Well, as far as my senior has said, to each its own. What matters at the end of the day is what you make of it. Much like CSE, IT basically entails coding. Reading about Anudeep Nekkati can provide you some inspiration that can help you in kickstarting your endeavors. A company that takes CSE students also accepts IT students. With hard work and a little bit of luck, in four years, you might end up in such a prosperous place you wouldn’t have imagined.

My senior prefers NITs over private universities. In NIT Raipur, you will be capable of switching to CSE if you want. A CPI of 9+ would do the trick. There are endless opportunities and you will have fewer restrictions to pursue your interest.

The placements of IT/CSE have improved significantly over the years. As for the upgradation from IT to CSE, that is also easy if you study with diligence.

Both are excellent courses. Computer engineering focuses only on computer programming. ICT is a blend of ECE and computer engineering. It is perfect for students who are into programming and electronics. The institute offers BTech programs for ICT and CSE and the total course fee is 9.73 lakhs. Admission to the BTech ICT and CSE course is through JEE Main.

Here are some facts for the courses on placements, course subjects & fee structure.

Course Curriculum:

• Computer engineering mostly involves programming, whereas ICT is a combination of programming and electronics.

• The subjects in the first and second semesters are the same for ICT & Computer Engineering.

• The course will become more focused on ICT and computer engineering from the third semester with subjects like Data & file structures, smart sensors & IoT, RF engineering, etc in ICT and computer graphics, embedded systems, artificial intelligence, etc in CSE.

Fee structure:

• Both ICT and computer engineering have the same fee structure.

• The fee structure for ICT & CSE is INR 2.53 lakhs for the 1st year. The total fee for 4 years will come to around INR 9.37 lakhs (not including hostel fees).

Faculty:

• That faculty that teaches ICT & CSE in PDPU is well-qualified and experienced.

• Almost all the teachers are Ph.D. holders in their respective fields.

• The teacher to student ratio is high for ICT compared to CSE as there are 120 seats in ICT as opposed to 240 seats in CSE.

Placements:

ICT:

• According to the placement details of 2020, the highest CTC received by the students of ICT was around 9 LPA.

• Some of the major recruiters at the institute were TCS, Cloud 24*7 lnc, L&T Technology Services, etc.

CSE:

• Students in computer engineering receive some of the highest placement packages compared to other departments. The highest CTC offered was around INR 35 LPA from Microsoft. The average CTC offered is around INR 6.5 LPA.

• Some of the MNCs that provide placement opportunities for CSE students are Infosys, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Cognizant, Mindtree, etc.

Both CSE and ICT are similar when it comes to fee structure and faculty. The placement rates for ICT students are comparably lower since it is a relatively new course. CSE students have been getting some of the most lucrative CTC packages. However, only choose a course that genuinely interests you.

Both the IIIT Allahabad as well as MNNIT Allahabad are excellent institutes in their own way and there may not be a clear winner among the two. Here’s a comparison of the two institutes based on a few important parameters which can be of help. 

Legacy:

• MNNIT Allahabad: The computer science department is one of the biggest in the country. Here IT is considered equivalent to CSE. Also, it is a 60-year-old institute so has a better legacy than the former MLNREC.
• IIIT Allahabad: It has a legacy of just over 22 years. But still, it is a widely respected institution in its own way.

Infrastructure:

• MNNIT Allahabad: Infrastructure is inversely proportional to legacy and thus it has average facilities such as libraries, crammed hostel rooms, canteen, non-functional swimming pools, etc.
• IIIT Allahabad: It boasts of state-of-the-art modern infrastructure being a newer institute.

Placements:

• MNNIT Allahabad: For the year 2019, 95.56% of the total 90 eligible students in the IT branch were placed with an average and highest salary of INR 12.97 LPA and INR 36 LPA respectively.
• IIIT Allahabad: They do not provide branch-specific statistics, but according to overall statistics, more than 96% of eligible students got placed with an average and highest CTC of INR 20.83 LPA and INR 43 LPA respectively for the year 2019-20.

