Engineering Colleges in India

March 21, 2025

Back in 2017, I had just finished my 12th grade. I wrote JEE Mains, JEE Advanced, and BITSAT. I got good ranks but I was confused about which college to pick. There was no website that provided clear rankings of these colleges. So, I had to do my research by talking to multiple people and collating information from a lot of sources. A lot might have changed from then but I still believe this is how the landscape of engineering colleges look like today:
Tier Elite: Old 5 IITs ~ BITS Pilani > IIT Guwahati ~ IIT Roorkee ~ IIIT H ~ BITS Goa ~ BITS Hyd > NIT Trichy
Tier 1: BHU ~ ISM > NIT Suratkal ~ NIT Warangal ~ IIT Hyd ~ IIT Indore ~ IIT Ropar > DTU ~ NSUT > IIIT Bangalore ~ IIIT Delhi ~ IIIT Allahabad
Tier 2: Jadavapur ~ IGDTUW ~ NIT Calicut ~ IIITM Gwalior ~ IIIT Lucknow > VNIT Nagpur ~ NIT Durgapur ~ DAIICT ~ PEC ~ MNNIT Allahabad > Other IITs ~ Other NITs ~ RVCE
Tier 3: Thapar ~ Manipal ~ VIT ~ SRM > KIIT ~ Amity ~ Amrita ~ PES ~ Ramaiah ~ BMS > USIT ~ MAIT ~ MSIT ~ Jaypee ~ Cummins ~ GITAM
Tier 4: Other colleges

I ended up joining BITS Pilani and almost a decade happened after that. But I come across a lot of engineering aspirants who are confused on what to pick. I hope this will help them a bit. A general rule of thumb is that it is better to optimize for a branch you like than for a college you like when your choices are across the same tier.
But if the choice is college from tier-x with branch you don't like vs. college from tier-x+1 with branch you like, I'd go for the former. It's not the stamp per se but the community you get in college will shape you forever - so optimize for it.