BIT Mesra Admission Through GATE: M.Tech CSE, AI and ML, and PhD Routes

Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra is a deemed university under Section 3 of the UGC Act, and its official address is Mesra, Ranchi 835215, Jharkhand. The 2026 PG brochure describes the Mesra main campus as a large green campus with sal forests, and says students admitted at Mesra and at the Patna off-campus must live in the institute hostels.

BIT Mesra is outside CCMT and COAP. You apply online through the "Apply Now" link on its admission notifications page, and every list, round and schedule is posted on bitmesra.ac.in. The brochure warns that no individual intimation is sent.

The 2026 PG brochure is one document for M.Tech., Master of Planning and M.Sc. programmes across the Mesra campus and the Patna and Jaipur off-campuses.

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering offers two M.Tech. programmes at Mesra and one at the Patna off-campus in the Monsoon 2026 brochure:

Programme	Campus	Eligible degrees
M.Tech. Computer Science and Engineering	Mesra and Patna	B.E./B.Tech. in Computer Science, IT, Electronics or Electrical, or equivalent; or MCA or M.Sc. in Computer Science, IT or Electronics with Mathematics at graduate level
M.Tech. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning	Mesra	Same as M.Tech. CSE

The minimum is 55% aggregate in the qualifying degree (50% for SC/ST), with the CGPA converted by your university's formula or, failing that, CGPA divided by the maximum and multiplied by 100.

The brochure names no GATE paper for these programmes. It only says that candidates qualified in GATE 2024, 2025 or 2026 are considered without the screening test. A GATE DA or GATE CS taker with an eligible degree fits that wording, but write to admissions@bitmesra.ac.in before relying on DA.

Other options for a computing graduate: M.Tech. VLSI Design and Embedded System accepts an M.Sc. in Computer Science, and Remote Sensing and GIS accepts any B.E./B.Tech. The M.Sc. in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science at the Jaipur off-campus is a JAM/CUET programme, not a GATE one.

The selection rule for 2026 had two tracks.

• GATE qualified (2024, 2025 or 2026): no screening test. The guidelines for selected candidates say selection was made on merit, based on GATE scores and counselling.
• Non-GATE: an online institute screening test on the GATE syllabus, then counselling or interview. The brochure says 100% weightage goes to the online written test or interview, and final selection uses the test score and academic performance.

The counselling and online test schedule dated 28 April 2026 told all eligible applicants, sponsored candidates included, to be reachable by email and phone from 8:30 am on 11 and 12 May 2026, and said the test and counselling for each programme would be online. You show original documents on screen, including the GATE admit card and score card.

The brochure also invites applications from professionals in industry, R&D organisations and academia for M.Tech. programmes, with flexible teaching modes where applicable. It does not set out a separate merit formula for them.

The first round of the Monsoon 2026 cycle ran on these dates from the brochure:

Step	Date
Online application opens	27 February 2026
Last date to apply	30 April 2026
Counselling schedule notified	7 May 2026
Online test, interview and counselling	11 and 12 May 2026

The application fee was Rs. 1,500 (Rs. 1,000 for SC/ST). One form covers several programmes within a department, but each campus needs its own application, so Mesra and Patna are separate forms.

The brochure's special-round schedule then listed 13 rounds between 1 May and 12 August 2026. The Computer Science and Engineering department's round 1 list, dated 15 May 2026, named provisionally selected candidates for M.Tech. CSE at Mesra and Patna and for M.Tech. CSE (AIML), marking several as GATE qualified; the department kept posting special-round lists until 8 August 2026 for the Patna campus. Selected candidates paid through the ERP portal and then reported on campus, with classes planned from the first week of August 2026.

Final-year students could apply if they would finish their exams by 30 June 2026; proof of the degree with 55% was due by 31 October 2026.

The brochure is careful about money. A GATE entrant with a valid score is considered for a scholarship only if a funding agency approves and releases it. On top of that, up to a 20% fee waiver may go to M.Tech. entrants with a GATE score better than the 90th percentile.

Non-GATE students who hold no other fellowship can get financial assistance of Rs. 6,500 a month for 10 months in the third and fourth semesters, if they clear the first two semesters without a backlog and score a CGPA of at least 8 in each. An M.Tech. Promotion Scheme exists for students whose B.Tech. is from an IIT, an NIT or BIT Mesra, based on B.Tech. percentage.

Reservation follows central norms for programmes not funded by a state government: OBC-NCL 27.5%, SC 15%, ST 7.5% and PwD 5%, with up to 10% EWS seats over and above the intake. The institute also reserves the right not to run a programme if fewer than 30% of its seats find eligible candidates.

PhD admission runs twice a year. The Spring 2027 brochure set these dates:

Step	Date
Online applications	6 October to 19 November 2026
Shortlist for the test	20 November 2026
Written test (in person)	5 December 2026, 10 am to 12 noon
Online interview	7 and 8 December 2026
Result	14 December 2026

You need a relevant master's degree with 60% (CGPA 6.0), or a B.E./B.Tech. with 75% (CGPA 7.5), with 5% relaxation for SC/ST. The written test has a 100-mark aptitude section (50 MCQs in 45 minutes) and a 100-mark subject section (40 MCQs and 4 short answers in 75 minutes), with no negative marking, at Mesra and the Patna, Noida and Jaipur campuses. GATE qualifiers may be exempted from the written test but must attend the interview. However, anyone who wants the Institute Research Scholarship must take the institute's entrance test regardless of NET score.

The G.P. Birla Research Scholarship is Rs. 25,000 a month in the first year, rising to Rs. 31,000 or Rs. 37,000 from the second year on performance. Relevant departments include Computer Science and Engineering (data science, machine learning, NLP, computer vision, cyber security, quantum computing, theoretical computer science), Quantitative Economics and Data Science, and Mathematics.

In 2026 the first PG round opened on 27 February, so keep an eye on the admission notifications page from February 2027. Apply separately for each campus you want, and keep your GATE admit card and score card ready for an online counselling session in May. If your paper is DA, get the eligibility confirmed in writing first.

If you take GATE in Jharkhand, see the Ranchi exam city page. Other institutes in the region with pages here include IIT (ISM) Dhanbad and NIT Jamshedpur.

For preparation, start with the GATE DA 2027 guide or the GATE CSE 2027 guide, then use previous year questions and practice sets.