JEE Advanced 2026: Top 10 IIT Courses Students Are Chasing Beyond CSE
Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) remains one of the top choices of the JEE Advanced candidates. However, some other courses have been widely selected by the candidates in last year's JoSAA counselling, and interestingly, they are not all core engineering branches. Check complete details below.
JEE Advanced 2026: Top 10 IIT Courses Students Are Chasing Beyond CSE
BTech Computer Science Engineering (CSE) course offered by IIT Bombay was the most sought-after course and IIT combination last year, with 28,705 candidates choosing this combo. This accounted for 52.78% of the JEE Advanced qualified candidates selecting this course and IIT combination for admission during the counselling process.
Also, the BTech computer science course offered by IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, IIT Roorkee and IIT Hyderabad has been in the top 5 most sought-after course and IIT combinations.
However, it is interesting to note that core engineering courses like Civil and Mechanical engineering were not among the top choices.
Beyond CSE the most sought-after courses have been Electronics and Communication Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mathematics and Computing, Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Electrical Engineering (Power and Automation) and Aerospace Engineering. These ten courses have been the most in-demand courses beyond CSE last year.
Top 10 Most Sought After IIT Courses Beyond CSE
As per the previous year JEE Advanced report, here are the top 10 courses that received the highest choice count in the JoSAA counselling process:
| Course and IIT | Choice Count |
|---|---|
| Electronics and Communication Engineering at IIT Roorkee | 24,904 |
| Electrical Engineering at IIT Bombay | 24,123 |
| Artificial Intelligence at IIT Hyderabad | 23,632 |
| Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at IIT Roorkee | 22,618 |
| Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering at IIT Kharagpur | 21,889 |
| Mechanical Engineering at IIT Bombay | 21,412 |
| Mathematics and Computing at IIT Delhi | 20,087 |
| Electronics and Electrical Engineering at IIT Guwahati | 18,985 |
| Electrical Engineering (Power and Automation) at IIT Delhi | 17,722 |
| Aerospace Engineering at IIT Bombay | 17,209 |
Some of the core engineering branches like civil, mechanical and chemical have lost their popularity among the candidates at the IITs. Candidates are leaning more towards courses like Data Science & Artificial Intelligence, Aerospace Engineering and Mathematics & Computing. However, core branches like Electrical Engineering, Electronics & Communication Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering are still popular among the students.
The JEE Advanced 2026 aspirants must get familiar with the competition in their desired IIT and course to make an informed decision and prepare for the upcoming exam. JEE Advanced 2026 exam will be held in May 2026, with the official exam date announcement expected next month at jeeadv.ac.in. The top 2.5 lakh candidates of the JEE Main 2026 exam will be eligible for JEE Advanced 2026.
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No. Candidates can only apply for the JEE Advanced exam online on the official website - jeeadv.ac.in. There is no offline for available to apply for the exam. All steps of the application process is online.
The minimum marks required in JEE Mains to qualify for JEE Advanced 2026 will be announced with the JEE Main 2026 final result after session 2 exams. Last year's minimum marks in JEE Mains to qualify for JEE Advanced were:
2025:
- Unreserved (UR): 93.1023262
- Gen-EWS: 80.3830119
- OBC-NCL: 79.4313582
- SC: 61.1526933
- ST: 47.9026465
- UR-PwD: 0.0079349
2024:
- General (UR): 93.2362181
- General (UR) PWD: 0.0018700
- Economically Weaker Section (EWS): 81.3266412
- Other Backward Classes (OBC): 79.6757881
- Scheduled Caste (SC): 60.0923182
- Scheduled Tribe (ST): 46.6975840
2023:
- General (UR): 90.7788642
- OBC-NCL: 73.6114227
- SC: 51.9776027
- ST: 37.2348772
- GEN-EWS: 75.6229025
- General (UR) PWD: 0.0013527
Candidates aiming for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) need to meet these cutoff marks in JEE Mains to be eligible for JEE Advanced 2026.
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The age limit to apply for JEE Advanced 2026 is: