This mainly depends on the student and where he or she is from. As the location is the major factor. Both the colleges are more or less the same, choose the one that fulfills your requirements. Bhopal might not be a very fancy place like Chandigarh. But this shouldn't influence your choice. IISER Mohali is known for its biology department while IISER Bhopal has an extremely good chemistry department.  Their labs are well maintained and have every facility required by the students. Hostel rooms at IISER Bhopal are a bit small as it was built for one person per room but later the intake became 2 students per room. Hostels are Co-ed in IISER Mohali with bigger rooms and balconies. IISER Bhopal has separate hostels for boys and girls. There are around 16 clubs in IISER Mohali, fewer than IISER Bhopal. Both the colleges are more or less similar when considering academics and infrastructure. Therefore choosing any of them will be good for your career.

Both IISER Pune and IISER Mohali offer good academics and placement opportunities to students. In terms of facilities, both institutes are on an equal footing now. The research output of IISER Mohali is catching up. In terms of coursework, electives at both institutes are slightly different. You can check out the course structure and faculty profile from the official websites. Before joining, you should also get to know about the culture of the places. You can talk to the current students from both institutes. Do your research about both institutes and choose according to your convenience.

It is quite unlikely that you will get IISER Pune or Mohali. Even if you got all the answers correct, it’s only half of the total marks. According to the cutoff trends of recent years, it won’t be enough. You may have a chance of getting admission if you are from some reserved category. 

Life at IISER Mohali is busy and unpredictable. It will feel like one moment you are attending your first lecture and the next moment you are getting ready for your midterm. The campus is vibrant. The student crowd is talented and competitive. You will get to learn a lot from them. The labs are the best part. You will get to work individually as budding researchers. Despite the difficult academics and hectic schedule, you will learn to enjoy your stay at the campus. 

One of my friends secured 105 marks in the IISER aptitude test a few years back. He got IISER Bhopal in the first round and IISER Kolkata in the second round. IISER Kolkata was his first preference. You should expect to get IISER Kolkata with a score of above 100. However, the cutoff differs each year, depending on various factors. 

Life at IISER Mohali is quite good. It will teach you how to manage life. You will get to meet many people that you will become good friends with. Memories of your life on campus will stay with you forever. Other than great academics, the institute will teach you how to take care of things on your own. 

One of my friends took the entrance test for integrated Ph.D. program in Physics at IISER Mohali. His experience throughout the entire process is discussed below in brief.  The selection process includes a written test followed by an interview. The written test takes around 60-90 mins. Students who clear the test are shortlisted for the interview.  The question asked in the test are objective type. The difficulty level is moderate. If you have a thorough understanding of your undergraduate subjects, you can easily solve the paper in time. You will need to wait for a couple of hours for the result to be displayed.  The interview will last for about 20-40 mins. The interview panel usually consists of four faculty members. They usually ask basic questions to test your fundamental knowledge of the subject. If you don’t know the answer to a particular question, it is better if you say it clearly, rather than guessing. 

IISER Mohali isn’t the worst campus as compared to IISER Kolkata or IISER Pune. The campus is clean and well-maintained. The brick line architecture looks great all the time. The Mohali campus is a biodiversity hotspot. There are 119 different species of birds including peacocks. There is a fenced area which is known as the Ecopark. It is an untouched ecosystem and is entirely wild. 

IISER Mohali offers INSPIRE scholarship to students of BSc, BSC (Hons), Int. MSc, or BS courses for some particular subjects. In IISER, you will not have to arrange for an endorsement certificate. The administration will take care of all the formalities. The academic office will assist you through the entire process.