Okay, well... On the face of it, as you have described, IIIT Gwalior does look good. When I joined this college, even I was lured by the A/C Classrooms (I had heard Gwalior weather isn't very pleasant, more on this later) and single-occupancy hostels (rumors are the rooms are being merged into double occupancy ones after repeated suicide incidents, unconfirmed news).

All PHD faculty? I didn't even look at that because it hardly matters. Studies are up to you only, no one can do anything about it. Haven't the JEE preparations proved this to you?Syllabus? Even we have no idea of the current syllabus but you can view the last available copy here - Courses of Study_iiitm.pdf (Courtesy: Sachin Acharya)

Labs? Who said there are 18? I was the unofficial paparazzi of this college for about two years and I know there are 30+ laboratories here. But, as a fact, you won't be using more than 3 in your whole 5 years here.

1. The city matters a lot.

For a couple of months, I loved the place. It was different. Thereafter, I started hating it. December-February cold is horrible. Equally horrible is the summer. I had never imagined living in surroundings that were at a temperature higher than my body temperature.

Its not just the climate that kills, its the lack of basic amenities as well. Just to buy a pen you will have to take an auto to travel 5 km away from the institute.

The people matter too. After all, it will shape an important part of your life.

2. Placements and Faculty statistics are a myth.

Okay, placement data on the IIITM website is not falsified or deceptive. But then, its totally up to you. Although the average placement is 8 LPA, I am sitting here answering your question not even expecting to be placed while some of my batch guys are already placed and stuff (final year not even officially started!).

Faculty - NO COMMENTS. Some are good, some are not so good, some love being praised, some don't. Usual Indian govt. office drama.

Each student is different so throw the statistics out of the window and look at yourself - if you want, you can achieve anything.

Enough said. NIT Durgapur wouldn't be any better by the way. Also, people around would speak less of Hindi and half of the people would be from WB. So, think about it.

Edit: I forgot it’s your home state. Well, then it might be good. You know Durgapur better so take your decision.

When I look back, I could've easily secured admission at Sardar Patel Institute of Technology, Mumbai (best private engineering college in Mumbai, ranked well above all your mentioned choices, placements are similar) based on my AIEEE score and lived a peaceful/lavish life at home.

I got deceived by words like "Indian Institute", "Central Govt", "A/C Classrooms" and worst of all - "Dual Degree - B.Tech + M.Tech"

Even then, let me not be biased. People are getting good jobs here. I cannot deny that. Faculty doesn't matter at all and so don't dare to repeat that line and stop looking at faculties from other colleges - all are equally retarded on an average.

Infrastructure of the institute is great but hostels are not air-conditioned. If you can get your own AC, it'd be amazing.