Well, college is the only thing that matters. Once you get into RV, you yourself will find that CS and IS are akin to each other. Both branches go parallely.
Let me make it very clear to you, CS is hyped because it is an older branch when compared to IS. Engineering college in India about 30-40 years ago used to have CS along with other electrical and mechanical branches. IS is a newer branch compared to CS. It has been existing only for a decade or two. This is the reason students prefer to go to CS because they have heard about it more from their parents or elders.
Coming back to RVCE, being a final year student of ISE, I am fairly eligible to list out the similarities and differences between the two branches. Considering the two most important factor the Curriculum and the Placements:
- Curriculum : The two branches have 90% of their courses similar. Every semester from 3rd sem to 7th sem has 5 or 6 subjects (except two semesters where only IS has 7 subjects). Every semester apart from one subject, all other subjects are same for both branches. Sometimes for a same subject there might be few differences in the syllabus. Like, CS has Computer networks part 2 in 6th sem while IS has Computer networks and security. Coming back to the one subject that does not match every sem, it may be possible that the same subject is offered to both branches in different semesters or the other case is that a subject might be a mandatory subject in one branch while an elective in other.