JEE 2026: IIT admissions show major shift toward AI, data science, away from core engineering courses
Anu Parthiban | November 14, 2025 | 08:27 PM IST | 3 mins read
While BTech Computer Science Engineering (CSE) continues to dominate, AI courses at IIT Madras, IIT Roorkee, IIT Guwahati, and IIT Hyderabad are now preferred over core branches.
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Download EBookArtificial Intelligence and Data Science programmes at Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have seen a significant jump in demand this year, marking a clear shift in preference among engineering aspirants. The JIC report shows that JEE Advanced rank holders are moving away from traditional core branches such as electrical, mechanical, and chemical engineering and opting for AI courses instead.
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While Computer Science Engineering (CSE) remains the top pick of rank holders, the growing number of AI admissions across mid-rank holders indicate a changing trend in career paths.
This year, of the total 1,80,422 candidates who appeared in JEE Advanced, 54,378 qualified based on aggregate cut-offs – 20.56% for CRL, 18.50% for Gen-EWS and OBC-NCL, 10.28% for SC/ ST/ PwD, and 5.14% for preparatory candidates. This means, the qualifying cut-off for the Common Rank List (CRL) is more competitive than that of category-wise rank lists.
As the number of qualifiers increased this year, the number of students in CRL also saw a rise in numbers. While 25,778 students were listed in CRL 2024, the number increased to 28,481 in CRL 2025.
AI gains popularity among engineering aspirants
IIT Madras, the number one engineering institute in India, introduced BTech Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics only last year, and it has already gained traction with 19 CRL students enrolling in both 2024 and 2025.
AI and data science courses offered in IIT Roorkee, IIT Guwahati, IIT Mandi, and IIT Bhilai also attracted 69 students from the CRL, up from 46 in 2024. Candidates with ranks between JEE Advanced CRL 564 and 13039 opted for these IITs for pursuing Data Science and AI.
Fifty students with CRL ranks between 461 to 5962 opted for BTech in AI offered at IIT Kharagpur, IIT Hyderabad, and IIT Gandhinagar. IIT Ropar’s BTech AI and Data Engineering was chosen by 30 candidates with ranks between CRL 2558 and 8247. Notably, the course had just seven students in 2024 from CRL, indicating a sharp rise in demand.
IIT Patna in collaboration with IIM Bodh Gaya launched an integrated AI and Data Science - MBA programme, which was preferred by five candidates.
|
AI course/ IIT |
Number of candidates |
JEE Advanced CRL: Opening and closing ranks |
|
412L Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics - IIT Madras |
19 |
CRL 102 to 1140 |
|
411G Artificial Intelligence and Data Engineering - IIT Ropar |
30 |
CRL rank 2558 - 8247 |
|
4181 Data Science and Artificial Intelligence - IIT Roorkee, IIT Guwahati, IIT Mandi, IIT Bhilai |
69 |
CRL rank 564 - 13039 |
|
4185 Artificial Intelligence - IIT Kharagpur, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Gandhinagar |
50 |
CRL - 461 to 5962 |
JEE toppers still choose CSE
Among top rank holders, the preferences remain unchanged. IIT Bombay attracted the highest of 73 of top 100 candidates and 105 of the top 200, followed by IIT Delhi and IIT Madras. For IIT admissions, students will have to qualify JEE Main 2026 and JEE Advanced 2026.
Almost all of these seats went to CSE, indicating how the traditional course still dominated among engineering aspirants. In comparison, electrical engineering appears only from CRL 106 and mechanical engineering was not opted before CRL 490, showing sharp decline of core engineering branches among top performers.
The first AI choice was made by rank 102, followed by candidates between CRL ranks 400 and 1500, well before the first mechanical and chemical engineering. This indicates that AI and data science have now replaced core branches as the preferred alternative for candidates who do not secure CSE at top IITs.
|
Institute Name |
Top 100 |
Top 200 |
Top 500 |
Top 1000 |
Top 2000 |
Top 5000 |
|
IIT Bhubaneswar |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
43 |
|
IIT Bombay |
73 |
105 |
183 |
252 |
414 |
755 |
|
IIT Mandi |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
60 |
|
IIT Delhi |
19 |
44 |
114 |
196 |
303 |
577 |
|
IIT Indore |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
31 |
109 |
|
IIT Kharagpur |
0 |
0 |
47 |
85 |
225 |
517 |
|
IIT Hyderabad |
0 |
0 |
4 |
42 |
111 |
222 |
|
IIT Jodhpur |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
63 |
|
IIT Kanpur |
0 |
12 |
40 |
124 |
184 |
448 |
|
IIT Madras |
6 |
35 |
77 |
152 |
224 |
478 |
|
IIT Gandhinagar |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
17 |
87 |
|
IIT Patna |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
75 |
|
IIT Roorkee |
0 |
0 |
19 |
50 |
178 |
429 |
|
IIT (ISM) Dhanbad |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
90 |
|
IIT Ropar |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
120 |
|
IIT (BHU) Varanasi |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
81 |
258 |
|
IIT Guwahati |
0 |
0 |
0 |
48 |
145 |
305 |
|
IIT Bhilai |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
IIT Goa |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
|
IIT Palakkad |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
IIT Tirupati |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
14 |
|
IIT Jammu |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
|
IIT Dharwad |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Total |
98 |
196 |
484 |
958 |
1,921 |
4,661 |
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