Will a gap year after graduation adversely affect my interview at XLRI Jamshedpur?

“Getting into your dream B-school is just stupid luck”, these words might sound like they are directed to scare you off but trust me, you will always find students who will tell you tales about how their interview went horribly wrong and still they made it into their dream college. 

Scoring marks in your MBA entrance and getting into the right B-school are two different things. If you’re someone with a gap year, I’d personally suggest you stop looking for justifications for the gap years and, rather focus on the things that define you as a person and as an ideal candidate for that particular institution. 

Times are different now, and your gap year will matter to a certain extent. If you’re asked for clarification, you could follow two paths; either start with the original story (a bit polished ) or start telling how the gap year affected you personally and your learnings.

In my experience, I have yet to come across anyone who has had trouble only because of their gap year. Again, it is somewhat subjective and will also depend on the number of years you were “idle”.