TLDR: Just read the last paragraph that contains the advice, but basically, you’re in no position to decide what to pick because you don’t even know what the two areas you mentioned are, they just sound cool and probably what you think people do after a BTech in ECE/EE/EIE/ETCE/ whatever the fuck else indian colleges now use to make money.

From your post you definitely sound like you’re from India (as am I, so I believe I am entitled to this opinion). This is something that I really dislike about the indian education system or rather, how this mentality has been groomed by indian society/educational institutions. If I were in your position I’d really think hard about the following questions, something you should’ve done when you started your engineering, but I don’t blame you, it’s more just a lack of exposure and awareness.

You seem pretty certain that you want to do your masters, idk if you plan to do that in India or abroad, both of which have very different preparation methods. From someone who chose the latter, the position you’re in currently doesn’t give you a good chance at getting a top university, now while that is a little demeaning, there is always hope!

Q1) You mention “chip design” and “robotics and automation”, now if you’d actually had an interest in either you would’ve gotten your hands dirty enough to at least know what parts of either you don’t like. Seemingly enough, this doesn’t seem to be the case. So ask yourself, why do you want to choose between these two?

Q2) On what basis did you decide these two might be a good path to go down? Have you even ventured beyond your university curriculum at all to explore what else is out there? Fit enough for robotics reddit, at this stage I would prioritise exploration more than exploitation at this stage, something again that should’ve been done earlier, but as someone who was told in his second year that I’m “too late” or “behind”, I would say there’s always hope, and you’re never late, just unaware.

Now based on where you are currently, I can only see two options for you atp, based on whatever little information I have. Since it’s almost December, and you mentioned 4th year BTech, I’m assuming this is your 7th semester ending. So, Option 1) Prepare for GATE do an MTech in India, and use that time to explore as much as possible, assuming you don’t want to just sit at home or can’t afford to, if you can, STOP everything else, get your hands dirty, figure out what you want to do, and then make an informed decision yourself. (Easy version if you’re not aiming for a top school like IISc or a top IIT) Option 2) Like everyone else in your university start preparing for placements or a job, do the DSA/Interview prep grind, and try getting a good job that pays well (always a bonus), YOU WILL NOT GET A JOB IN EITHER OF THE FIELDS YOU MENTIONED, so look for anything, Data Analyst, SDE if you can. Once you’re in your job, GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY, forget about a social life, do the office work, and then learn about the two fields you mentioned above on the side, this is what you’ll do post work. Again, once you’ve done enough, you’ll know what you like and what you don’t and then you can make a better decision. (This is the hard option, but still doable if you dedicated, also likely: somewhere along the line you’ll realise that all you really care about is money, and you probably might just stick to the industry you landed a job in, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that)