTAINTY of preparations - with/without Job(mental, emotional, financial pressures), UNCERTAINTY of D-Day, UNCERTAINTY of Interview calls, UNCERTAINTY of interviews and then greatest of UNCERTAINTY Black boxes - converts; Is it then really your 99.8% because of which you converted? These UNCERTAINTIES and hence role of pure absolute LUCK remains amiss from omnipresent meretricious posts(Else it won’t make headlines). It gaslights you into believing everything is under your control, when it absolutely is not (Fun fact - the person posting it also is AWARE, but as I said they supply to the algorithm since the consumers want to perhaps believe in that, and do not want to believe that LUCK has a role so big in overall success).

CAT% ‘CAN’ open interview calls from your dream college but you might want to check the actual% of seats AVAILABLE for YOU!

• For example ~65% seats stand reserved for a GEM in top IIMs, so with a 99.85% and 9/8/8 profile, 19 months work ex, I can bet that you wont be selected in some of the meritocratic factories of our country
• One Old IIM gives 20% weightage to CAT% while other one gives 40% weightage (truncated from an erstwhile 75%) towards final converts

Is CAT% a sure way to ensure CALLS? NO

• I know some victims who didn’t get a call even after 99.9%; An erstwhile GEM friend did not convert ANY IIMs(Old) despite 99.55% and 9/9/9 profile, let's assume his interviews went decent 50-50. Not saying 99.55 is good, but the darkness you have at 99.55 is surely blinding if these posts were your North star metric

What exactly does the iconic college picture, score card or selection email serve purpose, apart from clickbait?

• Perhaps it is cruel when you are dancing continuously in front of one who scored the same % but had scored less in maybe 10th or 12th(Things they can not change)
• Lack of evidence of conformity should not be assumed to be evidence of lack of conformity(i.e. 9/9/9 profile conforms better and is better fit)
• Your college may be the most aspirational, but never the end of the world which these posts imply
• Did your getting into the college ensure you got your dream SIP or Final placement(what % students in the batch got it)?
• Why not for a change share truth with people? How many people truly get their desired jobs? How good is your top institute then?

Is CAT% a proper reflector of efforts/IQ/Smartness? NO

• Unlikely, but is there a chance that you gave your best and had a flu or you PC stopped working for 20 mins, or the center was too unfavorable for you? What to do then? Waste another year
• I have seen people who perform way better in XAT/GMAT scores than their CAT % could have advertised?

Next time you see such a post, ask yourself what you see there? If you really want to chase something because YOU want IT or because others approve so much of it but you will lose yourself in the process of fitting yourself there, since that something keeps changing everyday with your everyday changing perspectives. A goal remains the same, but we change everyday, our perspectives change. By all means chase IIM XYZ, or the 100% if you really WANT it for whatever reasons, but then also keep in mind the UNCERTAINTY, an element so ubiquitous in life. Once you have given your everything and something doesn’t work, you shouldn’t be standing cribbing for a long time with your world gone past by.

With all that pravachan being given, I have given CAT thrice, with my hard preparations, I could never score the 99.8% which I once targeted, I had to make peace with the % I scored. I now often internalize that the race is long, and only with yourself!

I hope you get what you truly seek, and if not, be capable enough to be accepting of what envelops you.

Best of luck!