Top 25 Marketing Management Trainees

"Good a.m. Congrats! You passed the final screening for MarkProf's Top 25 Marketing Management Trainees"

This is probably one of the best good morning messages I have ever received.

Yesterday I was thinking of two things, the PRSP Junior Anvil Competition and MarkProf. But since PRSP's information dissemination system is not that good, I have accepted the fact that if we don't get a call by today, we are not in (hopefully we are but I'm already prepared if we're not). I also thought that if I don't get into MarkProf, I'd just assume it was not for me and not appeal even if I wanted to get in.

But hey, there's no need to appeal anyway because I'm in. :)

This opportunity for me just reaffirms my self confidence. I may not be able to present my parents with a medal that at the very least says "Cum Laude" but I'm happy that at least somehow, I have this training for them to take pride on. At the same time it reaffirms me that I could do well in other fields and not pursue with medicine if I don't want to.

I never really intended to apply in the first place because what MarkProf did was send a letter to the school asking for the list of the Top 25 students in our batch. Since I wasn't in the list, I didn't think of applying. On the last few hours of application, I decided to fill out the form just because I was curious why I was being asked over and over and over again how to conver a point grading system to percentile.

When I passed my application, I wasn't even confident that I'd get in because of their minimun GWA of 85%. Yes, I don't have that grade. So I was surprised when I passed the paper screening that they made.

August 9 was the date for the second screening. It was really very tough because really, what do i know about marketing. I don't even know the Four P's of Marketing everyone was talking about! (Now I know it was just Price, Place, Product, Promotion). The whole screening procedure was composed of a group case study and an individual case study they call "The Big Idea" test. It was all about marketing and OrCom did not prepare me for that so I was again surprised when I got the message telling me I passed the second screening.

Aug 30: The Final Screening
Since I knew the odds for me of getting in was not high because still, I don't have the proper training in marketing, I gave myself a crash course in marketing. I studied templates of Marketing Plans that might help me in this final screening. We once again had our Big Idea test, a group case study with three judges observing us as we do our plan and an individual case study where we can showcase ourselves to this seemingly cold panel. After the whole thing, all I could do was pray for the best.

Adei asked me to gauge my performance during the last screening. I told him I know I did well, BUT EVERYBODY ELSE ALSO DID WELL. The last screening was the culmination of all the assertive bright students of the universities not only in Metro Manila but also from other regions. The playing field was really even, the only choice was to speak up or be gobbled by the assertiveness of others. If you speak up, that's good because everyone else will surely be speaking their minds. If not, do not expect that they will give you a chance to raise your point.

It was a competition for 25 slots. A competition of hundreds, trimmed down to 250, trimmed down to 75 and now, I am officially part of the Top 25.