9 IITs Left Out by JEE Toppers — What’s Driving the Trend?

9 IITs Left Out by JEE Toppers — What’s Driving the Trend?

Maniprabha SinghUpdated on 03 Sep 2025, 06:10 PM IST

Every year, lakhs of students appear for JEE Advanced with one dream to get into an IIT. For most, that’s the ultimate goal. But here’s a twist you may not have expected. Even top JEE Advanced rankers with ranks under 2000 are skipping as many as 9 IITs.

This Story also Contains

  1. JEE Advanced Report- What the Numbers Say?
  2. IIT Seats Taken by Top 2000 Rankers
  3. The 9 IITs Left Behind
  4. Why Do Students Prefer the Old IITs?
  5. What Do Students and Parents Look At?
9 IITs Left Out by JEE Toppers — What’s Driving the Trend?
9 IITs Left Out by JEE Toppers — What’s Driving the Trend?

Yes, you read that right. Getting into an IIT is no longer the only dream. Today’s students are becoming more selective. They don’t just want the IIT tag; they want the best course at the best college.

JEE Advanced Report- What the Numbers Say?

According to the JEE Advanced 2025 report, IT Bombay and IIT Delhi secured over 1,300 out of the top 5000 rankers. IIT Bombay itself has 73 students from top 100 students and a total of 755 students out of top 2000. Competing closely, IIT Delhi attracted 577 students. The secret to their success? Global exposure, vibrant campus life, and unbeatable placements.

Besides, a surprising trend is revealed while evaluating that top rankers are saying “no” to new IITs. The list includes IIT Bhubaneswar, IIT Mandi, IIT Jodhpur, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, IIT Bhilai, IIT Goa, IIT Palakkad, IIT Jammu, and IIT Dharwad.

Other IITs like IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, and IIT Kharagpur are also in the race with 478, 448 and 517 students, respectively. These IITs have a legacy of excellence but they attract less students compared to IIT Delhi and Bombay. Alongside, some new IITs are slowly getting visibility because of their focus on innovation, research, and regional influence. Those emerging IITs are listed below

The Emerging IITs:

  • IIT Hyderabad – 222 students

  • IIT Guwahati – 305 students

  • IIT (BHU) Varanasi – 258 students

IIT Seats Taken by Top 2000 Rankers

IIT

Seats Taken

IIT Bombay

414

IIT Delhi

303

IIT Madras

265

IIT Kanpur

234

IIT Kharagpur

225

IIT Roorkee

187

IIT Guwahati

167

IIT Hyderabad

99

Other new IITs

Very few/almost none

Clearly, the top rankers are clustering around a few IITs, while many new ones are left almost empty.

The 9 IITs Left Behind

On closing checking the data, the situation becomes even clearer. Out of the top 5000 rankers, only 200 students chose the nine IITs. Here’s is the number of students opted from top 5000 JEE advanced rank holders.

IIT

Students from Top 5000

IIT Jodhpur

63

IIT Mandi

60

IIT Bhubaneswar

43

IIT Tirupati

14

IIT Jammu

4

IIT Goa

3

IIT Bhilai

2

IIT Dharwad

1

IIT Palakkad

1

This makes one thing clear that reputation still matters a lot. Students are not ready to compromise, even if it means skipping an IIT altogether.

Why Do Students Prefer the Old IITs?

So why are top rankers rushing towards Bombay, Delhi, Madras, and a few others? Here are the main reasons:

  • Peer Pressure: For years, IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi have been the first choices of top JEE rank holders. This year also the trend follows with 73 out of 100 top ranks opting for IIT Bombay.

  • Better Placements: IIT Bombay, Delhi, and Madras have proved their worth by continuously placing elite students to big firms not only in India but abroad too. This excites both students and parents.

  • Experienced Faculty & Labs: The older IITs have strong faculty, advanced labs, and excellent research facilities. This makes them far more appealing than the newer ones.

GNA University B.Tech Admissions 2025

100% Placement Assistance | Avail Merit Scholarships | Highest CTC 43 LPA

UPES B.Tech Admissions 2025

Ranked #42 among Engineering colleges in India by NIRF | Highest Package 1.3 CR , 100% Placements | Last Date to Apply: 31st August | Admissions Closing Soon

What Do Students and Parents Look At?

Today, the IIT tag alone isn’t enough. Students and parents also compare research opportunities, faculty strength, placement records, campus culture and reputation (perception in the industry) to finalise the best suited college.

Articles
|
Next
Certifications By Top Providers
Basic Programming using Python
Via Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
Certificate Program in Machine Learning and AI with Python
Via Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
B.Sc in Programming and Data Science
Via Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Understanding Ethnography
Via Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
Artificial Intelligence
Via Columbia University, New York
An Introduction to Programming through C++
Via Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
Udemy
 1525 courses
Swayam
 817 courses
NPTEL
 773 courses
Coursera
 697 courses
Edx
 608 courses
Explore Top Universities Across Globe

Questions related to JEE Advanced

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to JEE Advanced ?

You can easily download IIT JEE 2025 papers in Hindi. For JEE Main, websites like Careers360 give shift-wise question papers with answers in Hindi. For JEE Advanced, you can get both Paper 1 and 2 in Hindi from the official site jeeadv.ac.in (https://jeeadv.ac.in/)

Hello Alka

For JEE Advance, the best 5 subjects through which you need to calculate your percentage is:

1. Physics
2. Chemistry
3. Mathematics
4. One language (which is English)
5. One other subject of your choice

So you will need to choose PCM + English + a 5th subject to calculate your percentage.

Hope this answer helps! Thank You!!!

Hello!

In JEE Advanced eligibility, the top 5 subjects from your board exam are considered. Usually, they are Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and any two other subjects from the main curriculum. If CMS is your optional subject and IT is an additional subject, the board will still calculate based on the 5 highest marks from your eligible subjects. Additional subjects are considered only if they replace a lower score from another subject. For example, if IT has a higher score than English or CMS, then IT can be counted. However, some boards follow strict rules where only main subjects are counted, so you must verify with your board’s official notification. The 75% criteria means your average percentage in those best 5 subjects must meet the requirement. My advice—list all your subjects, arrange them from highest to lowest marks, and take the top five as per rules.

Hope this clears your doubt!


Getting under AIR 100 in JEE Advanced in 6 months is very tough but possible if you already have strong basics and are scoring high in JEE Main-level tests. You'll need 10–12 hours of focused daily study, advanced problem-solving, and regular mock tests. If you're starting from scratch, it's unlikely, but you can still aim for a good IIT rank with consistent effort.

Hello,

To qualify for the JEE Advanced, you need to score a certain percentile or above. This percentile may change depending on those years competition. Generally you need a percentile of 93-94 to qualify for the JEE Advanced. So, every year only 250,000 candidates from the JEE Mains out of all candidates qualify for the JEE Advanced exam.

I hope it resolves your query!!