Coding Culture:

• MNNIT Allahabad: It is good in this institute and one of the important criteria for any programmer to choose an institute. They have churned out pretty good coders in the past.
• IIIT Allahabad: They are doing great in this aspect recently. This is due to the timely updates their syllabus gets which is in sync with industry demands. Also, coding is introduced right from the first year, unlike other engineering colleges.

Mess:

• MNNIT Allahabad: They serve only vegetarian food which is really difficult for non-vegetarians.
• IIIT Allahabad: They serve both types of foods. So, no need to worry.

At MNNIT Allahabad the seniors are quite helpful. They conduct coding classes or doubt clearing classes for juniors during the weekend.

In the end, both the colleges will give you many things, some good and some not so good. But the most important thing is how you utilize them properly. 

You can definitely try and apply for it. IIIT Delhi is also feasible for you or you could also go for NSIT Delhi / DTU / IIIT Delhi. You might end up with ECE or IT at NSIT Delhi, Software or IT at DTU, ECE or CSE at IIIT Delhi.

• Your future completely depends on the marks, your aggregate percentage/ GPA, PORs, and skills in your resume once you graduate. 
• Probably every college in India has good placements in CSE /IT/ Software Engineering but if you take a lot of interest in programming or developing apps, OS, big data, security, ML, AI, Computer vision, etc, you will definitely bag a great MS/Ph.D. admission or even a well-paid reputed job. 
• You just need to put lots and lots of effort into this and not play games with your college percentage or GPA. Try to maintain it above 75%.
• Top companies like Google and Facebook, regardless of your stream, are open to all branches. They just see your coding skills and overall repute. But many companies only allow CSE/ IT graduates to appear, some of them are strictly for CSE.

If you are not a CSE/ IT student, getting a coding job will be hard but not very challenging. Only if you take programming seriously, you will be selected in Google or Facebook which is equally tough.

You could even have a try at Hackathons, learn, practice new programming languages, web development, and basics of graphic designing along with the complete back-end work. Try to make some interesting apps, contribute to open source and you will see budding opportunities ahead of your way. Try not to play with the college percentage/ GPA because they decide which companies you can sit for.

The integrated degree program at IIITM Gwalior offers two formats; B.Tech + MBA and B.Tech + M.Tech. While most students might not go for the dual degree, it does offer an advantage over other degrees in the following terms:

• Students can save one year of master’s degree as integrated programs are of 5 years.
• Students also get the opportunity to opt for other courses that might not be available in mainstream B.Tech programs.
• Students can decide on their masters after the third year; about if they want to pursue an MBA or M.Tech. In this choice, IIITM Gwalior is more famous for its M.tech degree rather than an MBA.
• It also gives students an extra year to prepare for further exams like GSoC, ICPC, and TGMC.
• Students are also allowed to participate in intense and advanced research projects which add value to their portfolio.
• One potential drawback could be that an integrated program does not grant you a specific specialization. Students are only awarded an M.Tech degree. However, this factor does not affect placements and dual degree alumni get the same placement offers as mainstream master’s degree students do.
• The student-faculty ratio in the dual degree program is also high which allows students to get personalized attention by the best research faculty on the campus.

BITSPilani also offers integrated dual degree courses, but the specialization is dependent on the overall performance of the students.

• Students are given CS or M.Sc Bio depending on their performance in the first year of the integrated program. While M.Sc. Bio has a completely different course structure than CS, it does open several different opportunities for a career in foreign countries.
• The Biology department at BITS Pilani is relatively reputed for its famous slogan ‘Biology at BITS is taught in a way where you’ll not have to memorize.’
• For students who wish to pursue only CS for their integrated degree, it is important to know that getting CS in master’s has a ratio of 1:5 as compared to all other courses.
• While purely CS students might not be looking at Bio for their Master’s, an M.Sc. in Bio from BITS is highly reputed and prompts students to go for unconventional career options.

In the end, it completely depends on the student, if they wish to pursue an integrated degree at IIITM Gwalior or BITS Pilani. However, students need to do their ground research on the modalities and course structure of these courses that are offered.