Hi,

I hope you are doing well!

Your JEE rank can only determine the college in which you are going to, which can be an IIT or an NIT or any other college. But yes, the college you are in plays a major role during the placements. Some of the things which matter a lot during placements are:

1. Your branch of engineering: Currently, CSE and IT are the best branch considering the placements. But, it is not that other branches are not having good placements, they are too having good placements but what is essential that you should go with the branch you would like to be in, not on the placement basis. If you are good in your branch, you are going to be placed.
2. CGPA: Yeah!!! It matters during the placements as it is the sole representative of your performance during your 4 years of college life. Many companies usually put a criteria for minimum CGPA required in order to sit for placements. Although the mass companies like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, IBM, Accenture, Cognizant etc. prefer lower CGPA students but there package is low considering the location of their job which is generally a city.
3. Class 10th and 12th marks: In some of the placements, they also matters. Some of the companies also put a criteria for the minimum class 10th and 12th marks in order to sit for placements.
4. Extra-curricular activities: Most of the companies now-a-days are looking extra curricular activities they are involved in whether it is sports, dance, singing, debate, writing etc. but still, they are a secondary requirement.
5. Technical knowledge of the core subjects: During interview, core subject knowledge, mostly basics and some knowledge regarding current industrial trends are required.
6. Training: Industrial training or internship is required in order to get a job offer from the company. I remember one of my friend straight forward told by the interviewer how you could be selected if you had not undergone any training.
7. Speaking skills: After getting shortlisted for the Interview or Group Discussion(GD) or PPT, Speaking skills play a major role between you and the job. Suppose you know all the stuffs they are asking but not able to tell it to them in a proper way, what will happen, they will simply consider some other student who might be having same knowledge as you or even lesser but was able to say it in front of them.
8. HR Questions: This is the last hurdle between you and the job. In the HR round, what I felt let yourself free to questions asked and tell them what is coming to your mind.