IISERs are not established for just placement purposes rather the motto is to build the scientific aptitude among students so that they earn more from their skills and knowledge.
The curriculum at IISER has a strong base and you will eventually give up the idea of placements. This is why most students apply for Ph.D. after completing BS-MS from here. Ideally, you cannot compare IIT with IISER in terms of placements as most of the IT companies do not find IISERites to be worthful until they have acquired some skills of their own.
Do not apply here just for the sake of doing engineering as the level of competition is very high at IISER. You will be wasting 5 years if you do not want to pursue higher studies and looking just for placements.
Even if you look for job opportunities after BS-MS, you can take up jobs as biologists, chemists, mathematicians, physicists with a salary of around INR 50,000 per month.
If you wish to get the most out of your college life, you will have to carry on with a very busy lifestyle. There will be classes, loads of lab work, studies, extracurricular activities, going out with friends, for dinner, ordering pizza, playing video games, movies, and a lot more things. You will be independent and decide what is good for you and what is not.
You get a lot of freedom in allotting your time to various activities. The teachers that usually teach you, make the most of the time and are experts for this. The labs are well built. The hostels are equipped with all kinds of amenities. The college has good sports facilities. But in the end, IISER is for those students whose major goal is to do research. For others, it is quite difficult then.
IISc Bangalore is more than 110 years old and it is the first choice of most students for Science, Engineering, and Technology-related courses. Seven IISER were established recently with the goal of providing quality education in pure science. IISERs were established with the expectations that they would reach global standards in the field of basic sciences and offer intensive research like IISc.
IISERs offer courses such as BS-MS, integrated Ph.D., and Ph.D. to students. Although IISERs were established recently, they have good faculties and research facilities. Getting admission at IISc is more challenging compared to IISERs.
I have a few friends from IISER, and according to theM, life at IISER is quite interesting.
You may face problems at the beginning that are quite common and will be a part of your learning curve.
If you're considering pursuing a BS-MS degree, here's what you need to know:
If you're looking to pursue a different career path, there are plenty of opportunities available. Your multidisciplinary education will enable you to adapt and thrive in various fields.
IISERs offer a wide variety of courses, including mandatory core courses in PCMB, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Economics, and more. You'll also have the option to choose a major and minors based on your interests and aptitude.
IISER Kolkata is the best IISER for Physics. It is especially good for Astrophysics. The ongoing research in the area is top-notch. There are labs such as CESSI (Center of Excellence in Space Sciences, India) inside the campus, spearheading research in Astrophysics and Astronomy area.
The faculties are well experienced and put more emphasis on building the fundamental concepts on priority.
For pure science, IISc is the obvious choice among these. It is the best in India, in terms of research interface, faculties, and alumni base.
If you are particularly interested in Physics, you should definitely choose IISc. It has an excellent Physics department. IISc Bangalore, Department of Physics has a Theoretical Cosmology group. The research interest of the group mostly involves early universe cosmology topics. For pure science courses, the preference order for these institutes is - IISc>>IISER>NISER.
No matter where you ask or look, no one’s going to tell you which is better, IISER or NISER because both are equally good for undergraduate studies.
To ensure learning directly about your field of interest and look for the professors working in it, the best way is to look into the research being done at the IISER and NISER. Additionally, talking to the alumni and going through the course structure will result in a more informed decision.
You will not have any students or professors with this IIT-NIT difference mindset because deep down they are well aware that the institutes have the same goals, infrastructure, and opportunities.
Also, I find it quite lame when people compare IISER and NISER claiming the former is at par with IITs while the latter is at the level of NITs just because of the first letter they share.
There are three ways of being admitted to an IISER.
SCB criteria are applicable for only the top 1% of students of each of the boards across India. To simply word it, those who have secured 99 percentile are a part of SCB. If you secure marks that are above the cut-off, you will get INSPIRE scholarship as well.
The top 1% of students from across India and all boards are invited to give the IISER test. After this, a rank list/merit list is prepared about the marks scored in the exam. And the top students are admitted to the six branches of IISERs.
Preparation for the IISER Aptitude test will not ask for anything more than your preparation of Boards. The syllabus includes all that you studied in class 11 and 12 and for exams like JEE (mains and advanced), AIPMT, NEST. You need to keep some pointers in mind while you plan out your strategy of preparation.
Hence, in general study and practice all the subjects- Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Biology and be thorough. It is okay if you did not have either Maths or Biology- don't attempt the questions you are not sure of, that will lead to negative marking. You will need to get more than 35 questions correct out of 60 in order to secure a seat at the institute.