Both BITS Goa Pilani and IIT Guwahati/Kharagpur are well-respected institutions with dynamic mechanical engineering programs. The choice between them depends on a variety of factors like location, campus culture, available resources, and specific research interests. BITS Goa/Pilani is known for its strong focus on research and innovation, while IIT Guwahati/Kharagpur is known for its strong faculty and resources.

My brother was a student of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Guwahati and I have a few points as to why IIT Guwahati is better than BITS

• IIT Guwahati has a spectacular campus surrounded by natural beauty giving it a resort-like ambiance.
• The accommodation facilities are top both with every student getting single rooms right from the first year
• Your passions and hobbies are given importance and you will find many that share your interests
• Excellent sports facilities
• The Mechanical Engineering department of IIT Guwahati has excellent faculty, especially in fluids, solids and thermal.

A few drawbacks of the institute are

• Its remote location leaves you isolated with no place to hangout near
• The Mechanical branch has mainly boys only 

All in all, IIT Guwahati should not be your choice if you want a laid-back college life filled with fun. However, if you are sincere about your career and want to pursue mechanical engineering, IIT Guwahati is the right place for you.

The IIT Mandi CSE program is relatively new and is still gaining recognition. However, the faculty and facilities for CSE at IT Mandy are brilliant. IIT Roorkee's ME program is well-regarded and is considered to be one of the best in the country. Both institutes enjoy a good reputation, but IIT Roorkee has a more established mechanical engineering program. The suitability of the program depends on your interests and preferences.

The CS program at IIT Mandi is great. IIT Mandi has a good coding environment in addition to several GSoC selections every year. You will see active participation of students in coding competitions right from the first year. 

It’s better to explore both branches ME and CSE and then after analyzing your interest, 

You should explore your interest in both mechanical and CS as the branch is the most crucial determining factor of your career. This is because CS might not seem easy to those who lack interest in the same. 

It would be best for you to visit the websites of both institutes and compare the program details, faculty, research, and facilities to decide which one would be a better fit for you.

It’s difficult to determine which institute is better because the courses in the question are different. However, if a choice has to be made between the two colleges, one can look at the different criteria.

NIT Allahabad (Information Technology):

The college was ranked at 48 out of the 300 engineering colleges in India. The duration of the course Information Technology is 4 years. The course structure in NIT Allahabad is more or less the same as compared to other NITs.

Admission:

• Students should pass 10+2 exams with at least 75% marks in the science stream in order to be eligible.
• The admission is through JEE Mains. In 2019 the closing cutoff for IT was 5595 (other states), and 6316 (home state).

Placements:

• There were a total of 90 students out of which 85 students were placed.
• Some of the top recruiters who gave jobs were Adobe, Google, Accenture, Amazon, Dell, Cisco, Motorola, Infosys, IBM, and Hero Honda.
• The average CTC and the maximum CTC that was acquired by the students of IT are 12.96 LPA and 39 LPA.

NIT Surathkal (Mechanical Engineering):

The college was Ranked 21st by NIRF in Engineering colleges 2019.

Admission:

• The admission for the program mechanical engineering is done on the basis of marks acquired in 10+2 or similar also JEE exam. The final selection for the student will be done by JOSS counseling.
• For a student to be eligible for the college they need to get 75% of marks in the science stream. For SC and ST students the required aggregate is 65%.
• In 2019 the closing cutoff for Mechanical Engineering was 8980 (other states), and 14895 (home state).

Placements:

The college is known for its placements, in the year 2019, the college provided 100% placement.

• Around 60 companies visited the campus to provide placements to the mechanical engineering students.
• Some of the top recruiters included Honeywell, Axis Bank, Myntra Logistics, Amazon, McAfee, Samsung, R&D, HSBC technology, Wells Fargo, Microsoft, Byjus, City Bank, Oyo, Epsilon India, Wipro India, Walmart, and Snap lab.
• The highest and average CTC received by the students were 39 LPA and 14.5 LPA.

Therefore, if a college has to be chosen between two, one can look at the above parameters.

Mechanical is an option at NIT Jalandhar.

Although MNNIT Allahabad has a better brand name than NIT Jalandhar, the production branch has many disadvantages when compared to the mechanical branch.

Unless someone specifically mentions Production Engineering, you will have to compete with mechanical students at NIT Allahabad during placements and off-campus interviews. When compared to Mechanical, there are fewer job opportunities.

There may now be one or two PSUs with separate vacancies for Production students. Mechanical paper is required in order to obtain PSUs, which are extremely difficult to crack. GATE is very important for core branches, and Mechanical has a high level of competition compared to other branches. Only if you intend to change your branch after one year should you enroll in NIT Allahabad; otherwise, do not.

It’s difficult to determine which institute is better as the courses in question are different. However, given below are information about the two courses which may help you make the decision.

NIT Surathkal:

NIT Surathkal is among the oldest of the NIT’s and the college has an amazing faculty for Mechanical Engineering most of the teachers that are in NIT Surathkal have acquired Ph.D. degrees and a minimum teaching average of 2 years.

Admission:

• The admission to the BTech Mechanical Engineering at the institute is through JEE Mains.
• In 2019 the closing JEE Main cutoff for Mechanical Engineering was 8980 (other states) and 14895 (home state).
• The first-year course fees are 1.53 lakhs.

Placement:

• Some of the top recruiters that come to the college include Honeywell, Axis Bank, Myntra Logistics, Amazon, McAfee, Samsung r&d, HSBC technology, Wells Fargo, Microsoft, Byjus, City Bank, Oyo, Epsilon India, Wipro India, Walmart, Snap lab.
• The average and highest CTC offered to the students were 14.5 LPA and 39 LPA respectively.

ICT Mumbai:

The engineering department of ICT Mumbai consists of 134 accomplished faculty members. All but four of them hold PhDs. The faculty of ICT Mumbai is highly qualified and is alumni of reputed institutions.

Admission:

• BTech Chemical Engineering admission is through JEE Mains.
• In 2019 the required cutoff for Chemical Engineering was 429.
• The first-year course fees are INR 85,350.

Placement:

• The highest CTC received by the students was 14 LPA, while the average CTC was 3.5 LPA.
• Some of the top recruiters that come to the college include Dow chemical, ExxonMobil India, Seltzer pumps India ltd.

Therefore, if a student has to choose a college they can look up to the criteria mentioned above.

One of my close friends is a third-year undergraduate student in the Department of chemical engineering at IIT Kanpur. After considering all the other choices that his rank allows he finally chose Chemical Engineering. 

A majority of IITians take non-core jobs because of their easy availability and much better packages. If you are one of them, then definitely go for Chemical instead of Mechanical. This is because Chemical Engineering has a lesser workload and rigor in comparison to Mechanical, which gives you a lot of time to prepare for non-core jobs. However, it’s important to note that this is applicable only if you are targeting non-core jobs in finance or coding. 

But if you are planning to go for Civil Services preferably IES, it’s better to opt for mechanical because you cannot prepare for IES along with chemical engineering. 

For core jobs, going for an old IIT like IIT Kanpur is the safest and best you can make Hyderabad doesn't even stand a chance in that case.