JOSAA Counselling: From choosing the best IIT to deciding the right engineering branch; IIT professor answers questions

 Which IIT is better? 

This is the most common question. But one cannot put the institutes in any kind of order. Each institute has its own identity. As a student, if you are willing to join anywhere, you have to pick up that identity by gauging what speciality that institute or the branch has, what opportunities it can provide you and how you can make the most of it. You cannot compare civil engineering at IIT Bombay, mechanical engineering at IIT Bombay and electrical engineering at IIT Dharwad. This will be like comparing apples and oranges. It is about how you develop yourself over the period of four years. As a student, you are going to lift the rank of any institute.

On the choice filling process.

There are two prime points here – which institute and which program you are interested in. But the most important point is your rank. That is the catch here. Everyone wants to join Computer Science Engineering at IIT Bombay. But if your rank is lower in the Advanced result, do not put that option as it is definitely not going to happen. Always look at the opening rank and closing rank from the previous year’s admissions in different branches offered at different institutes. 

There is little change every year, depending on the demand of the institute and the demand for the stream. For example, after Covid-19, there is huge demand in biotechnology and biomedical engineering, which were nor popular branches in India earlier. But they are now becoming highly popular not only among students but also with recruiters as well as researchers wanting to create new drugs. 

With time, there are some branches that would gain importance, while some will lose it a bit. Accordingly, you have to select the institute…

If a particular branch is more important for you, which means you are willing to let go of JoSAA seats, you do have other options such as private colleges or going abroad. But when you are not very sure about which branch you want to study, you should maximise the number of possible programs and institutes you might be getting a seat in based on the opening and closing rank of those from the last few years. Fill all those in choices so that you will definitely get the seat. 

Branch versus college: which one should be given preference?

If you are very determined and focused about the branch, you will probably not give preference to the college. For example, if you are interested in Computer Science (CS) only and if your rank does not permit IIT Bombay, you will look at other IITs. Here you have to be careful in selecting an institute. But there are some students who are surer about the institute than the branch of engineering. There may be students who are determined that they want to study only at IIT Bombay, whichever branch they get. You have to search accordingly based on your ranking…and lock options thoughtfully.

 For those who are neither determined about the branch or the institute, they have to remember that there is a chance of a branch change after the first year of the course. For example, if you have grabbed a seat in a less preferred branch as per your ranking and if you have shown a good performance, you will be given a chance to change it based on available vacancies. This can be your chance of upgrading to your preferred branch as per your first-year result…The focus at the time of admission should be the institute, but be prepared to perform well in the first year. However, this is not a sure chance and is based on several probabilities such as your result and available vacancy.

IITs and NITs — will the JEE Main or Advanced rank be considered? What will be given priority?

For the IITs, the admission will be based only on your score in Advanced. Whereas for the NITs, your JEE Main score will be considered. For example, if your JEE Main rank is better than Advanced, you have more chances to get a preferred branch at NIT. If you have a better score in Advanced, you have more chances to get a preferred branch in the IITs. So, when filing choices, you have to consider this combination too. You have to compare opening and closing ranks or different branches at IITs as well as NITs from the previous year to be able to fill choices accordingly.