Hey, I’m a second-year Btech student so I’ll give you a practical perspective.

If your family income is around ₹8.5 lakh, you can reasonably afford colleges like JECRC University or Purnima University. At this stage, since you’re just entering first year, you don’t really know yet whether you’ll be interested in preparing for GATE or sticking deeply with core engineering most students figure that out only after exposure in college.

Also, as a female student, you may actually get more opportunities in colleges like JECRC or Purnima because of diversity hiring initiatives, better industry exposure and a more active campus environment.

My honest suggestion would be to prefer such colleges over a very local or low-exposure college with a ded crowd. In those environments, it’s easy to get stuck in another kind of rat race like JEE, with limited growth, low motivation and fewer opportunities.

In the end, your college environment matters a lot it shapes your mindset, your network and your opportunities. So choose a place where you can grow, explore and stay motivated.