Choosing the right institute is one of the biggest decisions for GATE 2027 aspirants, since the exam is held on February 6, 7, 13, 14, 20 and 21, and the scores are used for MTech and PhD admissions at IITs, NITs and IISc. The NIRF engineering ranking is a good starting point, and all ten top institutes on it are government-run. IIT Madras leads the list with a score of 88.72, and NIT Tiruchirappalli is the only non-IIT in the top 10.