I don’t know where you are from. It doesn’t matter if you are from one of the IITs or NITs. Common with ECE, the control portion is mathematical cum concept based.
EIE is more popular in India than ECE, but I think EIE offers more opportunities for career growth than ECE.
Reasons:
1. Instrumentation engineers are needed in all industries, as each industry is instrument-based. Instrumentation engineers are exposed to almost as much as EE students.
2. There is less competition for all India exams such as GATE because there are fewer people who take up this course, and fewer colleges that offer this degree.
3. EIE students are eligible to apply for core sector jobs. Civil and chemical (Ex: NHAI) are not available. ECE students don’t get preferred jobs in core areas like electrical or civil. There are also very few core communication companies in India, other than biggies like BSNL and Airtel. These chances are less.
4. EIE students have the option to work in software industries. This is open to all streams.
Drawbacks:
1. As I said, there is less competition for seats in Instrumentation. However, EIE seats in certain core sectors are less than in other core fields.
2. Many diagrams are used in the work. The subject matter is very theoretical. If you don’t understand something, your grades could be affected.
My story:
I am currently pursuing my bachelor’s degree in EIE at a private college in Kolkata.
My admission was denied because of my rank. If I achieve a minimum of 8.5 GPA, I will be able to transfer to ECE from EIE.
Although I worked hard, I only got 8.96 and 9.00 in my first and second semesters respectively. But wait! I did not choose ECE.
This is because I realized that this stream has a lot more potential than ECE in the past year. EIE offered more opportunities than ECE. If communication studies are not your passion and a job is what you desire, then EIE might be the right choice for you.
Better yet, be prepared and ready to sit for the GATE!
We hope this helps. Cheers.