Each year over 9,000 candidates qualify the toughest entrance examination in the world to gain a seat at the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology but most candidates have little knowledge of what exactly the IITs hold for them. For almost all of them a seat in the IITs is a passport to success.
In all this, the primary reason for getting into the IITs — an engineering degree from the world's best undergraduate institution — is lost. What compounds this issue is the lack of clarity among the candidates as to what next after clearing JEE. Most end up taking up courses at the IITs without a regard for their interests, without the slightest knowledge of what they are going to study for the next four years. In essence, most candidates end up selecting their undergraduate majors based on what the previous year rank holder did or which IIT is closer to their hometown.

Candidates who have cleared IIT-JEE are faced with numerous questions. Questions range from selection of specific IITs and departments to department change and what IIT holds for them in the next four years of their life. Lower ranked students are faced with even more confusing situations such as going for a popular branch at the NITs or BITS, skipping the IITs, and exercising the option of dropping a year. Add to all this the fact that parents are concerned about ragging and the stress levels at IITs.

Source: The Hindu

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