Gyan on whether one can join strict college or not....
There is already a huge gap between college education (esp lower tier colleges) and entry level jobs. So one needs to study and learn coding/software after college hours to improve CV. Most coding teachers in these colleges won't be good (if they were good, they would have already been in Industry), so you need to learn by yourself using YouTube.
But many colleges are involving in mandatory study time, blocking the internet, banning mobiles/laptops, closing hostels after 7pm and have many restrictions, strict gender segregations.
There is a dichotomy here, you need to improve yourself using the internet and laptop but colleges would ban all these stuffs.
Why they do this? Because these colleges have nothing to show/attract as they will be in tier 3 places, poor teachers, avg. Placements, avg. Opportunities. So by involving in these restrictions they can easily attract casteist-narrow minded parents, who will pay anything and brainwash their kids and push them into these dump yards.
These colleges won't have college culture, placement preparation culture, coding culture, project culture etc, which are very much important in engineering education. Though some students will be eager in 1st sem, this slowly dies in 2nd year because they will understand, they can do nothing to improve themselves here.
The parents don't know the state of engineering education today but the students and people who graduated in the recent past very well do. These Parents who push you into such colleges are 25 years behind but neither me/you nor the market. The market prefers the best candidate who is job ready and have good skills and CV and projects. But these colleges doesn't provide any facilitating environment for your development. These college's market is your parents not you.
Parents will do all the guilt tripping, brain washing, emotional blackmail to throw you into this dump yard. And they use the word "Security" but what these colleges do is make you "Unemployable" and give you "Trauma" - literally these teachers will be given all rights to be abusive to students and mgmt will protect them at any cost. But Parents don't understand this reality because of narrow mindedness.
In the end it's you who is going to ruin and suffer not the college or parents. So, don't fall for your parents words. Please be stubborn and rebel.
I graduated from Mepco Schlenk Engineering College recently, so I have experienced this reality already.
If you have no other option and if the college is near your home and can go by bus, only then join. Never ever consider staying in hostel or staying outside in these sh!tty places.