IIT-JEE 2009 Counseling

Alright, I am back to the blog. There were loads of reasons due to which I could not reply to the comments or either publish new posts, but those have now been sorted out. IIT-JEE 2009 result came out a couple of days back and the deserving ones made it through to the Common Merit List and the Extended Merit List. A total of 10,035 students have made it to the Merit List who will seek admission for a total of 8295 seats in various IITs. Below is the reply to a few general queries that some of you have posted on the IIT-JEE 2009 posts. This should cover most of the queries that you have regarding the IIT JEE 2009 Counseling.

Q. I have made it to the Extended Merit List (EML), what institute can I expect?

A. EML ie. Extended Merit List is for admission to institutes like IISER, IIST, RGIPT and IIMS. But the admission to the institutes is first offered to Common Merit List students and if seats are left then EML students get a chance to grab a seat in them. IITs have issued tens of thousands of ranks in this list, but please don’t be hopeful of getting anything through it. It is just an indication of good result you can expect in your other entrance exams.

Q. Do I choose branch over college and how do I decide my branch/college preference list?

A. Coming to the topic of choosing branch over college and vice versa, it is always a tough choice to make and a very important one too. A lot of you go hunting for placement packages of various branches in various IITs and fill accordingly but that isn’t a wise thing to do. Nobody predicted 4 years back that Civil Engineers would be in high demand right now and demanding fat pay packages. It is very important to give higher preference to a branch that interests you more. Go through the syllabus of various courses, talk to seniors to get an idea on what to expect coming your way in the next 4 years. It’s no use getting stuck in Computer Science for 4 years if you hate coding programs but love working with electronic circuits, trust me. Pursuing a branch that interests you also helps if you wish to pursue higher studies in the same field. But sometimes if wiser to let the branch go if you get into a more reputable IIT than the one you getting you favorite branch in. The reputation of a IIT can help you in a lot more ways than you can imagine, so strike a balance between your interests and the reputation of IITs. You already have last year’s branch-wise cutoffs for all the IITs, which will give you a rough idea of this year’s closing ranks. And remember, its very important to fill the order of choices intelligently so that you don’t regret later if you wanted a lower choice than the one you got.

Q. I am already studying in XYZ institute, should I leave the college and take anything I get in IIT?

A. To make a choice between you current college and something that you can get in IIT counseling is always a tough choice to make especially when are studying in colleges such as BITS, IIITs etc. The best strategy as I have said earlier in my comments is to wait till the counseling and then after you are allocated a branch, analyze which of the two would be better when you look from a broader perspective. If you get into one of the older IITs with any of the top 5-7 branches then it would be definitely wiser to go in with it but leaving something such as one of the top branches in BITS Pilani is always a gamble. In short, I would give higher priority to a course in IIT rather than continuing in some other college under most circumstances. You do lose out on one year, but a large chunk of the students making it to the IITs every years are droppers.

Q. I have got a rank of 6000 and above in the Common Merit List, should I take anything I get in the IIT counseling?

A. If you have got a lower rank in the Common Merit List, don’t be disappointed. Due to seat increase, you will hopefully get something in the counseling. Though, it would be tough to choose between the newer IITs and reputed institutes such as BITS Pilani, I would suggest go for the latter. Institutes of the reputation of BITS Pilani should not be dropped in favor of the newer IITs if you getting a decent branch. Taking admission in the newer IITs is a bit of gamble but over time they are bound to improve their standards and you ultimately you do get the IIT tag that everyone craves for. Barring a few top institutes like BITS Pilani, IIITs, NIT Trichy, NIT Surathkal, going for the newer IITs is definitely a better choice.

If you have any other queries, do post in the comments and I will try to reply to as many as possible. Best of luck for the IIT JEE 2009 Counseling!