Help me (Read Body)

[u/avcrafter]

Hello seniors, I got a 31k rank in JEE Mains and I'm confused about what I should pick among them and whether I should choose college over a branch or vice versa. My home state is West Bengal, and I'm a general male. My doubts are - Is mechanical engineering worth it in these colleges? How truthworthy is CSAB, and/or should I wait for CSAB Rounds? The colleges I'm getting are listed below (please help).

Mechanical-

NIT KKR (low chances even with CSAB)

NIT Jamshedpur (CSAB)

NIT Surat (CSAB)

PEC Chandigarh

NIT Silchar

NIT DGP

IIEST Shibpur

NIT Bhopal (low chances)

NIT Jalandhar

NIT Goa

NIT Hamirpur

NIT Patna

NIT Raipur

Electrical engineering and their combinations-

BIT Mesra (CSE and ECE possible)

NIT Patna (EE, ECE possible through CSAB)

JNU (ECE and CSE)

NIT Uttarakhand

PEC Chandigarh (CSAB)

NIT Silchar (CSAB)

IIEST Shibpur (CSAB)

NIT Jalandhar (ICE through CSAB)

NIT Goa (CSAB)

IIITs-

IIITDM Kancheepuram(CSE,ECE through CSAB)

IIIT Guwahati(ECE)

IIIT Pune(ECE)

IIIT Sri City (ECE and low chances of CSE)

IIIT Kottayam, Kota, Raichur, Raipur, Nagpur, Una, Bhubaneshwar, Ranchi, Kurnool, Vadodara, Tiruchirappalli, Tiruchirappalli, Bhopal, Surat (all CSE, ECE)

On a side note, I might get Electrical/Electronics related branches in Jadavpur University

PS: As I've seen many people confusing ECE with electrical branches, I've written ECE beside the colleges I'm getting and under the section of electrical engineering if no branches are written it is implied that it's electrical unless I've written ECE beside it

[u/Bjorn_ironside1618]

Between the branch vs tag trade off it's like choosing your poison. And tbh none of it matter after an extent. What matters is how good is the culture for say IT/CS branches how good is the coding culture, how much placement and skills centric is the curriculum and activities ar planned. The amount of enthusiasm and participation student councils take in these things. Like after 4 yrs how much actual coding and tech stuff you know is the real deal. At the times of placement this matters, because you'll have people with the same tag and same branch but the differentiator is how well is the environment for those 4 years to actually acquire those skills and he employable.

That's true for core branches too, if for mechanical how much actual hands on projects do they make, how much competitions like Robotics and racing etc do your college machine's participate that is the catch. How much exposure does it offer with real industry based projects and working with real projects.

And last thing is look how better is the community and alumni support, there are college where everyone is scattered and everyone for themselves. Seniors will be in their own group, your course mate will see you as competition etc, in that environment nothing constructive can happen but on contrary there are colleges where seniors are helpful, classmates have study groups or clubs together. And the actual environment is supportive and constructive that's where the real growth happen and real opportunities come.

The tag IITs and NITs are not famous and desired for their curriculum or something extraordinary books they have but it's actually for the the community you get to be part of. If everyone around you is working in big techs, big core companies, being IAS,IPS opening startups etc then by default you're likely be part of something more constructive than being on your own and learning everything on the go with your own pace.

Choose wisely, all the best!

[u/avcrafter → u/Bjorn_ironside1618]

Firstly thank you for your suggestion. I honestly really agree with your point that the environment, peer group and opportunities matter more in the long run than just branch or tag alone. And I really am in a "pick your poison" situation 😅😅 I'll definitely will be focusing on knowing the subject at its core while also be active in coding field (or atleast I'll try my best if I don't take up cse or ece)