u/Individual_Travel397

Hi everyone,

I cleared GATE CS 2026 with a score of 541 (General, All India). I am looking to pursue an M.Tech in CS/AI/Data Science fields and have put together a definitive list of 58 choices for CCMT.

My strategy is divided into Tier A (Aspirational), Tier B (Moderate Sweet Spot), and Tier C (Selective Safeties over my current entry-level corporate backup).

I recently made 3 major reordering based on initial reviews and want to verify if they are correct from a ground-reality/placement perspective:

1. NIT Hamirpur CSE (#31) moved above MANIT Bhopal AI/InfoSec.
2. NIT Jalandhar CSE (#32) moved above NIT Hamirpur AI.
3. SVNIT Surat CSE (#27) pushed higher above IIIT Tiruchirappalli.

Here is my full ordered list of 58 choices:

1. NIT Tiruchirappalli — Computer Science & Engineering
2. NIT Warangal — Computer Science & Engineering
3. NIT Calicut — Computer Science & Engineering
4. NIT Karnataka, Surathkal — Computer Science & Engineering
5. IIIT Allahabad — M.Tech IT – AI & Machine Learning
6. NIT Warangal — CS & Information Security
7. NIT Calicut — CSE (Information Security)
8. NIT Karnataka, Surathkal — CSE (Information Security)
9. MNNIT Allahabad — Computer Science & Engineering
10. NIT Karnataka, Surathkal — Computational & Data Science
11. ABV-IIITM Gwalior — Computer Science & Engineering
12. MNIT Jaipur — Computer Science & Engineering
13. VNIT Nagpur — Computer Science & Engineering
14. NIT Rourkela — Information Security
15. ABV-IIITM Gwalior — Information Technology
16. NIT Delhi — Computer Science & Engineering
17. IIIT Allahabad — M.Tech IT – Software Engg & Automation
18. ABV-IIITM Gwalior — Information & Cyber Security
19. NIT Rourkela — Software Engineering
20. NIT Tiruchirappalli — Data Analytics
21. IIIT Lucknow — Computer Science
22. NIT Delhi — AI & Data Science
23. IIIT Allahabad — M.Tech IT – Data Engineering
24. NIT Durgapur — Computer Science & Engineering
25. NIT Durgapur — AI & Data Science
26. ABV-IIITM Gwalior — Autonomous Systems & Machine Intelligence
27. SVNIT Surat — Computer Science & Engineering
28. IIIT Allahabad — M.Tech IT – Robotics & AI
29. NIT Jamshedpur — Computer Science & Engineering
30. SVNIT Surat — Data Science
31. NIT Hamirpur — Computer Science & Engineering
32. NIT Jalandhar — Computer Science & Engineering
33. NIT Hamirpur — CSE (Artificial Intelligence)
34. MANIT Bhopal — Artificial Intelligence
35. MANIT Bhopal — Information Security
36. NIT Jamshedpur — Artificial Intelligence
37. NIT Jamshedpur — Data Science and Engineering
38. NIT Jalandhar — CSE (Information Security)
39. NIT Jalandhar — Artificial Intelligence
40. NIT Jalandhar — Data Science & Engineering
41. IIITDM Jabalpur — AI & Machine Learning
42. IIITDM Jabalpur — Data Science
43. NIT Raipur — Computer Science & Engineering
44. NIT Raipur — AI & Data Science
45. NIT Raipur — Information Technology
46. IIIT Tiruchirappalli — Computer Science & Engineering
47. NIT Patna — Cyber Security
48. NIT Patna — Data Science & Engineering
49. IIITDM Kancheepuram — CSE – Data Science & AI
50. IIIT Pune — Computer Science & Engineering
51. IIIT Kurnool — Computer Science & Engineering
52. NIT Goa — Computer Science & Engineering
53. IIIT Kurnool — AI & Data Science
54. IIIT Bhopal — M.Tech in Artificial Intelligence
55. IIIT Vadodara (GN Campus) — Data Science
56. IIIT Bhopal — M.Tech in Data Science
57. IIIT Kota — CSE – AI & Data Science
58. IIIT Una — CSE – Data Science / Cyber Security

Specific questions I need help with:

• Are there any glaring order mistakes where a significantly worse college/branch is placed above a better one?
• Does IIIT Lucknow at #21 make sense given its placement trajectory versus the choices right below it?
• Are my safeties (51–58) genuinely better options than taking an entry-level IT corporate baseline role?

Any insight on current campus life, placements, or corrections to this order would be highly appreciated. Thanks!