Why do students prefer IIT Bombay to IIT Kanpur

Why do students prefer IIT Bombay to IIT Kanpur

News reports every year suggest that IIT Bombay is the place of preference among the brightest young brains of India. Statistics show that out of the top 100 rank holders in JEE Advanced 2014, a total of 58 opted to join IIT Bombay whereas a meager two went on to join IIT Kanpur. Similar was the case in 2013 when IIT Bombay was the preferred choice of 67 of the top 100 rank holders whereas none of them selected IIT Kanpur.

Not long ago (in 2011) IIT Kanpur was awarded the first spot by a survey conducted by India Today stating that this engineering institute was the best option for students considering to pursue technical education.

So, this got us thinking – why students suddenly and increasingly started opting for IIT Bombay instead of Kanpur in recent years. To understand this further, we spoke to few students who are aspiring to join IITs along with others who are pursuing courses at IITs.

Akshay Mathur, a post graduate student at IIT Delhi shared that, “Earlier each IIT had a speciality course like Chemical Engineering at Bombay, CS was good at Kanpur and Electrical at Madras. But over the years, this difference has dissolved”. He further said, “These days most often students run to join institutes by their name and not the branch they wish to pursue”.

So, keeping these points in mind we listed out the reasons behind students opting to join IIT Bombay instead of IIT Kanpur.

Location

IIT Bombay is well-connected to the rest of the country as well as the world as compared to IIT Kanpur which lies in a tier-II city of India. And it is a known fact that living in a metropolitan has perks of its own. Apart from this, the former engineering college also lies in the financial capital of the country which has benefits of its own.

Further Sudhir Sinha, an IIT Bombay alumnus shared, “I chose IIT-B because it has a neutral demography as compared to IIT Madras and Guwahati”.

Safety

Mumbai is definitely a safer city as compared to Kanpur and here we are not just talking about safety for women. And due to this, students at IIT-B are known to have a better out-of-campus life as compared to other IITs. Also, there are lesser restrictions on students at IIT Bombay.

Top rankers

One of the primary reasons students opt to join IIT Bombay is due to the sheep mentality which Shiksha.com advises students to stay away from.

Anil Singh an IIT Delhi student says, “The only reason I wanted to join IIT Bombay was because several of my top ranker friends, whom I looked up to, were going there”. Confirming the same Shikhar an IIT Bombay final year student shares that, “I had a pretty good rank in IIT JEE and could get into any branch in any of the IITs. But since most people in top 100 ranks joined IIT Bombay, I thought I should also join the same as I will get to be among the best of the best. And otherwise too, Mumbai as a city has a pretty good social life and other activities as well”.

Also, at the time of JEE counselling, students often go through statistics which reveal "which branch closed at what rank". This list is often shared by experts so that students can make an informed decision at the time of choice-filling. This list has a huge influence on the choices made by students and so if students find out that most of the toppers chose IIT-B in a previous year then it tends to build an opinion that IIT Bombay is better than the rest of the colleges.

Placements

Located in the financial hub of the country, IIT-B is known to attract good firms for placements. However, IIT brand name sells and students from IIT Kanpur are also known to get placed well.

However, as shared by students IIT Bombay encourages its students to start their own entrepreneurial ventures by giving them an option of deferred placement which is not the case with IIT Kanpur.

Academic Load

Students also reveal that curriculum at IIT Bombay is much more relaxed and flexible when compared to the same offered at other IITs. Apart from this, with the introduction of the ‘Honours’ and ‘Minors’ system, students at IITs can study as much or as little as they desire. Elaborating on the same, IIT Delhi’s Purab says, “IIT-B definitely has a more chilled out atmosphere as they have some or the other extracurricular activity happening”.

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