Choosing "other" colleges

a) IITs rule in India especially in the engineering and technology sectors. The IITs in the metros have much better facilities in terms of infrastructure, travel and accessibility. Hence academic and industrial contacts are biased towards well connected cities. If one looks at the choice of management schools, IITB and IITD rules over every other IIT. Between them IITB is the clear topper.
An unheard of fact is that IITB has the largest number of successful alumni amongst any institute in India. This includes all Indian higher education institutions.

Kanpur and Kharagpur suffer in terms of location. Roorkee the new kid has been unjustly pushed to the bottom by students even though its brand as the University of Roorkee used to stand against the IIT bandwagon at one point. It should have been better ranked than IITM if it was able to capitalise its brand equity. But one reason for its fall from grace is because the successful alumni from IITR has been minuscule to say the least

b) Even though BITS as such has a better brand image than any of the NITs separately, the NIT bandwagon has also come into the picture. Similar to how the IITs build their brand, any achievement of any NIT becomes a achievement for all. Within a few years, it will have a great brand. Already colleges like Caltech choose NIT students over top IIT students for their programs. Caltech is amongst the places where IIT had a big stranglehold so far
Source: http://www.orkut.com/CommMsgs.aspx?cmm=29458057&tid=2522177851197886275&start=1

c) One major reason for BITS to take a fall was its flawed selection policy during 1998 to 2004. For 6 years, the BITS brand took a big big beating. Till 1998, the best students used to join BITS Pilani and Roorkee University after the IITs. It was clearly as good as say IIT Guwahati once. From 1998 the 12th marks of Tamil Nadu and Andhra became much easier because of attempts to pander to the public. A huge chunk of students reputed to be 90% at one stage, came from AP and TN. Most of them were ordinary students, who were not like the original quality output of BITS. For some reason, BITS choose the ignore the overpowering statistic for a long time. Finally only when the alumni could no longer watch the huge slump in brand perception, they lambasted the administration and forced BITS to amend their admission procedures. By then the damage was done. A generation of students got the BITS brand without being worthy of it. Even recruiters and admission officers sensed the fall and their offers dramatically dried up.
Source:
"And the admissions process seems to have broken down in the past couple of years with disproportionate students from a few states being represented in the student body. Regardless of the facts, the perception that the process is unfair has the potential to seriously harm the BITS brand".
Most importantly students esp the CBSE students during that period got the feeling that BITS does not recognize true merit. This is the worst that can happen to a college. IIT's have for long taken pride in the fact that no backdoor entry is possible not even for Ministers or IIT directors. Infact it is said that for a long long time, no wards of IIT directors have cleared the IITJEE.

Now BITS has among the most transparent and sensible admission procedures which are infact much more sensible than even the IIT JEE. Butt reversing the original damage takes a long time.Source
By the time they get back to ground zero in say another 1 year ( the time it takes for the 2004 entrants to move away), they will realize that they have reached the 1998 position and they have fallen back back by a decade almost. Others have gone forward at the time BITS slept.
BITS Goa and BITS hyderabad are a good attempt to provide quality education and widen the BITS brand so that BITS -IIT fight becomes a 3 versus 7 affair.and not a 1 versus 7 affair as it was earlier. Even though BITS has ensured that it will never be flanked, it will take a decade at least for the other campuses to get established.Source

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[Adding another entry on BITS:]

STRENGTHS:

1) Discussed under Choosing other colleges.

2) It has an excellent alumni base as big as that of any other individual IIT except that of IIT Bombay. Networking is also supposed to be much better than that of the newer IITs.
BITSians in academia, research
BITS entreprenuers
BITSians in business
BITS being a private college has established a good reputation in industry over time. One reason why this has happened would be the fact that almost one third of its successful alumni have a MBA from the US. This is higher than any of the IITs and also an indicator of the relative affluence of the people entering BITS Pilani. It also appears that almost all MBA grads who had finished their degree decades ago are in powerful positions today. This is true not only for BITS but even for colleges like College of Engineering Guindy , Delhi University, Bombay University or even the MS University Baroda ( which surprisingly has a power packed alumni network).
Trivia: Sabeer Bhatia left BITS after 2 years to join Caltech for his UG. He is not an graduate of BITS unlike what BITS wants the world to believe.
M Damodaran, Head SEBI reportedly dropped out of IITM to join a B.Sc course. And no one claims he is an IIT alumnus.
3) Nowadays its students have started getting scholarships to top colleges like Stanford etc - a steady return to the 90's era. But again its got a lot of catching up to do with respect to the IIT's.

4) BITS has come up with an unique model of GRE type testing which removes stress and allows a better performance in exams. A model which the IITs must learn from.

5) BITS has implemented a uniform 80% cutoff irrespective of state. An admirable action which follows the MIT model that only class toppers need to apply for their programs. But this may also alienate the rural students who may feel at a disadvantage.

