2014 - I am 34, with a good, well paying job, well settled in family life and looking forward to moving into our new house with my loving wife and our baby who is on the way!
2015 - I quit my job, sell my house, talk to my wife and we decide that it is best I move to US for a year, alone!
Some might say we are crazy, but others who truly understand why we are doing, what we are doing, may think otherwise.
I am moving to study, invest in our future and more than anything prove to myself that I am capable of doing it.
This August, I moved to Boston to be a graduate student at MIT - the premier institute of the world.
That sometimes surprises me, but the realization that it has taken immense hard work and we have sacrificed so much, so I can come here and chase my dream keeps me going. My wife more than anybody decided to be a part of my dream and supported me to go on.
It all started when I got up one day from my work desk after a typically busy day and really asked myself, if this is what I want to do all my life. I already knew the answer!
10 years after I had last attended school, I dared to challenge myself to see if I can do what I believed I was capable of.
But first, I had to crack the GMAT!
I started off with weekend classes and since I was so many years after college, as expected I was slow off the blocks. Took me an extra attempt and 6 months overall to get to a 710 score. Decent but not out of the world.
But I knew that my job had taught me lots of things - among them was to value the rich experience I had gained from working in a start-up, that I had helped build into a formidable one. Everyone starts small, yet can achieve wonders with two basic guidelines - perseverance and integrity.
Took me another 5 months of research in finalizing the programs that I deemed were fit for me, applying and getting though a few of them. Of course, everything is not rosy and I did get rejected from some programs that I had applied to.
But one program that I did get into was from MIT - System design and Management!
It fit in well into my expectations of a course -
Where I come from, people have said a lot of excuses - they are too old to do this, no time in life, busy with family, too much money, don't want to put family in trouble etc.
But, I have to say one thing- if you really want to do it, it can be done!
There could not be a more apt line than the one from the movie - "The pursuit of happiness" which continues to inspire me :
You got a dream, you got to protect it.
People can't do something themselves, they want to tell - you can't do it.
You want something?
Go get it.
Period!!
My family and I are in this together and we know we will do our respective jobs - I will grind it out here, give my best, my wife will wait it out patiently and take care of the baby for sometime on her own, my parents will support me and we will all get to the other side where a bigger, better and interesting world is waiting for us!
I know it, I believe in it!
AMEN! :-)
2015 - I quit my job, sell my house, talk to my wife and we decide that it is best I move to US for a year, alone!
Some might say we are crazy, but others who truly understand why we are doing, what we are doing, may think otherwise.
I am moving to study, invest in our future and more than anything prove to myself that I am capable of doing it.
This August, I moved to Boston to be a graduate student at MIT - the premier institute of the world.
That sometimes surprises me, but the realization that it has taken immense hard work and we have sacrificed so much, so I can come here and chase my dream keeps me going. My wife more than anybody decided to be a part of my dream and supported me to go on.
It all started when I got up one day from my work desk after a typically busy day and really asked myself, if this is what I want to do all my life. I already knew the answer!
10 years after I had last attended school, I dared to challenge myself to see if I can do what I believed I was capable of.
But first, I had to crack the GMAT!
I started off with weekend classes and since I was so many years after college, as expected I was slow off the blocks. Took me an extra attempt and 6 months overall to get to a 710 score. Decent but not out of the world.
But I knew that my job had taught me lots of things - among them was to value the rich experience I had gained from working in a start-up, that I had helped build into a formidable one. Everyone starts small, yet can achieve wonders with two basic guidelines - perseverance and integrity.
Took me another 5 months of research in finalizing the programs that I deemed were fit for me, applying and getting though a few of them. Of course, everything is not rosy and I did get rejected from some programs that I had applied to.
But one program that I did get into was from MIT - System design and Management!
It fit in well into my expectations of a course -
- Balance of technology and management
- Small cohort
- Great diversity
- One of the most famous schools in the world
Where I come from, people have said a lot of excuses - they are too old to do this, no time in life, busy with family, too much money, don't want to put family in trouble etc.
But, I have to say one thing- if you really want to do it, it can be done!
There could not be a more apt line than the one from the movie - "The pursuit of happiness" which continues to inspire me :
You got a dream, you got to protect it.
People can't do something themselves, they want to tell - you can't do it.
You want something?
Go get it.
Period!!
My family and I are in this together and we know we will do our respective jobs - I will grind it out here, give my best, my wife will wait it out patiently and take care of the baby for sometime on her own, my parents will support me and we will all get to the other side where a bigger, better and interesting world is waiting for us!
I know it, I believe in it!
AMEN! :-)
