M.Tech in IITs – Myths and Facts

M.Tech stands for Master of Technology. In country like ours (which does not have a stellar reputation when it comes to higher studies), M.Tech is not considered as a HOT opportunity when compared to MBA. There are a lot of myths about M.Tech. Specially if you already have a job. There is so much stigma around M.Tech. I would like to share some general myths about M.Tech at IITs and provide corresponding suitable facts:

Myths and Facts about M.Tech in IITs

Myth : M.Techs at IITs are as Good as B.Techs !!

Fact : M.Techs at IITs are as good as B.Techs because:

1. They are taught by the same professors who teaches B.Tech students. In fact some of the senior faculties teach only M.Tech guys.
2. When IITs were formed, their main focus was to produce good engineers as they were very much needed by the newly freed India for its technological advancement. But after so many years, after producing so many world class engineers making India self abundant, IITs are going to the next step. During last 10-15 years IITs have shift there focus from producing mere engineers to masters in their field.
3. In fact even some of the courses done by B.Tech Students and M.Tech students are same and for some of the courses you will attend with the btech guys. So if the quality is good for them, its good for mtechs too.

Myth : After M.Tech, only option left is Teaching.

Fact : People have this perception that after doing an M.Tech, the only thing you can do is teaching. Teaching is last option left after doing M.Tech. (if you have done really bad and have spend 2 years in just passing time). M.Tech students do get placed in Amazon, Adobe, Morgan Stanley, Oracle, Citrix, Cisco, Mircrosoft etc. Some of these companies hire more M.Tech students than B.Tech. Placement in IITs depend very much on your caliber than on anything else. But if you want a relaxed, stable, tension free (also boring, monotonous and easy) life, teaching is always an option.

But there is a catch. There is no separate placement for M.Tech and B.Tech . This means an M.Tech candidate has to compete with B.Tech candidate for placements. But if you have done your course seriously you can still compete with them. A lot of us guys do get better placements than the others!

Myth : M.Tech is all fun for two years.

Fact : Most people think M.tech students don’t have to study much and they can relax for 2 years. This is not entirely true though it could be partially true. Here’s how: Courses in IITs can be divided into roughly two categories:

1. Courses that are really very good but at the same time extremely tough. It is very difficult to get a good grade in such courses but you learn a lot. It is in these type of courses that you get the real advantage of being at IIT.
2. Courses that are very easy but mostly useless. You can easily get a good grade in these courses without much effort but they will hardly do any value addition.

So if you mostly take easy courses in your mtech career, you can end up with a good CGPA without working hard at all. But then your mtech would be a waste and you will struggle to get a good placement. On the other hand, you can take the tough but good courses, you will learn a lot, but believe me, it becomes very hectic. These courses will make you work so hard that GATE studies will look like a piece of cake. But at the end, it will be worth it. Same logic applies to your choice of project. As such how tough or how easy your mtech is will depend on how much hard work you are willing to do. Unfortunately, most people take the useless easy courses, dont work hard at all during mtech and then say doing mtech in IITs was a bad idea.

Overall, M.Tech from IITs is a good option. Competetion is less here as compared to MBA. Also Mtech from IITs is cheap. It will cost about 35K per semester for mtech in IITs. This includes your tution fees, hostel fees, mess dues, etc. But this is very less as compared to IIMs.In this amount you get to live in a quality IIT environment, and get to use all the facilities like labs, sports facilities, internet etc. Plus you get a stipend of Rs. 8000 per month (i think this could increase this year). So that almost covers your fees. Compare this with doing MS in a US university or an MBA.

Hope I have cleared your doubts. If you still have any, ask your queries in comments and you will get a sincere reply !!

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