What Forms To Fill

After GATE results, the next step to be followed is to fill the forms of various IITs or other institutes according to your ranks. This requires quick action because there is small time and a large list of IITs to confuse you.

At my rank, i.e. 241, I wasn't sure that what institute would I get. IISC and IIT Bombay were out of reach at this rank. There was an outside chance of IIT Madras, that too only if I was very very lucky. In 2013 I heard IIT Madras direct admissions closed around 170 rank in CS. I had clear chance for IIT Roorkee and IIT Guwahati but who is satisfied with something he/she can get easily. IIT Delhi, Kanpur, KGP had interview rounds so I couldn't be sure about them. There was also a research assistantship program in IIT Bombay which was of 3 years and had an interview for which rank goes to around 600-700. There were also various institutes running MS programs which were mostly like M.Tech programs with only difference that these were more practical unlike M.Tech which is more theoretical and that these were little longer (2.5 to 3 years). All the forms were in the range of around Rs 150 to Rs 600.

So as it was unclear that what were the places where I would get, I applied for most of the older IITs for M.Tech and some for MS and got ready for Bharat Darshan. Only newer IITs I applied were IIT Hydrabad and IIT Jodhpur. Apart from these I also applied for CCMT counseling(just to be on a safe side) i.e. centralized online counseling for NITs and IIITs just like AIEEE had one. Before GATE exam I had also applied for ISI Calcutta and IIIT Hydrabad.

Here's a list of institutes I applied for:

Institute	Course	Last Date
IIT Delhi	M.Tech CS	7-Apr-2014
IIT Delhi	MS CS	7-Apr-2014
IIT Delhi	M.Tech Computer Applications (JCA)	7-Apr-2014
IIT Bombay	M.Tech CS Research Assistantship	16-Apr-2014
IIT Kanpur	M.Tech CS	14-Apr-2014
IIT Jodhpur	M.Tech CS	31-Mar-2014
IIT Madras	M.Tech CS	12-Apr-2014
IIT Madras	MS Research CS	Don’t remember around 12-Apr-2014
IISc	MSc SERC and Computer Engg	5-Apr-2014
IIT Roorkee	M.Tech CS	21-Apr-2014
IIT Guwahati	M.Tech CS	23-Apr-2014
IIT Kgp	M.Tech CS	4/2/14 - 4/23/14
IIT Hydrabad	M.Tech CS	May 2,2014

Preference list according to me based on searching on net and seniors:

IISC=IIT Bombay>IIT Kanpur> IIT Delhi=IIT Madras>IIT KGP> IIT Guwahati > IIT Hydrabad=IIT Roorkee  = NIT Warangal > NIT Trichy> NIT Calicut >NIT Surathkal

(This is according to me your preference may differ. Order given according to placements, academics and my location preferences to some extent.)

IIT tag matters but don't follow the tag or the above preference blindly do a detailed research before joining any institute. Use blogs, facebook groups, quora to reach out those who are already doing these courses and get their opinions. Many IITs have given a list of current students some have their email address as well use such resources to make a better choice.

Here is a list I found on one of the facebook group that may be helpful for those interested in applying to IITs. Last date is only for 2014.

 

This is for 2014 applications.