JEE Advanced: IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi first choices for toppers for five years; Roorkee, Guwahati gaining

NEW DELHI: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay has been the top priority of 1,000 top-ranked candidates of Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced for over five years. IIT Delhi has been second by a significant margin.

As per the Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) report 2023, released recently, the top 1,000 candidates have opted for 10 IITs since 2019, with IIT Bombay being their first choice. IIT Delhi is a second pick with 208 toppers securing seats in the institute in 2023 and IIT Kanpur third with 120. While 113 candidates joined IIT Madras, 81 got into IIT Kharagpur this year.

That said, newer IITs and converts like IIT Roorkee seem to be gaining on the established five. While still among the top five picks, the number of toppers opting for IIT Kharagpur, and India’s top-ranked engineering college, IIT Madras, has declined since 2019. Over the same period, the number of those going for IIT Guwahati and the even newer IIT Hyderabad has risen. However, that’s not true for all new-generation institutes. IIT Indore drew 18 toppers in 2019 but has not repeated that feat since.

Admission in the IITs is through two all-India examinations – JEE Main and JEE Advanced. Candidates who qualify the JEE Mains take JEE Advanced, which is primarily for admission in the IITs. JEE Main is conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) and JEE Advanced is conducted by one of the seven zonal IITs.

The JEE Advanced 2023 was conducted by IIT Guwahati on June 4 and the result was declared later that month at jeeadv.ac.in. Seats are allocated to candidates through counselling conducted by the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA).

The Joint Admission Board (JAB) had two chairmen, TG Sitharam, former director, IIT Guwahati, and Parameswar K. Iyer, then officiating director. 2020 saw the lowest number of JEE Advanced toppers actually securing seats in IITs as the COVID-19 pandemic led to online classes.

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JEE Advanced Result: 5 IITs, similar trend

Every year since 2019, the highest number of JEE Advanced toppers has picked IIT Bombay. Over the same period, five IITs have drawn most of the top 1,000 JEE Advanced rank-holders.

Though the number of seats going to toppers has increased over the years for a few IITs, for IIT Bombay, there’s a decline. The number was highest in 2021 when 265 of the top 1,000 JEE Advanced rankers opted for IIT Bombay. The institute saw 246 top rank-holders in 2022 and 245 in 2023. In 2020, just 188 toppers opted for IIT Bombay, which was its lowest.

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IIT Delhi, the second most popular pick among JEE Advanced toppers, got the highest number of top-rank holders for the institute – 210 – in 2022. In 2023, IIT Kanpur saw the highest number of 120 toppers.

However, the craze for IIT Madras has decreased since 2019, which saw 145 JEE Advanced toppers – its highest – opting for the institute. Admissions at IIT Kharagpur have followed a similar trend. In 2019, the institute saw 100 JEE Advanced toppers, which was its highest. Its lowest was in 2020 and the next year, IIT Kharagpur announced a fee-waiver for top 100-rankers joining the institute.

JEE Advanced Toppers: Distribution of top 1,000 rankers across IITs (2019-23)

Newer IITs gaining

Among the newer IITs, the popularity of IIT Indore seems to have declined sharply and that of IIT Hyderabad, founded just the year before in 2008, has risen. IIT Roorkee and IIT (BHU) Varanasi – both much older engineering colleges converted into IITs – show a similar difference with IIT Roorkee growing more popular with top scorers over the past five years.

However, IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Ropar, both founded in 2008, and IIT Indian School of Mines (ISM) Dhanbad, which received the IIT tag in 2016, saw one topper opting for the institute in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively.