Engineering aspirants not so interested in IITs anymore? Here's why
What's the story
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) has long been a reputed institution among young aspirants (and their parents, too). Out of India's top 10 engineering colleges, 8 are IITs.
However, lately, it seems there has been a shift in the attitudes of engineering aspirants, who are choosing to go for other colleges for undergrad, despite having qualified JEE Mains.
Here are more details.
Details
Only 70% Mains-qualified candidates registered for JEE Advanced till now
This year, out of the 2.45L students who qualified JEE Mains, only 1.73L have registered for JEE Advanced (excluding figures from cyclone-hit Odisha, where registration is open till May 14).
Back in 2018, around 2.31L students cleared JEE Mains, but only 1.65L registered for the JEE Advanced examination, that is 71.4%.
So, why are so many aspirants opting out of the exams?
Information
JEE Advanced exams to be conducted on May 27
The JEE Advanced examinations are scheduled to be held on May 27, 2019. The three-hour-long exam will be computer-based and will be held in two shifts: one from 9 am to 12 pm, and the second one from 2 pm to 5 pm.
Accessibility
Students prefer metro NITs over non-metro IITs, says ex-IIT director
Former IIT Kanpur director and IIIT-M head, Sanjay Govind Dhande, thinks students would choose a "metro-based National Institute of Technology (NIT) than a non-metro based IIT," The Indian Express reports.
Dhande says that lots of students do internships during breaks. Hence, non-metro IITs aren't preferred.
Additionally, selecting a college based on Mains score saves them the time and effort of going through JEE Advanced.
Choices
Students don't want to do a basic BTech degree anymore
According to Dhande, students today choose more "liberal and creativity-based fields" over a basic BTech degree. However, they appear for JEE Mains to "be on the safer side," as it opens several doors.
Incidentally, Dhruva Arora, who secured all-India rank three in JEE Mains 2019, is considering Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore over an IIT as he wants to pursue theoretical physics.
Reservation
Another observation: NITs have state quotas, while IITs don't
Jagadeesh Kumar, Dean academic courses at IIT Madras, told The Indian Express that students prefer NITs over IITs as the former offers state quotas, while the latter doesn't.
So, JEE Mains-qualified students could apply for their preferred course at an NIT through a state quota.
However, at IITs, they would have to clear JEE Advanced, and also risk not getting their preferred course.
Future
Issues pertaining to non-metro IITs will fade over time: Kumar
However, Kumar believes that issues pertaining to non-metro IITs will fade over time.
"Old IITs also started the same way as new IITs. It's a wrong perception that new IITs have a lesser preference. When I joined IIT Madras in 1972, there was nothing much around the institute. These issues related to logistics and parental concerns will eventually fade off with time," Kumar said.
Cut-off
Here are details about this year's JEE Advanced cut-offs
This year, the cut-off for JEE Advanced was 89.754 NTA score for the unreserved category and 78.217 and 74.316 for EWS and OBC student categories, respectively.
To be eligible for JEE Advanced, students from SC category would need a score of 74.316 in JEE Mains, and ST category students would need a 54.012 score.
PwD category students need a score of 0.113.