This answer has no marketing spice to it. Information on colleges in India is difficult to obtain unless you experience it yourself.
I would not recommend keeping UPES as your primary option(if not your last option). The admissions process has a couple of stages(DAT/CEED Score & Interview) but even if you don’t have a good portfolio, chances are you would be admitted.
The placements of the first batch is what this college advertises a lot but I wouldn’t recommend keeping that as your prime motivation. It all comes down to your portfolio.
The facilities are decent considering the fee that you pay(almost INR 2,20,000 per semester excluding other random fee and hostel fee).
The recent change in the post of director brings in Dr. Goshal from NID who seems to have a good name with the industry.
It was surprising that a UGC recognized University had planned 4 programs for Master’s in Design(Product, Interaction, Industrial & Transportation). At the day of registration they closed down Interaction and almost closed down Product design since there were just a couple of students who got admitted for that. A little discussion of those students with the administration led to the Product design course being revived. Hooray, and just like that majors in Master’s are made.