Over the past 3 to 4 years, constantly AIR 1 has chosen IIT Bombay over IISc. In the top 50 ranks, almost 25 have chosen IIT Bombay. And the rest distributed between IISc and the other IITs. Newspapers say that the Mecca for Technical education in india is IIT Bombay(they also point out that before 10 yrs it was IIT Kanpur and before that it was IIT Kharagpur). Whatever may be the reason behind this trend, it certainly makes us feel that IIT Bombay is on par or better than IISc. But the truth seems to be quite different from what we hear.
The first and the most popular reason why people choose IIT Bombay, is nothing but what people call "life" and "lifestyle". Life at IITB is fantastic is what they say. "In IITB we can enjoy a lot " is what u hear from most who chose IITB. Just to give a real incident : People discussing outside the Exam hall in IISc, "hey, life at IISc is boring yaar. See no one is coming outside. IITB is not like that. We can enjoy a lot."(source : vaibhav, my classmate). However as this very reason conflicts with the purpose of coming to IIT(gaining knowledge), the genuineness of this reason is in question.
The second reason is the food factor. Food, i have to agree, is very good here in IIT Bombay. The third reason and one of the most unknown reasons is probably the most important contributing factor too. There are many many MSc students in the top 100 ranks. Such students do not have the choice of going to IISc and other IITs as they have an anti-MSc policy that imposes strict constraints on them. But IITB does not impose any such restrictions, and with IISc rejecting them, they come here right away.
With the three main contributing factors, along with the fact that 60 out of the top 100 JEE students opting for IITB, really makes IITB the mecca of technical education in india. Does that mean IITB does not deserve that title? Well, we cannot say so.
With top students selected in GATE and JEE coming here to IITB, most of the professors are attracted to this institute. An evident fact that is proven by the faculty strength in CS dept of IITB, 45. The highest number in any CS dept in India. This powerful combination of students and faculty can result in good quality of research. So this vicious cycle continues and i can say for sure that for the next 10 years atleast, this institute will be on the top. Though IISc is clearly the most sought after institute, it seems like it needs to offer something more than just quality education to be the top institution in the country. :)
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I think the difference between IITB and IISc that IITB is more pragmatic since it is a Technical institute and IISc is a Scientific institute. IITB is great at DBMS and compilers while IISc is better at more exotic subjects (like SuperComputing and Quantum Computation.
ReplyDeleteIITB is good at databases but however 'compilers' is a bit of a question mark. And moreover research at IITB is oriented towards industries however IISc concentrates more on core comp sci :)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNo clue which is better. I doubt the debate helps in any case. Very few students go to institute because they reall like to do what they want to do(this does not include me as I don't like to study). IITB, IISC or any other institute does not matter, if the student has real goals of achieving something. If he doesn't have that and depends on the institute to force him to achieve something(which most IITs do by the amount of pressure that I see gets put onto the student, one of the reason why IITB is topmost) Indian society and mentality is just degrading. Will like to see this change, where people would stop debating and competing with each other.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing to debate here. You will always find a way to do well in any institute, if you have the interest.
ReplyDeletePrasanna your analysis helped me alot
ReplyDeletethank your - jaleel MS
www.careerguruonline.com
my gate rank is 185 & i belong to obc
ReplyDeletewhich inst. would i prefer IITB or IISC?
Well, thanks for this post! I have AIR 46 in GATE CSE 2010, an IISc and IITK admit. Am just waiting for IITB to go public on the 24th. I was having second thoughts concerning if I should take up IISc, but I am more or less decided that it should be IITB. Hope to meet you Karthik!
ReplyDeleteHey it is completely wrong that AIR 1 chooses IITB.
ReplyDelete2005-PIYUSH SHRIVASTAV-IITK
2006-RAGHU MAHAJAN-IITD
2007-ACHIN BANSAL-IITB
2008-SHITIKANTH-IITK
2009-NITIN JAIN-IITD
INprevious 5 years only i time air 1 has chosen IITB
@ashutosh: May be you should make your decision based on your area of interest and depending on your orientation towards research work. I guess, by this time you would have already decided.
ReplyDelete@abhinav: :)
@ryan: Hi ryan. I guess i should have made it clear that i was talking about GATE CS. Guess its clear now.
its not true....
ReplyDeletei have got air 20 and undoubtedly gone for iisc...
iitb is for btech guys, mtech guys are called MATAKA there....
iisc is the place....
mtech is a speacilized degree and iisc scores much higher in education... though its placements are lesser but who cares when u get the best possible education in India..........
@nik: I guess i was talking about the increasing number of people taking up iitb over the past few years. For research work, iisc has undoubtedly been the best over the years. This is my attempt at figuring out what attracts people towards this institute(iitb).
ReplyDeleteAnd i hope u didnt choose iisc just because mtech's are called MATKAS in IIT's. You arent doing higher studies for others, are u?
About the placements, yes it should'nt matter much for those seeking quality education. You are right here.
I didnt quite understand this "mtech is a speacilized degree and iisc scores much higher in education". If only you can explain it a bit, it will be useful for the others.