WEAKNESSES:

1) The first impression BITS Pilani makes is that it tries too hard to prove that it is better than the IIT's. Right from the students to the faculty, they have a perennial inferiority complex, which is their greatest bane.
This is also reflected in their attempts to prove not that they are good but that IITs are crap. A good example is this link: http://www.orkut.com/CommMsgs.aspx?cmm=1499249&tid=2511366499402034699&start=1. The vitriolic and rabid anti IIT comments by many BITS students dont show them in a good light.
Constant comparison with the IITs every minute totally saps them. Unlike say ITBHU, DCE or the NITs they show an extreme inability to come to grips with reality. A BITSian seems to be defined by the anti IIT spirit.

2) BITS Pilani is also infamous for the "attitude" of some of their students who display a perennial snobbery at all other colleges especially the IIT's. ( The part about IIT is unique amongst all other Indian colleges). This was the trend a long time ago but hopefully things should have changed.

3) BITS forums claim that many IIT JEE selected students do join BITS. Normally no one who gets a bachelors degree through IITJEE ( ie in the top 2500 ranks) ever leaves it for any course in BITS Pilani. Still some students ( say around 4 or 5) with ranks around 2000- 2500 and getting a seat in IIT may take up BITS Pilani if they get CS or EE.

For that matter atleast 70 students in the top 2500 ranks and around 140 students below 3000 AIR in IITJEE take up ITBHU. But ITBHU never claims that they are better than the IIT's but only that they are equal to them. There has never been an anti IIT spirit. Infact they feel that they are as good as the neighbouring IITK and there is nothing left for them to prove.

BITS Pilani still offers admission to board toppers. It has never been established whether board toppers are really brilliant or have mastered the art of mugging and exploiting the loopholes of the umpteen state boards. The very fact that almost all board toppers come a cropper in competitive exams like the IIT (and which would obviously have been their first preference) questions the very notion of merit as defined by BITS since time immemorial.

4) BITS Pilani has an alliance with MIT which exists only in name. There has never been any report on what the alliance has ever achieved. Not an inkling of research or publications have been publicized. It appears that MIT had some role in setting up BITS Pilani and that too through the Ford Foundation. Extending that tenuous link till the present date is a clear overstretch. Overzealous students claiming that some internet cables extend to MIT and offering it as proof of an academic alliance mocks the very definition of a tie up.

5) The lesser said about the highly flawed college rankings, the better. But its a necessary evil no doubt. Once in the India Today rankings BITS climbed to 3rd place once and within 2 years, was out of the top 10. The court issue started after BITS did not figure in the rankings. Since then BITS Pilani and India Today have been at loggerheads with each quoting a reason blaming the other.

6) There was a mass resignation of faculty a few years ago. But that problem seems to have been solved now.

7) Official PR releases talk for themselves.
"There is an age old saying that Sun, Moon and Truth are the three things that cannot be hidden for too long and its time to know the truth about BITS Pilani."
And remember this is an official PR release by their Dean.

8) The BITS obsession with rankings:

BITS Pilani Rajasthan towering above the rest in India Today

The title itself is misleading claiming the BITS is the best in India. So much conscious of their public image. Compare this selective representation with IIPM. Quoting selective surveys and that too partial rankings seem to be the order of the day. Source

9) BITS Pilani being in Rajasthan suffers extreme fluctuations in weather. It is said that sometimes the temperature varies from the 40 degrees C in the daytime to almost zero in the night. Also Pilani is an altogether remote place, with almost desert like climate. The nearest cities are Jaipur and Delhi about 220 km away. Shortage of water during summer is also not a rare occurence.

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d) ITBHU is a case of always the bridesmaid but never the bride. A fantastic institute which rivalled Roorkee in every respect, it has taken in students through the IITJEE since 1971. The IIT culture is ensured by the proximity to IIT Kanpur. All the commissions set up to look into upgradations to IIT have consistently rated ITBHU on top of all other colleges. This means that the Government has recognised the fact that ITBHU is the best outside the IIT system. But its drawbacks are that its a stand alone institute and thus comes a cropper against the IITs and NITs. One hopes that soon it becomes an IIT, a future it strongly deserves. The quality of student intake and its long period of existence, ( it existed as 3 colleges under BHU before 1971) remain its biggest strengths. Its ECE, Metallurgy, Ceramic and Mining programs are among the first such programs in India and are supposed to be the best in India as per GOI - Government of India technical education reports.
The latest update is that ITBHU would become an IIT. Source. If and when this happens ITBHU should be as good as IIT Roorkee if not better.

e) The DCE - NSIT combo in Delhi has a deadly power punch. Inspite of differences in names, it presents a unified outlook to the world. The standard of students and faculty in both are almost the same. MIT has been giving admits regularly to these duo. Thats the ultimate stamp of quality. And the location factor is clearly in their favour. DCE ranks better because it has a longer history.

