A Guide to Admissions in Engineering Colleges in India

By
Ankur Banerjee
 – June 3, 2009Posted in: Colleges, Entrance Exams

Engineering is probably the most ‘in-demand’ line of undergraduate studies for students in India. An engineering degree – and especially those from top-rung colleges – is widely considered in Indian society to be a golden ticket to the ‘good life’. You could all getting into IIT the Indian counterpart to the American Dream. Engineering preparation has become a lucrative sector within the Indian education industry in its own right, with so many coaching institutes, engineering preparation books, pan-India test series’, ‘brain tonics’, Super 30…and probably a fair share of ojhas too. This article is being written in an attempt to provide a short primer to admissions in engineering colleges in India with further resources. This is not a book, it’s a just a humble attempt to filter out all the noise and point you to the best information available. Let’s get started.

Rashmi Bansal

Rashmi Bansal

The VoiceTAP call on How to get into engineering colleges in India was held on 1st June 2009. The expert on this call was Rashmi Bansal – author, blogger, and editor of JAM Magazine – a person whom you can truly consider to be an expert because she has been in this field of reporting on Indian education for around 15 years now. JAM Magazine, BTW, is a periodical targetted towards the youth – you might want to check out their website, especially the section they have on engineering. JAM has also come out with a handbook to engineering admissions with ratings for over 500 colleges (table of contents available here). You should check out that link for a few excerpts from the book; I’m sure you’ll find it pretty interesting. In case you feel like ordering the book online (it’s available in bookstores too), you can order it from Flipkart.

Listen to a recording of VoiceTAP ‘How to get into an engineering college’ call by clicking here

Since the topic to be covered here is vast, it’s been split into sections here. Most of the engineering entrance exams results have been declared by now, so a lot of you would be in a dilemma on which college to join. Go through the podcast above, then read further on.

Brand vs Branch

It’s a question which pops up often – given a choice between a ‘good’ college and a ‘bad’ course, and vice versa, what should you take? Unfortunately there is no clear-cut solution to this issue. This is decision is important because it’s not just about the next 4-5 years of your life, but what you could be working on for the next 40-50 years of your life – in your career. There aren’t many people who get to take their pick among the top IITs / NITs, so it is important to accept that fact and then take informed decisions. The major factors that play a role in influencing a decision are the following, and here’s VoiceTAP‘s take on that (with inputs from Vivek Khandelwal):

  • Area of interest identified: A normal XII pass student generally has no idea about his interests. The glamour in the IT industry tends to make students show inclination towards computer science and electronics. One thing that perhaps students tend to fail to understand is the fact that education in XII standard and education in college are two completely different things. For instance, an interest in computer gaming and Internet cannot be and should not be mistaken for interest in computer science. However if you have identified your area of interest and specialization, then focus only on college with a decent background / history in your area of interest; e.g., UDCT Mumbai is undoubtedly one of the best colleges in India when it comes to chemical engineering even though it’s not an IIT.
  • Area of interest NOT identified: In case you are confused about your area of interest as most students are, go ahead and chose a college on the basis of its brand value. While age of the institution and brand value are directly related, faculty background is something that decided the quality of education. Institutes like LNMIIT Jaipur have faculty from the IITs which would give them a great edge amongst the private engineering colleges. Most of the students applying to these colleges might refer to last year’s placement, which unfortunately was not the best year for the final year students; so instead you should check placement record of the previous years. If the colleges that you’re considering have similar placement records, then you should focus on the location of college. For example, a private college in Bangalore (like M S Ramaiah) would be more worthy of joining than a regional government college in some state.
  • Location, location, location: For many students – especially those from metropolitan cities – choice of college is often dictated by where they can get admission. So you might have offers from colleges in Vellore, Bhubaneshwar, Ranchi, et al – but what happens is that most students from metro cities don’t want to relocate for these colleges and opt for some college close-by instead. If you are a bit more flexible about this then you might be able to get into better colleges.

College Rankings

Ranking tables for colleges generate considerable buzz. We all know IITs are the top so it doesn’t make much sense to try and assign rankings to them. Nevertheless if you’re still interested, this list of Indian universities among top engineering colleges in Asia by Quacquarelli Symonds Limited is probably the most trustworthy. (This particular ranking table is commissioned by Times Higher Education Supplement of UK.)

