VIT and IIST to conduct entrance exam on same day

Updated on: Saturday, November 27, 2010

Engineering aspiring students are caught in a dilemma as the entrance tests of two reputed institutions in the country are being conducted on the same day. Candidates who wish to take the entrance tests to both the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) and the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) are being forced to opt for one of the two institutions because both tests are to be held on April 16, 2011.

"IIST and VIT are both premier institutions. With increasing competition in the Science stream, students who have opted for computer science in classes 11 and 12, will definitely want to take both exams. However, with the dates clashing, they are forced to make a choice. The liberty of choosing which admission test to take or which college to opt for should be left to the candidates. Blocking the opportunity even before they can have a go at it is not fair," said a parent of 16-year-old twins.

He said his son, who was very interested in taking up space science at the IIST had to give up the idea, because he had a better chance of getting admission at VIT as the number of seats in VIT were more than that in IIST.

Many candidates in a similar predicament had sent e-mails to the respective institutions asking if one of them could change the dates, but parents say that both have refused saying that arrangements had already been made.

Admission officer of VIT, James Jebaseelan Samuel, said that their institution had decided on the dates in the first week of September, much before IIST announced the dates of the entrance test to their BTech programmes in aerospace engineering, avionics and physical sciences.

"All preparations for the exam have been made, including the printing of brochures, arrangements for holding the test in schools and colleges in 106 cities. We put up the dates of the test on our website on September 14. We are not in a position to make any changes as of now. We have also made arrangements for the advertisement for the entrance test to come out soon."

IIST had announced the dates of their entrance test around November 1. Online registrations for the test begin on November 8.

VIT and IIST to conduct entrance exam on same day

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