f) Arguably UICT formerly UDCT rocks in chemical engineering. Anil Ambani said that he left IITB for UDCT. Whether a hyperbole or not, that shows how famous this institute was. And at one time, at around the 1990's, people used to say dont apply to MIT unless you are a topper from IIT/ BITS or UDCT. Anyhow UDCT has become very good in many fields like polymers and material science other than their original core competency. But not sure about the job prospects - of course not talking of the ubiquitous IT jobs

g) COE Guindy along with Roorkee are supposed to be the oldest engineering colleges in India. Just opposite to IITM campus, Tamilians still treat it on par with BITS Pilani. But issue is lack of diversity other than the Tamils and also rumors of back door entry for politicians. The sons of popular ministers seem to have got direct admission under a quota especially created for them. There is a exam for entry of other state candidates, but hardly anyone knows about it. Maybe thats what they wanted

h) Jadavpur University is another regional centre of excellence. But again issue is lack of diversity and entry through regional exam.

i) IIIT 's started with much vigor rivaling the IITs in splendor in the initial year 1998 but fallen since then. But CS and EE branches still have a good reputation. Also they are among the few colleges to have a joint Ph.D program with top US colleges like Carnegie Mellon University. Also they have some excellent faculty doing good research. I don't use world class because thats a very misused term in India nowadays!!
IIIT gets the best of students through the AIEEE exam which numerically is far tougher to the IITJEE. It attracts very good students. Even though its young, national wide admission procedures are top class.

j)For some reason PEC got itself seared in the Indian consciousness and American consciousness after Kalpana Chawla. It has been having a good run since then.

k) COEP has enjoyed a good reputation over the years. But issue seems to be lack of diversity and regional entrance exams.

Group 2:
The other NITs:
As said earlier, the NITs united under a common umbrella have a very bright chance of elbowing out all other colleges including the BITS group by sheer number soon in the future. All the ingredients for success are there.

VJTI Bombay:
As good as COEP, it has some illustrious alumni and good brand image.

Group 3:
Vellore Institute of Technology:
Supposed to be the "hottest" rising college in the horizon. Around 70000 students wrote their entrance exams throughout India, bigger than even BITSAT at 52000. In the 1990's it was like any other ordinary college. Not sure whats really driving them now. Not much idea about this.

BIT Mesra:
Not allied with BITS ( like BITS Pilani Goa ) and different. Its administration is different from BITS Pilani, its more famous relation. Anyway seems much better than the BITS Pilani campuses at Goa, Dubai etc. Developed a good reputation over decades.

PSG Coimbatore:
Just below COE Guindy, but has the same strengths and weaknesses. One extra weakness is that its in the more remote Coimbatore.

HBTI Kanpur:
This is another chemical Engineering stud college like UDCT, but not as well known.

RVCE Bangalore
RVCE started like SVCE Chennai , but in Bangalore it still rules. And unlike SVCE, its brand cachet has been steadily going up year after year. Has been churning quality students for a long time and slowly becoming a powerhouse.

Others:
SVCE Chennai
SVCE used to be an good college, especially during 1998 - 2004, strangely the same time BITS had the skewed selection policy. All CBSE IIT aspirants from Tamil Nadu - who could have walked eyes closed into BITS if only they opted for the Matric board ended up here. Of course they were also the ones who could not convert IITJEE. But even a place like Stanford which as a rule takes only IIT grads only for their CS Ph.D programs made exceptions twice for SVCE students ( this was before the year 2002). That spoke volumes about their quality earlier. Lately it has fallen upon very bad times with the AIEEE exams and BITSAT exams robbing them of good students. Steadily plummeting day after day and losing out quality students. Even SSN Engineering college with extensive scholarships has leftSVCE trailing. SSN is now the numero uno choice for students in Chennai.


Misc - Unranked:

ISI Kolkata/ Bangalore
A very niche college for people interested in pure Maths or Statistics. Has a very good reputation abroad - especially for people interested in doctoral studies.

CMI Chennai
Of late there has been a lot of hype about this place. Again a place for Maths freaks. QUite a number of people with high ranks in the IITJEE have been joining this place. But this seems too new an institution. Either choosing Maths and Computing courses in IIT's or choosing ISI seem a better option for now.

IIIT Allahabad
Has been a very upcoming college in recent years even coming up in the top 10 of a few surveys. Need to deliver the same consistent results for a longer period of time to really push itself into the top. After all pedigree counts big time whether one likes it or not.


If you consider the quality and qualification of faculty and infrastructure then the best bet is as follows:

1) IIT Kanpur,
2) IIT Bombay,
3) IIT Kharagpur,
4) IIT Delhi,
5) IIT Madras
6) BITS Pilani
7) IIT Roorkee
8) IT-BHU
9) IIT Gauhati
10) IIIT Hyderabad
11) NIT Calicut
12) NIT Suratkal
13) NIT Warangal
14) Delhi College of Engineering
15) Anna University
16) DAC-IT
17) NIT Trichy

The quality of NIT Trichy and NIT Warangal has gone down for the past few years. At the sametime NIT Calicut and NIT Surathkal has made tremendous progress. NIT Calicut has outstanding faculty. Most of them are Ph.Ds from IITs.