Nine IITs to Discontinue Branch Change Option for First-Year Students; Check List Here

New Delhi: Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have decided to discontinue the option for first-year students to change their core branches. Traditionally, IIT students were allowed to switch their core disciplines after the first year if they scored a CGPA above 7.50 and accumulated more than 32 credits by the end of their first academic year. The selection process was highly competitive, based on CGPA.

Starting this year, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Dhanbad, IIT Dharwad, IIT Mandi, and IIT Bhubaneswar will no longer allow branch changes. This follows similar decisions by IIT Bombay, IIT Hyderabad, and IIT Jammu, which stopped offering this option in 2023, 2021, and 2018, respectively. Currently, nine of the 23 IITs in India have followed the same practice.

List of IITs Allowing Branch Changes

Reasons for the Change

The primary reason for discontinuing the branch change option is to reduce stress among students. IITs believe that removing this option will alleviate some of the academic pressure that first-year students face, aiming to create a more balanced and less stressful environment. As a result of this change, students must carefully choose their preferred branches during the admission process.

This change is introduced as lakhs of students are evaluating their college options based on their JEE-Main 2024 and JEE-Advanced 2024 ranks. This year, 865 branches of 121 colleges will be filled during JoSAA counselling, with the last date for choice filling being June 18, 2024.

Additionally, several National Institutes of Technology (NITs), including NIT Jaipur, Allahabad, Calicut, Delhi, Hamirpur, Surathkal, Nagaland, Patna, Puducherry, Raipur, Kurukshetra, Rourkela, Tiruchirappalli, Warangal, Surat, and Andhra Pradesh, have also discontinued the branch change option based on first-year performance.

Counselling and Seat Allocation

This year, counselling is being conducted for a total of 59,917 seats, including 17,740 seats in 23 IITs, 24,229 seats in 32 NITs, 8,546 seats in 26 IIITs, and 9,402 seats in 40 GFTIs. Compared to last year, there has been an increase of 355 seats in IITs, 275 seats in NITs, 800 seats in IIITs, and 1,335 seats in GFTIs, making a total increase of 2,765 seats.

Latest Update:

• GATE 2025 Result Date Declared @gate2025.iitr.ac.in; Registration to Commence on August 24
• CSAB 2024 Special Round Counselling Vacant Seats to be Declared on July 29, Round 1 Seat Allotment on August 5

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