200 Rejections, a Challenging Academic Phase, a Month Where He Almost Gave Up and Then a 43 LPA Offer From a US-Based MNC: How Soumya Dhakad From Mandsaur Turned Persistence and a Key HR Interaction Into His Biggest Breakthrough with Parul University

Soumya Dhakad‘s parents had never visited Parul University. Not during admission. Neither during any semester. Placement Day was the first time they set foot on the campus in Vadodara. They had come from Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, a small town that doesn’t register on most people’s mental maps. They watched their son get called onto a stage in front of 1,200 people for a 43 LPA offer at a US-based MNC. First time on campus. First time seeing, in public, what he had been building alone.

The audience saw the stage moment. They didn’t see what it sat on top of. A JEE rank that fell short of IIT. A CGPA that slipped below 6.5. More than 200 rejections from off-campus applications. And somewhere in the middle of all that, a period of depression bad enough that he was, in his own words, done with everything and almost ready to quit. That’s what the 43 LPA was sitting on.

Training and Placement Cell’s Director – Mr. Gurucharan Singh fought for his eligibility when he did not meet the initial criteria, because they believed in what he could do even when his transcript did not show it.

Head here to read how a small town family’s 43 LPA moment looks like on stage – parents shared their experience on stage. Beyond this, this data is not a placement statistic. This is the full story. Placement Day Hub: 3,500 offers, every stat

IIT is a dream of many and so was Soumya. His native is from Mandsaur, MP. As his major interest in technology, his parents were sure of making him an IT Engineer. He started exploring technology while he was in 10th grade, his curiosity is the reason why he is at 43 LPA.

His main goal was to get into IIT via JEE, but his rank did not make the cutoff. This is a moment that defines the engineering future of students in India – this is a big GAP nobody talks about. With a not-giving-up mindset, he explored private universities and landed at Parul University, since he was confident about Computer Science, studying felt like a natural choice for him. You too can build your career in IT by enrolling into Parul University’s B.Tech CSE Program.

Head here to Watch: Raw & Real Emotions on Placement Day 2026 at Parul University

Soumya’s first year was about figuring things out. He spent time understanding the engineering environment, exploring different domains, and building initial programming skills. He never compromised on the coding part. From the beginning, he was working toward securing an internship as early as possible.

But consistency was a challenge. Campus life, friendships, and social activities pulled his attention. He enjoyed his first year thoroughly. His academic performance reflected that: around 7 CGPA. Respectable, but not exceptional. The coding foundation, however, was being laid beneath the surface. It would not show results for two more years.

The second year was harder than the first. Soumya was more focused on skill development but still struggled with consistency. His CGPA dropped below 6.5. His attendance became an issue. On paper, he was a below-average student by conventional academic measures.

But off the record, he was doing something most students in his position do not: applying for off-campus internships. Relentlessly, company after company, application after application, and rejection after rejection – not an easy stage mentally & emotionally!

More than 200 rejections. Not 20. Not 50. Over 200 separate applications to different companies, each one resulting in a no.

Soumya’s message to students – “I always had this never-give-up mindset, even after getting more than 200 rejections from different companies off campus. I was still preparing and applying everywhere.”

The rejections did not come because he lacked skills. They came because off-campus hiring is different, especially for a student from a private university without brand recognition at the IIT/NIT level. The system filters by institution name before it filters by capability. Soumya was learning skills that would eventually earn him 43 LPA, but the system was not designed to find him.

Head here to read the story of Tanish Patel: 7.04 CGPA to 60 LPA at Microsoft

200+ rejections do something to a person. Not gradually, it happens in layers, until one day the armour just isn’t there anymore. Soumya hit that wall. The failures had stopped being professional and started becoming personal. Depression set in. So did loneliness. And then, at some point, something closer to resignation.

“There was a time, just a month before the MNC hiring, when I was done with everything and was almost in the mood to give up. I was very depressed. My mental health was not fine.”

This part doesn’t make it to LinkedIn posts. What gets shared is the offer letter, the package, the city. What doesn’t is the month before all of that, the version where someone with real skills and a real work ethic is sitting with nothing to show for it, wondering if the problem is them. Soumya wasn’t weak. He had just been carrying it alone for too long, with no signal from the outside world that any of it was worth continuing.

He didn’t quit.

But the honesty about how close he came matters. It matters because other students reading this at 2 AM after their 50th rejection need to know that the person who eventually got 43 LPA was once in the exact same position. Rejections happen but the Training & Placement Cell of Parul University never gave up on such gems as they know in the real world – skill matters the most. Hence you too can crack your dream package by exploring engineering courses after 12th from Parul University.

Soumya entered his third year with a completely different approach. The change was not incremental. It was total:

• Reduced social interactions, stopped going out frequently
• Built a disciplined daily schedule: college, study, practice, repeat
• Continued applying to companies every single day
• Kept improving skills even when results were not visible
• Focused intensely on competitive programming, data structures, algorithms, and problem-solving

Even with this level of discipline, the lack of visible results made the journey emotionally exhausting. He was working harder than ever before. The outcomes had not caught up yet. But he kept going because he understood something that most people learn too late: effort compounds.

The 200 rejections had not been wasted. Each one had taught him something about what companies look for, how hiring processes work, and where his gaps were. By the time the right opportunity arrived, he had closed every gap.

