IISc- what’s different from IITs?

When I joined for IISc, I didn’t have a second thought. But nowadays people are really confused about IISc and IITB. So, just thought of sharing some information about IISc.

Pros

1. IISc is the premier research institute in India. So, expect the best faculties here though not everything that glitters is gold.
2. Being research intensive, almost every topic being taught is of latest standard. You won’t see outdated contents anywhere in IISc.
3. Many exams are for testing the knowledge of students. Last day study hardly works. But this is called learning.
4. Though there are not much stats available, placements in IISc CSA dept are the best in India ignoring International placements. But a handful of students do get placed internationally via offcampus.
5. IISc profs would happily recommend you for Ph.D. postions abroad and you can get a well funded Ph.D. position.
6. IISc campus is one of the best if not the best in India.
7. No TA duty and this time can be used for personal skills development
8. More freedom for students, can take individual net connection, bring own bike/car etc.
9. More stress on practicals at the same time less stress on implementation.
10. Most popular on Machine Learning, Theoretical Computer Science, Compilers and Architecture, Databases, Information Retrieval, Game Theory and Programming Languages.

Cons

1. Not much to say compared to any other Indian Universities. 1-2 profs are not IISc standard and you can easily know this while talking to seniors.
2. Being an old Institute politics is there but fortunately CSA dept is pretty clean.
3. CSA dept is not doing research in all CS areas and for areas like Distributed and Cloud Computing students have to go to SERC.