The Joint Entrance Examination Main (JEE Main), conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admission in undergraduate engineering programmes does not have any qualifying marks. The cut-off marks announced by the NTA with the JEE Main result are for screening students who will be allowed to appear for JEE Advanced for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). Therefore, every student who appears for JEE Main, including the ones who have got negative marks in any or all three subjects, is assigned a JEE Main rank. Plus, all students assigned ranks are eligible to participate in the seat allocation process of Joint Seat Allocation Authority, or JoSAA counselling . Screening for admissions is based on the Class 12 qualifying status and the JEE Main rank.
Ranked among the top 10 engineering institutes in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2025 rankings, NIT Tiruchirappalli opened and closed admissions for its BTech CSE programme under the Other Backward Classes – Non Creamy Layer (Persons with Disability) category at a rank of 18.
JEE Mains 2026: How tough is NIT Tiruchirappalli's BTech CSE? Category-wise cut-off trends
This means that a student who has passed Class 12 with the minimum specified marks and who has appeared for JEE Main and secured a rank will be eligible for admissions in the order of their merit, or position on the rank list. This has allowed students with relatively low ranks, such as between two lakh and eight lakh and even below, to secure admission in some of the National Institutes of Technology (NIT). This unique situation is restricted to the NITs where each institute has 50 percent seats reserved for students from the same state in which the NIT is located. This is the home state quota. Here’s a look at the NITs where students with JEE ranks from two lakh to eight lakh and below have secured admissions.
For this analysis, Careers360 has considered only open category seats in the home state quota.
Given below are the ranks at which general category candidates secured admission in NIT Agartala in 2023.
Counselling Course Name | Opening Rank | Closing Rank |
|---|---|---|
Production Engineering | 198832 | 326262 |
Chemistry (5 Years BSc-MSc Dual Degree)) | 250740 | 316556 |
Engineering Physics (5 Years BTech-MTech Dual Degree) | 233128 | 295549 |
Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering | 85416 | 287950 |
Chemical Engineering | 109154 | 280589 |
Civil Engineering | 94302 | 245373 |
Mathematics & Computing (5 Years BSc-MSc Dual Degree)) | 154516 | 242884 |
Physics (5 Years BSc-MSc Dual Degree)) | 45913 | 237897 |
The above table shows that at NIT Agartala, branches like Production Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering (CE) and Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering are not as popular as other branches like Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE), Computer Science Engineering (CSE) or Electrical Engineering(EE).
The dual degree courses like Engineering Physics and Chemistry also are not as popular as the core branches.
NIT Meghalaya has seen allotments to JEE Main ranks below 2 lakh but only for home state quota for three out of five branches, including Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE), ECE and CE.
Counselling Course Name | Opening Rank | Closing Rank |
|---|---|---|
Civil Engineering | 142261 | 257202 |
Electrical and Electronics Engineering | 138346 | 237583 |
Electronics and Communication Engineering | 121773 | 220988 |
CSE and ME are the branches where students under two lakh rank opt for in NIT Meghalaya.
NIT Sikkim admitted students with below two lakhs to all its programmes. In one case, the closing ranking in JoSAA seat allotment dropped to below 10 lakh.
Counselling Course Name | Opening Rank | Closing Rank |
|---|---|---|
Civil Engineering | 527505 | 1005918 |
Mechanical Engineering | 311356 | 817562 |
Electronics and Communication Engineering | 174848 | 713531 |
Electrical and Electronics Engineering | 251666 | 639272 |
Computer Science and Engineering | 78672 | 405836 |
While NIT Sikkim has seen the last seat in Computer Science Engineering, one of the most popular branches, allotted to students with JEE Main ranks around four lakh, other core branches like ME, CE, ECE and EEE have seen allotments to JEE Main ranks below six lakh.
The table below shows that the closing rank was below six lakh to 10 lakh for several courses.
Counselling Course Name | Opening Rank | Closing Rank |
|---|---|---|
Mechanical Engineering | 636017 | 1014892 |
Mathematics and Computing | 834722 | 834722 |
Electronics and Communication Engineering | 589620 | 809789 |
Civil Engineering | 234729 | 678406 |
Electrical Engineering | 560594 | 661107 |
Computer Science and Engineering | 284473 | 516872 |
Seats under the home state quota in NIT Mizoram for all branches including core branches have been allotted to students with JEE Main ranks below 2 lakh. All these courses had their cut-offs dropping to below 2 lakh, even in the first round of JoSAA counselling.
Just one programme admitted at ranks lower than 2 lakh in NIT Puducherry.
Counselling Course Name | Opening Rank | Closing Rank |
|---|---|---|
Civil Engineering | 186956 | 225349 |
The last seat in Civil Engineering at NIT Puducherry in 2023 was allotted to a home state student with a JEE Main rank below 2 lakh. NIT Puducherry is a relatively new NIT compared to NITs in Agartala, Mizoram or Meghalaya.
All branches of NIT Manipur admitted students with rank below two lakh. Core branches like ME and EE had students with ranks above four lakhs too.
Counselling Course Name | Opening Rank | Closing Rank |
|---|---|---|
Electronics and Communication Engineering | 341866 | 749669 |
Mechanical Engineering | 157954 | 667509 |
Electrical Engineering | 101231 | 407152 |
Computer Science and Engineering | 93261 | 364827 |
Civil Engineering | 97608 | 229695 |
On Question asked by student community
There are tough chances to get into Government colleges through JOSAA. However, you can opt for Food Technology or Textile Technology at the
Indian Institute of Handloom Technology, Salem
National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management, Thanjavur.
Contact our team for BTech admission counselling.
You have good chances to get
Indian Institute of Handloom Technology, Varanasi
Indian Institute of Carpet Technology, Bhadohi
While you may get some other colleges as well, however, the changes are fewer.
Rajiv Gandhi National Aviation University, Raebareli.
National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology, Gorakhpur
Your chances of getting admission are very low. Refer to the JEE Main college predictor to see which colleges you can get based on your scores.
In JOSAA , it is not possible to change category at the time of counselling. However, if you opt for state counselling, there might be a chance to change the category for final merit.
MBM Jodhpur admission for Mining closes at 4K-5K JEE Main rank. It is hard to get the desired course and college.
Attempt the 2nd session to improve scores.
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