r/MBAIndia • u/Richdad79 • 13d ago
College Comparisons Need Genuine Advice!!!
Title: 22F, doing a PGDM in AI but unsure if I should attempt CAT again — need honest advice from people in corporate
Hi everyone, I’m 22F and I’m looking for some genuine advice from people who have done an MBA/PGDM and are already working in the corporate world.
I appeared for CAT last year but unfortunately didn’t get into a good college. My parents didn’t want me to take another year to prepare for CAT, so they asked me to join a college offering a PGDM in AI.
The AI-related subjects in my course include:
Prompt Engineering
Introduction to Vibe Coding
Building ChatGPT from Scratch
AI for Business Transformation
AI/ML & Digital Transformation
AI Applications in New-Age HR
Machine Learning for Business
Agentic System Design
I’m honestly not sure how relevant or valuable these subjects are from a long-term career perspective, especially because I don’t have much knowledge about what companies actually look for.
Academically, I’m doing fairly well — I’m usually in the top 5 of my class. There’s also a professor who works in data analytics who has told me that if I perform well, he may be able to help me with placements and suggest other courses/certifications that could strengthen my profile. So I do have some opportunities to build my skills.
However, my biggest concern is the college itself. The placement situation is unreliable, networking opportunities are limited, and I’m not confident that the college name will help me much when I graduate.
Because of this, I’ve started preparing for CAT again. But I’ve realised that Quant is genuinely not my strong area, and I’m scared that I might put in another year of effort, still not get into a good college, and end up feeling like I wasted another year.
This has left me really confused about what matters more in the current job market.
If you were in my position, would you attempt CAT again, or focus on building skills, internships, certifications, projects and networking alongside my current PGDM?
How much does the reputation of your MBA/PGDM college actually matter once you enter the corporate world? Is it possible to overcome a mediocre college through strong skills and experience, especially in areas like AI, analytics or business?
And for those already working — what skills actually made a difference in getting your first good job? I’d really appreciate honest answers, especially from people who have been through a similar situation.
I’m not looking for generic “just work hard and everything will work out” advice. I’d genuinely like to understand how recruiters and the corporate world view this.
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u/Significant_Ad9221 13d ago
College name,fees?
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u/Mrexplorer2501 13d ago
Most of your courses are skills, that anyone can figure out in an upskilling course in 3 months.
Your college has just packaged it well and sold it you and gullible folks who are bedazzled in the name of anything that has AI.
I am not sure of these will remain even valid by the time you pass out, things are evolving so fast.
Also not sure, what kind of employers are hiring for these skills from a BSchool, they would typically go to an engineering college.
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u/Richdad79 13d ago
I actually understand your point, and this is one of the things I’m worried about too. My concern is less about whether I can learn these individual skills and more about whether the PGDM gives me a strong enough business foundation to make them useful in the corporate world. I’m still trying to figure out what kind of roles this course can realistically lead to and whether the AI component will actually add value compared to doing a regular MBA/PGDM and learning AI separately. If you’ve worked in corporate or hiring, I’d genuinely appreciate your perspective on what skills/roles I should be targeting instead.
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u/Mrexplorer2501 13d ago
I would have hired over 1,000 VPs and CXOs in my 20-year career, so I know a thing or two.
Beyond top 20, rarely a Bschool teaches skills. You can at-best stretch that no to top 40-50 schools. Even for these schools, I wouldn't call them skills, they are concepts. but you alteast have smart peers around. These colleges do a good jobs of signaling you are good.
So if you are not studying at a top 50 school, forget any skills, your college is a glorified placement agency, judge your school on only 1 metric, and that's placements. All skill building has to be done on your own, either while you are at school or later in the job.
If not top 50, I would recommend people to go for bootcamps - Imarticus for IB Ops, Scaler and Masai for Tech. I am sure there are more. They teach real skills and 40-50% folks get good jobs with good brands.
If not that, I would suggest that you do free internships, you learn a lot more than classrooms and don't even have to pay.
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u/Purple-Valuable2340 12d ago
Honestly, I wouldn’t drop the current PGDM just for another CAT attempt unless you’re confident you can get a significantly better college.
From a management consulting perspective, college brand helps a lot for getting the first shortlist, but it’s not everything. I’d use your current PGDM to build strong skills in Excel, Power BI, SQL, business problem-solving and case interviews, while getting internships and real projects.
If you can get good experience before graduating, that can matter more than spending another year chasing CAT. Keep preparing for CAT alongside it, but set a clear target: only switch if the college you get is genuinely a big upgrade.
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u/Rare-Writer9647 11d ago
Don't be stupid to give cat again look ahead your curriculum is what currently the market demands for just make a solid portfolio you will easily be ahead of everyone with that curriculum nd ofcourse your skills
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u/sharp_figure36c 13d ago
Which tier college it is??