Today we have an inspiring journey of a candidate whose determination and will to do something proved that you can achieve big things with dedicated efforts. There is a particular kind of courage that nobody talks about openly, the courage to walk away from something you have already earned. Ashutosh Paliya is an iQuanta student who scored 99.15%ile in the CAT exam and 695 in the GMAT and finally landed his dream college, i.e., ISB Hyderabad. This blog covers the detailed journey of a topper about how he finally converted to such a prestigious institute with his hard work.
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Who is Ashutosh Paliya?
Ashutosh grew up in a small village near Nagpur in a household where nobody before him had ever walked through the gates of a college campus. With no alumni networks or family guidance to lean on, he surrounded himself with tuition teachers and school teachers who genuinely cared. They pointed him toward the JEE, and working largely on his own effort, he cleared it and earned a seat at NIT Trichy, one of the most respected engineering institutions in the country.
Four years there built him into someone who could compete without a head start. By final placements, he had done well enough to land a role at EY Parthenon, one of the most coveted strategy consulting firms in the world. The job was every bit as demanding as the reputation suggested, involving long hours, relentless pressure, and constant travel. Even so, a parallel ambition was growing quietly on the side. He took sick leave he did not actually need, carved study hours from a schedule that had almost none to spare, and sat for the CAT. He scored 98 percentile and converted IIM Shillong. The loan was approved, the bags were packed, the ticket was booked. Then his manager called, urged him to aim further, and after a long argument, Ashutosh made the most difficult decision of his life. He unpacked that suitcase, surrendered the seat he had already won, and began again.
How Did iQuanta Help Him Crack CAT 2025 with 99.15 Percentile?
He registered for the GMAT and scored 695 in his September attempt. He planned a November retake to improve further, but a demanding new project arrived at precisely the wrong moment. Rather than letting momentum collapse entirely, he redirected his energy toward the CAT and enrolled in iQuanta’s crash course.
The months that followed were genuinely hard. Balancing an active consulting project with serious CAT preparation does not work on motivation alone. It requires structure and support that actually responds to where you are struggling. iQuanta gave him exactly that. The community offered personalized attention that a large, impersonal test series simply cannot replicate. When he hit difficult problems and found himself going in circles, the doubt solvers worked through the logic with him rather than just handing him an answer key. Indrajeet Sir’s guidance helped him build real clarity on concepts he had been navigating around rather than through.
On the harder days, when exhaustion from work made it difficult to even open a book, he found himself returning to Indrajeet Sir’s Facebook posts. That writing never offered hollow reassurance. It simply reminded him that what he was building through consistent effort was real and accumulating, even when it did not feel that way. Those posts held him steady more than once. He scored 99.15 percentile in CAT 2025.
Conclusion
The ISB Hyderabad offer came quickly after the result. He missed interview windows for IIM Bangalore and IIM Mumbai, but sitting at a globally ranked institution today, Ashutosh carries no regret. He carries the quiet confidence of someone who chose the harder version of every decision and arrived somewhere real because of it. Every dream costs you something. What it cost Ashutosh was comfort and certainty. What it gave him in return was the truer and more lasting kind of success.