Head here to read how simply 40 days can make you crack your dream package – 40 days of IMPACT training: how the Training & Placement Cell builds capability

The US-based MNC’s on-campus hiring process appeared at Parul University. This was the moment. Soumya dedicated the entire month before the interview to preparation that exceeded anything he had done in his academic career:

• Rigorous problem-solving sessions daily
• Mock assessments arranged by the Training and Placement Cell
• Mock interviews to build confidence and identify weaknesses
• Continuous practice under timed conditions

“This one month before my interview was the time when I studied the most in my whole life.”

The competitive programming foundation he had built over three years was now being channelled into a specific target. The DSA skills, the problem-solving patterns, the ability to think under pressure: everything that 200 rejections had forced him to sharpen was now concentrated into one month of the most focused preparation of his life.

This is the part of the story that says something about Parul University’s placement infrastructure that no brochure can. Soumya was not initially eligible for the MNC’s hiring process based on standard criteria. His CGPA was below the typical cutoff. In most universities, that would have been the end of the conversation.

The Training and Placement Cell did something different. They communicated with the company’s HR team. They advocated for his candidacy. They argued that his competitive programming record and skill development trajectory warranted an exception. They got him in.

“I can never forget in my life the support Training & Placement Cell provided me. I will always be thankful to them.”

He specifically credits Swapnil Sir (now Dean of PIET) and the Training & Placement Cell’s team for mentorship, mock interview preparation, and the decision to fight for his eligibility. This is what Mr Gurcharan Singh, Director of Training and Placement, means when he says the cell’s role is to make students into the kind of people that companies genuinely want: it is not just about arranging drives. It is about recognising potential that a transcript does not capture, and then doing the work to ensure that potential gets a chance to be seen.

459 multi-offer students: same  Training & Placement Cell infrastructure at scale

Soumya cleared everything one by one – this is what looks from outside. In reality, daily exams, daily training and support led him to 43 LPA.

He says – “Getting selected was one of the best moments of my life. It felt like everything had finally paid off.”

Soumya cleared every stage. The US-based MNC selected him at 43 LPA.

“Getting selected was one of the best moments of my life. It felt like everything had finally paid off.”

One week into the internship, they handed him a pre-placement offer. Seven days. The company had seen enough. That timeline isn’t luck, it’s what three years of deliberate skill-building looks like when it finally has a room to walk into. The 200+ rejections didn’t disqualify him. They built him. The last month of preparation didn’t save him. It finished what the previous three years had started.

He joined back as an intern in January 2026 and is still there. The 43 LPA package puts him among the top placements in the current season at Parul University – Tanish Patel and Suraj Jagtap at 60 LPA (Microsoft) in the 2027 batch early placements, and ahead of 3,500+ students placed this season.

Soumya did not disappear after securing his offer. He became a trainer at the Training & Placement Cell, conducting regular sessions to guide juniors and batchmates through their placement preparation. He describes this as highly fulfilling: helping others succeed and watching them achieve their goals was both rewarding and enjoyable.

This is the cycle the Training & Placement Cell builds: students who benefit from the system return to strengthen it for the next cohort. Soumya was mentored by Swapnil Sir. He then mentored juniors. Those juniors will mentor the batch after them. The placement infrastructure is not a one-time service. It is a self-reinforcing ecosystem.

Soumya describes meeting MS Dhoni during an event at Parul University as a once-in-a-lifetime experience. MS Dhoni is the university’s brand ambassador, and for a student from Mandsaur who grew up watching cricket, standing on the same stage was a moment that had nothing to do with placements and everything to do with what a university campus can offer beyond academics.

In the end, 4 years, his parents never visited the campus. And when they came, they saw him being Proudly Placed – a feeling only parents can understand.

They watched their son on a stage. 1,200 people in the room. A 43 LPA offer from a US-based MNC was announced with his name attached to it. For a family from a small town in Madhya Pradesh, no frame of reference existed for that moment. This wasn’t a career update to share over the phone. It was something else, the kind of shift that doesn’t have a clean word for it. Every sacrifice that went into sending their son 700 km from home, four years of distance, of trust, of not fully knowing what he was walking into, it all landed in that one moment on that one stage.

Soumya’s parents weren’t reading the data. They didn’t need to. They saw their son standing somewhere he had fought to stand, in a city that wasn’t home, having held on through 200 rejections that would have finished most people. That was enough. That was everything.

PIERC: 254 startups, the business-ready mindset beyond placements

The Placement Day held 3,500+ other placements. 459 students walked away with multiple offers. 23 packages crossed 20 LPA. The progression from 22.5 LPA in 2023 to 43 LPA now to 60 LPA in the 2027 early placements was visible in a single room if you knew where to look.

Soumya’s journey connects directly to the infrastructure that Parul University provides:

• B.Tech Computer Science and Engineering (Core): The programme that produced both Soumya (43 LPA) and Tanish Patel (60 LPA Microsoft) in the same placement cycle
• Training and Placement Cell: IMPACT training, mock interviews, mock assessments, HR advocacy for borderline-eligible candidates, mentorship from named instructors including Swapnil Sir (now Dean PIET) and Mr Gurcharan Singh (Director Training & Placement Cell)
• Competitive programming culture: Hackathons, coding challenges, DSA-focused preparation that multiple top-placed students credit as their key differentiator
• PIERC (Parul Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Center): 254 startups incubated, Rs 20 Cr+ funding, Shark Tank India appearances. The entrepreneurial infrastructure develops the same problem-solving and persistence skills that competitive programming builds
• Campus ecosystem: 70,500+ students, 6,000+ international from 75+ countries, MS Dhoni as brand ambassador, events and cultural exposure that build the professional presence companies assess during interviews