JEE toppers home in on IIT-B

Updated on: Thursday, June 23, 2011

When JEE-2011 topper Prudhvitej Immadi of Andhra Pradesh chose IIT-Bombay, it appeared to be just another bit of JEE season news. But Immadi’s choice is also that of 70 others in the JEE top 100. Is there a story there? Till about a decade ago, IIT-Kanpur was the preferred destination of the JEE top 100, indeed of most engineering aspirants in the country. But the choice kept shifting since then in favour of IIT-Bombay. Data released by the institute shows a clear trend from 2005, when 52 in the top 100 chose it. Except in 2006 and 2007, when this figure reduced by six and two, the number has only increased. In the same period – 2005 to 11 – IIT-Kanpur’s share of the JEE top 100 reduced from 17 to four. The balance has been favouring IIT-Delhi, whose fortunes have fluctuated between 16 and 29, IIT-Madras (2-10), and IIT-Kharagpur (0-3).

A number of factors have worked in favour of Mumbai, including location, food, placement record and the influence of coaching classes. “Of course, a student feels IIT-Bombay is an academically good place to be at, but he or she also feels that they can grow as a person here,” said IIT-Bombay JEE chairman Avijit Chatterjee. Incidentally, eight of the top 10 rankers have opted for the institute.

Former JEE chairman Amiya Pani said the institute’s decision to introduce minors in all programmes has made more students opt for it. In 2008, the institute ushered in academic reforms and let students pick a minor course along with the core subject of specialisation. Pani said that this also had most streams getting students from higher ranks compared to previous years. The trend in the institute choices of the JEE top 100 has the surprising aspect of none choosing IIT-Kharagpur from 2005 except in that year (three) and 2007 (one). Twenty years ago, the institute, the oldest IIT, was the mecca of engineering education in the country. “While Bombay and Delhi were still building themselves, Kharagpur’s students occupied top positions in big companies. Students looked at Kharagpur’s illustrious alumni and rushed there. Now this has changed,” said a former JEE chairman. There was also a time when up to 30 of the JEE top 100 chose IIT-Madras, but food became an issue for the students. “(They) have often said that (the institute) does not have the kind of food that (the ones in Mumbai and Delhi have). But all our students are good, whether they are in the top 100 or in the ranks below,” IIT-Madras director MS Ananth had once said.

If old favourites Kanpur, Kharagpur and Madras have slid on the preference list of the top 100, the newer IITs in Roorkee and Guwahati do not even figure there. Senior faculty members of IIT-Guwahati said this was because of a low representation of students from the north-east. “Assam (capital Guwahati) is far away from most big cities. The metro IITs have become more attractive despite IIT-Guwahati’s very good placement record,” said a faculty member.

A MATTER OF DISCIPLINE

Of the JEE top five, three have opted for electrical engineering, including the topper. Like last year, the discipline has been chosen by many in the top 100, but has been overtaken by computer science as far as the choice of majority of the candidates is concerned. As many as 3, 352 want computer science in IIT-Bombay, 1, 393 electrical engineering in IIT-Bombay and 964 computer science in IIT-Delhi. Other disciplines of choice are mechanical engineering (784 applicants for IIT-Bombay) and aerospace engineering (415 applicants for IIT-Bombay).

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