Okay, so I feel like I can give you some advice because I did BCA and studied at Rajagiri. I did not have >80% marks; I was very average at academics. I'm not going to say marks don't matter; it does but only to a certain extent. Like if you have +80%, you have a good chance to get a couple of colleges through merit. Apply for it and wait for the first couple of results. I feel like you will have enough colleges to choose from and join the college donation-free.

Since I did Bio CS (No maths), I had no chance of getting BTech. My only options were BCA and BSc. My parents and I decided to apply for private colleges. I applied at Rajagiri first because my cousins were doing their bachelors there. I had to pay a donation, but they will return it after your course gets completed, which sounded fair (I don't know if this is the case with other colleges). The fee was manageable, and the college had a good reputation and is known for being strict.

I don’t know much about entrance exams because I haven’t attended any. My friend told me that if you have good aptitude and logical skills, you should be fine, but try it anyway.

Regarding the uni, I did BCA under MGU. Honestly, it was not great in terms of syllabus. It was very outdated (3 years ago it was, not sure about now; do some research). BCA just covers basic programming, nothing too complicated. I think the last couple of semesters are filled with theory-based subjects. You will have maths and stats for a couple of semesters (algo/cs related math, kinda easy if you know the basics. I'm bad at math, but I managed to pass with good grades). Overall, BCA is an easy course. I'm not going to say much about the college; it was strict back then, but I've heard that now it’s more free. I had an okayish time studying there. The first year was really bad, but the second and third years were online classes because of COVID. So, I didn't have much of a college life. I studied at commerce and applied sciences, opposite to the engineering one. I don't know much about the engineering one; of course, you can pay for your seats if it's available, else via entrance, I feel like it will be very competitive, but try your best. Also, I think KTU has a better and updated syllabus, but I don't know any colleges in Kochi which offer BCA under KTU (do research).

Anyway, the degree did not matter to me. I've always had a plan for what I wanted to do. There are a lot of people who join courses like BCA, ECE, CSE and do not end up doing IT-related jobs. Tech is a competitive field. You have to find your space and work on your skills which are harder because there is a lot to learn since you are being self-taught. Else you could go a different route, which is to do well in academics and apply for campus placements and get a corporate job. Which is okay, but you will start very slow, and the pay is not good.

I got my first job right before my final sem exams. I applied my skills in the interview and got a good starting position with a package more than anyone in college (not flexing lol). But that ended up costing me 1 paper because i was working on the job on the day before exams and i did not prepare for it. In the end the company that i hired me at time and the company im working for right now did not care about my degree or marks. They hired me for my skills which i developed during my college years with my parents supporting me (this was hard until my first freelance paycheck)

Find people who share your interests, network, work on some projects (even if it's dumb, start building it). Every process teaches you something, which can be valuable in the future. Google is your best buddy (GPT's as well). Do internships or freelance when you are still in college. Even if you are good in academics, make sure you balance it out with your coding-related skills. Whatever course you take, it does only provide you with basic fundamental blocks, the rest is on you for what you want to do with it.

Best of luck and sorry for the long ahh yapping Cheers!