9 of top 10 JEE(A) rankers, 58 of top 100 choose IIT-B, Delhi distant 2nd – Times of India

Nine of the top 10 rankers will pursue their BTech in computer science at IIT-B. Scroll the rank list further and 43 of the top 50 have followed suit and decided to pick the Powai college over any other tech institute.

Of the top 100 JEE(A)-2021 rankholders who have been admitted to the IITs this year, more than 50% or 58 preferred IIT-B over any other. This was followed by Delhi, where 32 of the top 100 have been admitted. Last year, 64 of the top 100 joined IIT-B and 33 IIT Delhi.

A number of factors have been responsible for this: from geography to gastronomy and placement records to what coaching classes tell students.
At the close of round one of IIT admissions on October 31, a look at the options exercised by the top 1,000 students reveals Bombay, Delhi, Roorkee and Madras are the top choices, though Kanpur, Kharagpur and Hyderabad have a sizable representation.

“This year, we saw that 9 of the top 10 rankers chose IIT-B. Most of our streams have attained new peaks. As soon as one branch closed and the next opened, students picked IIT Bombay over the others. This tells us that we are the preferred choice,” said IIT-B director Subhasis Chaudhuri.

Faculty at IIT-B say it is the quality of education, campus ambience, rigour and research that electrify its academic and social life. “Research and teaching at the IITs, especially the first-generation ones, is comparable at the undergraduate level. I feel it is the perception among students that makes them pick one institute over the other,” said JEE chairman at IIT Delhi Parag Singla.

IIT Roorkee opened its computer science stream at rank 32; this college which is celebrating its 175th anniversary has 2 students in the top 250 ranks and both will be awarded the James Thomson Scholarship, which entails a grant of Rs 25,000 per month as stipend.

“This has been a long journey. Our current students have been reaching out to aspirants over social media and telling them more about the vibrant campus life, the canteen, our placement drive and the festivals on campus,” said IIT Roorkee dean (students’ welfare) Mukeshkumar Barua.

Among the rest, Kanpur, Madras and Hyderabad have quite a few takers from the top 500. There are 23 IITs in all with 16,232 seats.

Some IITs have lost sheen over the years though. Once, getting past the gates of IIT Kanpur gave candidates a demi-god status. This year, CS at IIT Kanpur opened at rank 100 to close at 213.

Among younger institutes, rank 191 opted for IIT Hyderabad with CS closing there at 520. At IIT Kharagpur and Guwahati, the preferred choice of CS opened at 207 (closing 285) and rank 439 at Guwahati to close at 593.