Beyond these top institutes is where the action hots up with each institute clamouring with me-too rankings from various sources. Here are some of the reputed ones:

Indian Institutes of Technology / Joint Entrance Examination

To a student interested in engineering needs no introduction to the IIT JEE. IITs are considered to be the pinnacle of technical education institutes in India. Admission is done on the basis of rank obtained in IIT JEE. Approximately 4 lakh candidates gave the JEE in 2009, with around 10000 students being declared eligible to apply for around 8300 seats in colleges which accept IIT JEE main list ranks (source: IIT JEE 2009 press release). The thing to note is that IIT JEE releases two ranking lists – the main list and extended merit list. If you didn’t make it through, don’t lose heart because even IIT professors admit that JEE might be flawed.

IIT JEE Main List qualifiers – the 10000 students who get a rank – are eligible to apply in any of the fifteen IITs, IT-BHU (Varanasi), and Indian School of Mines University (Dhanbad). Out of these, the top 4000 ranks have a realistic chance of getting into the ‘original seven’ IITs, while the rest are eligible to apply for the newer IITs (like IIT Gujarat) and other institutes under the main list. Only students from the main list are called for counselling according to the counselling schedule. Those who have qualified will be sent a counselling brochure by post. Read what a candidate who participated in IIT JEE counselling had to say, download IIT JEE 2008 counselling flyer (this is different from a brochure), or download IIT JEE 2007 counselling brochure. These last three links should give you an idea of how exactly the JEE admission counselling procedure is held.

IIT JEE Extended Merit List (EML) qualifiers are in a different boat altogether. EML qualifiers are not eligible to any of the JEE Main List colleges nor are they eligible for central counselling. You need to directly get in touch with the institutes in question. Till last year, about 2000 ranks used to be declared in EML, but in JEE 2009 a whopping 60000 ranks have been declared. The reason for this probably is that not many candidates are interested in joining these colleges, although as Rashmi Bansal pointed out in this particular VoiceTAP call, there is no reason for this to be so. Let’s take a look at the colleges you can apply to under the extended merit list.

  • Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST): Started by ISRO to create talented engineering graduates who can later join its organization, IIST functions out of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram. It offers courses in aerospace engineering, avionics, and integrated masters degree in applied sciences. You don’t have to pay any tuition fees, hostel fees etc all – in fact they will pay you Rs 3000 per semester to study there. This free ride, however, comes with a catch – you need to sign a bond that after the completion of your course, you will work for five consecutive years at ISRO. This is a binding legal agreement that you cannot break. It might sound scary to some, but it actually isn’t. You’re pretty much guaranteed a job in ISRO on graduation with all the perks that come along with a government job. Moreover, the work experience that you get at ISRO is highly valuable in case you decide to shift to a different employer after the completion of your five year bond.
  • Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER): IISERs are institutes being set up by the Indian government to promote study and research in basic sciences at Pune, Kolkata, Mohali, Bhopal, and Thiruvananthapuram. You won’t get a B. Tech. degree, but something like an integrated M. Sc. or a B. Sc. Don’t make it a foregone conclusion that you don’t want to join these – explore your options. One very basic and good advice given on this VoiceTAP call was you need to keep your options open.
  • Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology (Rae Bareli): Students who are interested in mechanical engineering and chemical engineering can explore this option with B. Tech. in petroleum-related fields with particular specializations. Mankind’s thirst for oil is ever increasing with demand for professionals in this field on the rise. Your career prospects are good too, as six oil PSUs of India promote this institute – so your chances of getting a job offer from these companies after graduation is higher.
  • Indian Institute of Maritime Studies: If you’re interested in joining the Merchant Navy or other maritime-related fields then this is the course for you.

