Chat am I cooked?

Fair enough. I tried studying, that's where I figured out why people study for months (sometimes years) for this exam. There is so much to study that it is giving me depression. My mocks have gone as low as 11 percentile, so that's why I vented out here 😭😭

Sure, rn giving mocks and getting around 25-35 percentile. I'm cooked. Will share about CAT experience for sure

Bhai konsa mock de rha hai. Link bhejio. Mai apni percentile bataunga vapas tujhe xD

Tension na le, mera bhi aas paas hi rahega 😂

I already have a great portfolio but I can't find any product related internships, most of them are being grabbed by overqualified individuals. Like if IITians and IIM folks apply for internships, I'm not even part of the picture.

The thing is I don't have a job. That's the issue, if I had even a low paying average, I could have sticked around but no one is hiring for product roles to someone who is a BBA graduate

Not really. All of these were condensed so it can be read easily. These decisions were not easy for me. I was super ready for placements, did a lot of internships but when time came, not a single company visited the campus. We had very few 3-5 LPA jobs from generic companies. All of them were either sales or business development. The roles were so bad even teachers recommended us that don't pick these, either go for MBA or apply externally.

I was applying left and right, did a lot of work on my resume Optimization. Developed a portfolio website with no knowledge of coding just so I could differentiate with other candidates. I don't know if you have ever applied from external sources or not but let me tell you, nobody gives a flying fck about your applications. 70% of the jobs are there just for the sake of it, I have personally seen a job being re-posted for months and months. Don't even think landing a job through LinkedIn, literally half of them don't even send a mail acknowledging your application. Every job that is posted on the internet is being grabbed by overqualified candidates, if you are meeting the criteria you have no chance. You have to be exceptionally over the top to be able to make a cut. (This statement is true for students who have done non-technical courses trying for a decent job that is not sales). I can get a role in marketing domain (I think so) but I want to get into product roles. The only exception to this situation are either campus placements or Master's degree. With masters, you can make a cut above normal applicants. Yup that's still a thing, people actually hire on degrees.

The CAT decision came as a resort because I was applying since August 2024 and couldn't get a job. CAT is like some of the exams that you should not miss given that it's almost a requirement for all MBA colleges which happens once a year. So it won't make sense to not attempt for it. Also because if you just do 5/5/3 questions correct in 3 sections of CAT, you can have 85 percentile which is a fairly good score. If for some reason I don't get a job till feb 2025, atleast I will have a score to apply for MBA colleges (if some miracle happen and I do get a good score)

I have also researched for good MBA college that doesn't require high CAT score and I found the LPU could be a suitable option so I'm keeping that too in my bag. I have even applied for LPUNEST which is the entrance exam for getting into it. After giving CAT I will have a lot more knowledge and I could even grab a scholarship.

The wrong decisions in my life so far were: Taking a course (from the "***" website rather than the cheaper ones since a portfolio could have been made from other websites as well)

Not researching for a good bachelor's college

Other than that , I choose the most suitable choices. I think a lot about how far I've come from someone who didn't have any confidence to speak to a freelancer, with a lot of technical skills and knowledge, internships from Paytm, Snapchat etc. and the self confidence to smile even at the lowest points. I know rn nothing is falling down on me but not having a job is a serious killer onto my brain these days

Can you dm me hey, cause I've crossed the 5 DMs limit

Done

Update: I gave CAT exam today in Slot 2. I must say it was a good experience as it was my first competitive exam. Some people were crying (actually, there was a girl who was crying before even the exam began), some people were sleeping 😴 (might be night owls who actually studied) also on my way out I hear one guy speaking , maine to VARC me sab A kar diya aur quantes me sab B 🤣🙏.

As of my experience, I did great. VARC was not my issue, and went smoothly in exam ~50+ percentile. DILR was always tricky, can't tell what's gonna happen. Jai Mata Di. Quants was also similar but I did solve 2 correctly. Fun fact: in the notepad provided I wrote ऊं and Jai Mata Di just to be on the safe side.

My plan for next is appearing for CMAT as this is the first time they are having this in the month of January and also it's easier than CAT. The syllabus is similar and I have like 1.5 months on my hand. If I study obediently, I can grab good percentile there.
Let's hope for the best 🤞 Ik this was technically of no use but venting here was mentally relaxing. Thanks for all the persons who gave me advice 🤗

BD is business development? Also is merchant support really in the lines of product manager?

So there's a bigger picture behind this. Firstly the college is a whole a different story, after my 12th since I was the covid batch surprisingly I got 87% (I don't deserve even 70% if I look back the way I was during 2020-21) and hence I was confident I could get into any college of my choice. My parents didn't allow me to go out of town, and I was also not very serious about colleges so didn't do much research (I was in my YouTuber banenge era) so I registered for St. Xavier's College and thought now it's done, college sorted. But I didn't knew that It had stupid amount of reservation basically it was totally a reservations led college, even for bba they wanted 96% for general students. I WAS FCKED, the final list came out around October end and many colleges were done for. So Amity was the only option available that's why I opted for it. Even the fess was less due to my scholarship and where I live the fees of courses in Amity is lower compared to it's other campuses (I think it's the lowest).

Now for the course, as I mentioned I was deeply influenced by it's ads and website, overall felt very genuine. I purchased the course in EMI and that's one of the biggest reason of pain in my a$$ these days. Every month when 5k rs is debited, I'm reminded of this investment. Although the coruse was fantastic, there was quality material and I've got a great portfolio out of it but the companies which come to hire always asks for experienced individuals. Few internships came and those were grabbed by over qualified individuals, like I can't compete with someone who has done btech from bits on product management intership. If I was the hiring manager, I would have hired the bits guy anyways.

So yea a lot of pain (with money issues)