Rajeev Krishna has Weathered Many Storms.
Rajeev is a visually impaired Banking and Risk Modelling Advisor, with an MBA from IIM-Trichy. Later this year he’s headed to New York for his second MBA, from Columbia Business School.
Born and raised in Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh, Rajeev excelled in school and says he would have probably ended up either a doctor or engineer, the clichéd career choices for high-performing South Indian students but things took a turn when he was in grade six.
Rajeev started losing his eye-sight due to a rare genetic disorder that causes degeneration of the retinas. He had struggled with poor eyesight as a child and at twelve, was taken to a specialty eye-hospital in Hyderabad where he was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa.
Within a year, Rajeev lost 98% vision in both eyes. He confesses he struggled with depression for about a year but once he got used to his ‘new normal’, he started doing well in school again. As he went to a small-town school that had no assistive-technology or staff training, Rajeev says the sciences were no longer a viable option for him. Refusing to settle, he did a lot of research and ended up choosing chartered accountancy, a gruelling academic choice that many discouraged him from.
Rajeev enrolled at Balasiva Degree College for a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce, Accounting & Costing and started preparing for India’s notoriously difficult Chartered Accountancy (CA) exams.
Rajeev tasted his first ever failure in the CA intermediary exams and says the experience impacted him deeply. As someone used to being a ‘topper’ in school and even winning a state level prize for academic excellence in grade ten, his confidence took a beating. Since none of the course materials were accessible, Rajeev had depended upon friends and family to read to him but no one could contribute enough time to meet the punishing demands of CA exam preparation. Rajeev retook the exam and cleared it but due to a lack of assistive technologies, realised that chartered accountancy was probably not a viable career for him. By this point he had also graduated and decided to apply for an MBA.
Realising he needed work experience to get the most out of an MBA, Rajeev started looking for work, however, he was turned down in multiple job interviews due to the reluctance of companies to hire someone with a disability. He was called to Hyderabad for an interview by a global online-retail giant, despite clarifying his special needs but when he made the trip to their offices he was turned down again. He assured his interviewers that with assistive technologies, he could effectively fulfil the role but the meeting was ended prematurely and Rajeev was escorted off the campus by security.
Once again, he bounced back swiftly and with a view to strengthen his resume enough to get over companies’ hesitation to hire him, he gave the CAT exam and got into Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Trichy. Rajeev says he was on cloud-nine since no one he knew had ever gotten into an IIM.
After a very late night celebrating with his new cohort on campus, Rajeev was woken on his first day at B-school, by an early-morning call informing him that his father had suffered a fatal cardiac arrest. Rajeev says he was shattered and struggled with depression for six months. The experience made him grow up overnight and the pressure of finances and the future, kept him up many nights.
Rajeev won a campus placement with NatWest Group in his final year at IIM and after four years working as an analyst, wanted to shift to investment banking (IB). He started looking for investment banking opportunities but was unable to find a role he desired, due to his lack of relevant experience. Also, a supportive manager at NatWest had encouraged him to travel alone for work; something that he had never done before and Rajeev says this gave him a tremendous morale boost.
With his new-found confidence in travelling and staying by himself, Rajeev now considered getting a US MBA to help him move into IB. He spoke with various consultants and based on the rankings on Poets & Quants, decided to work with Admissions Gateway on his MBA applications.
Rajeev says his counsellor at Admissions Gateway was extremely pragmatic about the application process, tactfully guiding him to focus on the parts of his story that would make the most compelling additions to his essays. He says Rajdeep Chimni’s weekly webinars on topics like essay-building were a huge help for him at the beginning of the applications, when he was very confused and anxious.
With an IIM MBA and four years of experience, Rajeev says he had strong opinions on which colleges he wanted to apply to but advice from Admissions Gateway helped him widen his perspective. He applied to Columbia in the early-decision round and is ecstatic to have been accepted.
Rajeev’s sole piece of advice for MBA applicants is to go into the process with an open mind, with as few preconceived notions as possible, as applications involve a lot of reflection and self-analysis, leading to new realisations.
“While this process was going on, I got to know myself a lot.”