The worth of a college does not depend on which state you belong to. It's up to you to make your time at the college worthwhile. 

No matter which college or university you are in, they all have almost the same structure of syllabus and you have to study by yourself. If you do not have many options for college, you can choose an institute with a decent rank and low course fee. 

Let’s take a look at some of the parameters to study in CUSAT.

Pros:

• CUSAT is not that costly if compared to other colleges. 
• Since the institute is in Cochin, you can learn a different language. 
• CUSAT offers several other departments like Foreign Language, Hindi, Economics, Legal Studies, social science, and Management. These departments offer short courses. If you want you can learn new skills from such courses and participate in departmental events. 
• The living cost in Kerala is lower than in many states of India. There is also less distraction as compared to cities like Delhi and Bangalore.
• There is an Incubation center that promotes Entrepreneurs.
• You can earn while studying. There are many start-ups, also you can give tuitions. You won’t have to ask for money from your parents. Many of my friends did the same. 
• You can go on trips and participate in games in your spare time. 

Cons:

• Because of the different culture and language, sometimes you may feel alienated from others. 
• According to student reviews, sometimes the professors can be biased. 
• The placement of the college is average.
• If you neglect studies, you have to go through rough times dealing with arrears and drops.
• You won’t be able to go home easily on vacations as it is too expensive.
• It is not a student-friendly college. 

So ultimately, it all rolls down to how you use the opportunity. No matter which college you go in, if you want to learn new things and stay proactive, you can surely make the best of your days at the college. So, work hard and try to score well.

One of my close friends completed 2 years in CUSAT and shared some of his favorite experiences 

First Year:

1. Coming back after a fun-filled evening at Lulu Mall with your batchmates
2. Staying awake till 4 in the morning just to have tea at Abdullah’s corner
3. The Opal Homes Mini Militia Match
4. The intriguing hackathons
5. Making new friends for life

Second Year:

1. He got the opportunity to do freelancing and even earned a good sum.
2. He along with 4 more friends co-founded an IT services startup.
3. Visiting the Varkala beach to release stress.
4. Going to The Voyager for Kitkat Shake at 2:00 in the morning. 

These were some of his best experiences at CUSAT till now. As you can see, he is enjoying his life to the fullest!

There are several rumors about CUSAT being an IIEST in the future, having theories both supporting and opposing the statement. But, it is expected that CUSAT will never be IIEST. Some reasons opposing the statement are listed below.

• There are several political forces involved in admission to the institute. If it becomes IIEST in the future, the admission procedure will entirely change, considered JEE Mains as the only form of admission for B.Tech students. So, local reservation criteria and other sorts would get neglected by this, and the level of competition would rise drastically.
• Kerala is a small state and three national-level institutes like IIT, NIT, and IIEST in such a small region is not expected to be established.
• The central government has proposed three colleges for becoming IIEST- Shibpur BESU, Anna University, and CUSAT. Out of the three, only Shibpur has accepted the proposal and is now IIEST. The rest two have put the request in their pending list. This makes it almost impossible to transform.

Considering the above factors, it can be concluded that CUSAT is not going to be an IIEST in the near future. The talk of its conversion has been going on for a long, especially during the time of admission and entrances, but it’s still unprocessed and unexpected.

Cochin University of Science and Technology i.e., CUSAT is a government-owned autonomous science and technology university situated in Kochi, Kerala, India. It has two campuses. One in Kochi and the other branch in Kuttanad, Alappuzha inland.

Let’s take a look at the latest assessment and accreditation of CUSAT by NAAC in September 2016. This should clear the institutional status. 

The abstract from CUSAT AQAR (Annual Quality Assurance Report, page 61) says, “Being a state-funded University we have got used to receiving the full financial support from the State Government for salary and both the State and Central Government for infrastructural creation under the plan.”

So yes, Cochin University of Science and Technology is not a Central University but a Public university.

CUSAT is formed and controlled by the state itself. It does get many central funds for the development of infrastructure and some programs. But, basically, CUSAT is Kerala State funded.

My brother is an alumnus of CUSAT and according to him, the best branch to opt for at the institute is Naval Architecture and Shipbuilding. It is the flagship course offered by the university.To get admission into this branch you will need a rank less than 500 in the CUSAT CAT or a relaxed rank depending on the category of reservation you have.

Here is the required cutoff for Naval Architecture and Shipbuilding according to 2020 trends.

Hope this clears your doubts.