Further Reading

All Indian Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE)

AIEEE is a centralized test for admission to engineering institutes administered by CBSE in association with a chosen National Institute of Technology (NIT). Over 10 lakh students give the exam; since AIEEE is not restricted to a small set of institutes in the sense of IITJEE they publish ranks till pretty low figures. A candidate get different break-up of ranks – an All India Rank, a State Rank (which is his rank vis-a-vis candidates within the state he’s appeared for class 12th in), and category rank. 50% of seats in the NITs in a state are reserved under state quota (admitted through state rank), while rest of the seats are filled up on All India Rank basis. (There’s been a change from earlier when system where there state-wise quotas for admission on basis of All India Rank. Now those state quotas – the ones for AIR – have been abolished and it’s purely on basis of AIR.) Those who have high category / state ranks should think of applying to colleges in their own state under these quotas.

This year AIEEE counselling will be held online. Students will have to login to the Central Counselling Board (CCB) website and enter their course / college preferences. There are a few things which should be able to give you a ballpark idea of what cutoff ranks to expect. First is CCB’s institute-wise opening and closing ranks list, but a better tool would be this AIEEE 2009 rank analysis tool – even this will give you college-wise, category-wise, branch-wise opening and closing rank cutoffs for various colleges under AIEEE admission process. You should note that these ranks given here are only for the first round of counselling where such cutoffs can go high. In later rounds of counselling they can go lower – or you can even join a college in a less-in-demand branch and then ‘slide’ to ‘better’ branch as and when vacancies are created.

Online counselling will have multiple rounds. The thing to watch out for here is that if you’re allotted a college in first round of counselling, then you have to drop out of later rounds of counselling. I’ll take an example here. Say you want to do electrical at NIT Trichy, but don’t meet first counselling cutoffs for electrical there – but you do meet cutoff for chemical. Then, while making your choice if you fill in chemical at Trichy in the first form then that’s what you’ll have to take. If on the other hand you abstain from filling in choices in the first form, and instead choose to fill in your option for electrical in second form then you might have a chance of getting electrical itself at Trichy. So this was just an example as to how things happen, but I hope you get an idea that you’ll be walking a tightrope here when making choices. There are so many factors that you need to weigh, and hopefully this article should’ve helped you understand some of those factors clearer.

Further Reading

BITS Pilani / Goa / Hyderabad

BITS Pilani and its branches at Goa and Hyderabad inducts students on the basis of performance in BITSAT. BITS is rated among the top institutes in India and for those who haven’t been able to make it to the IITs / top handful NITs, this a good choice. It’s an excellent choice otherwise too. Combined across all campuses and courses, BITS has around 2000 seats up for grabs. BITS Practice School is an innovative module undertaken by BITS whereby you get industry training.

Further Reading

State Colleges / Private Colleges

It seems odd clubbing these two seemingly different types of colleges into one single category, but for most people the priority order does boil down to this. Of course there are notable exceptions such as DCE / NSIT (in high demand for CS / IT related courses) which are good enough that for students in Delhi it often is top priority. Then there are others such as PEC (popular for its aerospace engineering course), DA-IICT (in-demand in CS) TIET, Jaypee, etc. Then there are private engineering colleges which take in students on the basis of their own entrance test such as VIT, SRM, Manipal etc. Even if you don’t get into the ‘creamy layer’ of colleges you still have a lot of options floating around – and if you’re clear about the course you want to join then probably joining one of these is a better option than joining a much lower ranked college through JEE / AIEEE.

Further Reading

Final Word

At the end of the day YOU as an engineering aspirant need to take the final call. This is your decision, your degree, your choice. If you haven’t made it through in the Big Institutes, then don’t get disheartened because that’s not the end of the world. There are many other exciting opportunities in basic science – or even completely different fields. And if you did get through – congratulations! Now it’s up to you to think out all the factors and make your decision.

Hope this guide helped! To share this link with your friends click the ‘Share+’ button below or just send the short link for this post which is http://tr.im/enggindia. For more expert advice on careers and colleges do check out VoiceTAP.in.

Update: Check out this AIEEE Counselling Guide for more information on AIEEE counselling. There have been some changes this year which you should look out for.

PS: If you have any questions about engineering entrances, please leave them here. We’ll get experts to answer them as soon as possible.

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About the Author

The author of this article, Ankur Banerjee, blogs at Needlessly Messianic.