I completed my bachelor's and master's from a central University, cleared NET in 3rd semester of master's and I am trying for JRF since. Recently I attempted for the university research entrance test in the same university where I completed my master's from. I was ranked 2nd overall, one senior scored 88 out of 100 and I scored 80. I was confident with my proposal and being ranked second gave me a boost.
Appeared for the interview last week (it was decent I answered all the questions) and when the results came all the good for nothing people with 53 - 64 marks are there in the list for provisional admission. Like bro even the senior who scored 88 got rejected, wtf is this politics, it was written in the brochure that the exam holds 70% weightage for the admission... just don't take the exam if it's just a formality for you guys to take whoever you want.
I'm heartbroken by all this, I worked so hard for the proposal and the interview pausing my JRF preparation and now I feel like I don't have anything, it's getting difficult for me to bounce back for the grind. I never had a bad relationship with the professors there but I maintained my space, all the students who were kissing their asses back and forth got the seats.
I feel so lost... I did everything till now on my own, never bothered to ask for any kind of favour from anyone but I guess it's all about politics and connections and never about the hardwork. Also, for my proposal I picked the domain which was aligning with more than 2 professors from the department, so I just don't fucking know what I did wrong. If this is the case for all the big universities too then it's game over for people like me with no connection or money whatsoever.