Here are some of the facts that differentiate NITIE and IIMs. 

Course: 

• NITIE: The course curriculum is more focused on Operations, Supply Chain Management, Strategy, Consulting, Data Analytics, and Organization Behaviour.
• IIM: The course curriculum focuses on General Management. Few IIMs are famous for their particular Domains, for instance, IIM C is famous for Finance while IIM L is famous for Marketing.

Facilities: The facilities in NITIE are old IIMs are almost the same. Both NITIE and old IIMS are almost 50+ years old and are run by the MHRD.

Academics: The academic pressure is less at NITIE as compared to old IIMs except for a few courses.

Following are the placement statistics of NITIE and a few old IIMs.

The job profiles that are offered at different campuses often differ on the specialty of the institute. NITIE receives some of the best profiles in Operations, SCM, and Consultancy.

For admission, the profile of the student plays a major role in the final selection. Campuses often look for specific profiles to fit in and it varies across different campuses. The CAT cutoff is more or less the same in the range of 98+% for NITIE and old IIMs.

There are two main things to consider when you are preparing for GD.

First is your basic knowledge. NITIE's GD subjects are usually related to current events given in a broad sense, such as freedom of speech. It will help you getting brownie points. Make sure to keep up with current affairs. Read newspapers and be quite forthcoming about the news. Stay informed about government policies by reading about them.

Secondly, your self-assurance and body language. Be confident in your statements, don't be nervous, and don't stare at the panel. Participate in mock GDs, read newspapers aloud, and try to converse in English with friends to strengthen your skills.

Make sure you have complete control of your CV for PI. The interview is nothing more than a conversation between you and the interviewer that is driven by you. It usually focuses on what you've accomplished in your life, whether it's school, graduation, or professional experience. 

Prepare some fundamental human resources questions and be transparent about your thought process. In the interview, be straightforward and don't mix words. Be confident and assertive.

NITIE Mumbai offers a total of five postgraduate programs of which Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Management (PGDIM) and Post Graduate Diploma in Sustainability Management (PGDSM) are two of the management programs which accept CAT scores for admission.

The cutoffs for the two courses change every year depending on the pool of candidates applying to the program. Also, the overall performance of the candidates and sectional cutoffs play a huge part in the process. 

But according to previous year trends, a CAT score of around 96percentile is needed for the PGDIM course while a percentile of 95 is needed for the PGDSM course.

Yes, NITIE Mumbai considers past academic records including 10th, 12th, and graduation marks for admission through GATE score. 

The weightage of the various components during final admission through GATE at NITIE Mumbai is given below –

The scores are weighted against a score as mentioned. For example in class X you scored 100% it will give you 5 marks. If you score 80% it will give you 4 marks. In that same fashion, you will get normalized scores for your 10th,12th, and graduation.

The cumulative score of a candidate in all these parameters will decide whether he/she will get admission to the program or not.

NITIE offers 5 postgraduate diploma courses. Admission to each course follows a specific selection process. My brother is a student at the institute so I can give you some insight regarding this.

In NITIE, only people from Engineering backgrounds are allowed to take admission. The following are the criteria for the same.

• Minimum 60% marks in 10th, 12th, and graduation for the general category (55% for backward castes).
• CAT percentile for PGDIM, PGDISEM: 97.5 for General category (drastically lower for backward castes).
• GATE cut-off for PGDIE, PGDMM and PGDPM – Varies from branch to branch.
• Work Experience – Students in their final year can also apply. If you have more than 5 years of work experience then choose executive courses like the one offered at Great Lakes or ISB.
• After these qualifying scores, you get a shortlist for the GD/ PI process.
• Weightage to your 10th, 12th, graduation scores, work experience, performance in GD/ PI to generate a final score.

The merit lists are created based on the final score. You will be selected if you are on the list.

There is no such thing as “common topics” for GD. The GD topics are given by the evaluators or moderators based on the activity they were involved in or what is their preferred area of expertise. So it can be from any topic and any area they deem good. Thus it is completely a personal choice and you can never accurately predict this.

So do not try to narrow down some topics beforehand as it is literally a waste of time and energy. 

• The more intelligent approach would be to keep track of major events from the past 4-6 months through the news. 
• It is often seen that the topics which are trending in recent news are often GD topics. 
• Thus you should be up to date with the latest happenings around the world.
• Alternatively, you can join a coaching institute like TIME and get some mock GDs to get acquainted with the process. 

One of my friends during his time got the topic of “Is India discouraging women from getting education and jobs?” This went on for close to 20 minutes and there were three panelists in the room. Lastly, I would suggest that you focus on learning about recent events.

Since NITIE is a mecca of Supply Chain management, more options are there for operations and supply chain profiles. Few operations and marketing profiles are offered to freshers only who have no prior work experience.

As a matter of fact, if you look at the profiling of any batch, more than 60% of students are placed in supply chain management. There are not many companies that come to NITIE with dedicated finance and marketing profiles and the students interested in marketing and operation profiles get into FMCGs which offer profiles somewhat related to marketing.

Last year various banking firms came with finance profiles and offered good packages to freshers as well as experienced.

Both PGDIE and PGDIM are very good courses for a mechanical engineer, but the syllabus for both these courses is different. 

PGDIE

1. It is a flagship course of NITIE which is more focused on industrial engineering. To get admission to this course, you have to clear the GATE exam.
2. As a fresher, you can make up with most of the students in your branch but you might not be able to contribute as much as the students who have significant experience, especially in class discussions and group activities. 
3. But there won't be many problems during placements as there are many companies who are looking for fresh candidates to join their team, especially in the FMCG sector. 

PGDIM

1. It is a management course that is equivalent to an MBA course, and to get admission in this course, you have to clear the CAT exam.
2. As a fresher, if you take admission in this course, you would probably be in the minority as most of the students would have some kind of work experience. 
3. There will be certain projects which would need some kind of experience and here your other batch mates can be a step ahead of you. 
4. You will have to do a lot of reading and communicating with all your batch mates, professors to learn how a business works. 

Both the courses are very different from each other and now it depends on you in which field you are interested in. If you want to pursue a management course then go for PGDIM or if you want to be in the field of engineering, then you can choose PGDIE.