What if I do not succeed in IIT JEE? (2023)

About 12-13 lakh students fail to get admission in IIT’s every year

IIT-JEE, by all means, is the best and the most prestigious institution imparting professional education in India. It’s no wonder that IIT is the most valued school today because of a powerful legacy it has developed. Standing out as one of the best in — infrastructure, faculty and placement record, IIT’s get valued as a readymade TRP brand, much better than various other top engineering colleges in India. Naturally, to get admission in the elite club of IITians becomes the aspiration for a million students planning a career in engineering! Students from across the nation prepare for the Joint Entrance Examination to get a place in either of these 17 coveted academic institutes. Lesser the supply, higher the price one has to pay, and this applies to IIT’s as there are only about 11,000 seats available for admission every year.

Let me share an enlightening statistic – in the previous two decades, about 20 million students could not make it to IIT! I can bet that majority of these are well placed and happy today. The point to be noted is that the success ratio in IIT JEE is not even 5%. Did you know that Oxford university accepts every one out of the five applicants while these IIT’s allow one out of more than 120 applicants! As such, not getting successful in IIT-JEE is technically a no-failure.

Aspiring to graduate from an IIT, working strategically towards it, shoving every ounce of available hardship into the, almost, 700 days chase up to the JEE is routine to all such students who desire success in this examination. However, not getting selected for admission in IIT, in no way means the student does not deserve a place in one such premium institute. These competitive examinations are more like cricket – it all depends on your show on the ground. There are many students, who performed exemplarily great, all the while during their run-up, but on the day’, their pen slipped! Even Mr Sachin Tendulkar could not score a ton in every game that he played!

As an IIT aspirant, the biggest ever mistake you could make, is to judge yourself by the result of one examination! Yes – that’s a truth, especially in India where the student’s score (read rank) is the only criterion which decides the stature of the institute where he/she may qualify for admission! If we look at the selection process adopted by worlds most renowned colleges like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US or any other top-ranking institution from UK, Australia and other parts of the globe — they follow a subjective assessment criterion while scrutinising candidates for offering admissions. Such a process is adopted because they want to analyse the whole personality and the career fitment of the student and not just assess the eligibility basis a three-hour test!

Be it IIT or any other goal– one should never make the target look larger than life! As for IIT’s, many students are not aware that, ‘not every IITian gets the ‘crème de la crème’ job role, but many do pursue the run of mill careers. As per one report, less than 2% employees of, the most coveted science and research-oriented employer, ISRO are IIT graduates! In the year 2014, student Chitrang Murdia was the ‘JEE Advance’ topper & secured for himself the numero uno IIT seat – Computer Science at IIT Mumbai! However, just within a few months he quit his B Tech programme at IIT Mumbai & went ahead to pursue physics at MIT, US!

Once a man was sitting under a Kalpvriksh – a hypothetical “Wish-Tree”, where all desires come true! It was hot summer, and the man thought – only if it rained, I would have enjoyed getting drenched. To his surprise, it started raining. Then the fellow thought, ‘only if I had a pair of new cloth with me, I could have walked out of this place dry’! The desire came true, and a neatly ironed trouser and a shirt appeared from nowhere! That’s when the man finally thought; I am feeling hungry – only if I could get some sweets to eat. To his dismay, there appeared a plate with idli-dosha!

The man asked the kalpvriksha – why dosha? Why not jalebi? The Kalpvriksha replied – dear human being, “we know you are a sugar patient and excess sweet might be harmful to you!” Friends, sometimes we should learn to accept destiny as the universe knows whats good for us, better than what we know about it for ourselves! Several years ago, Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-founder Infosys & council member of the board of Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai failed in one of the medical college entrance examinations. In the book, “The Secret of Leadership”, Mr Prakash Iyer quips, “Had Kris not failed the medical entrance, he may have been in some little town in Kerala today, prescribing antibiotics for a running nose!”

If you do not pass in the JEE, do not get depressed; if at all you feel so – convert your depression into anger and resolve to become victorious in your next target. Success is all about being able to stand up the tenth time when you are not able to make it on the ninth attempt! It’s always vital to have a fall-back option. In my book, Think Success & Be Successful”, I have dedicated one chapter to the need of having more than one target – both which carry equal esteem! Failures should never be allowed to shatter your self-esteem. Wiser we become when we learn to accept the fact that not every venture we go about would always be fruitful, that not every arrow we shoot would hit the target on the dartboard.

Success or failure is a matter of perception, and the reality is that ‘life moves on’. Setbacks are never meant to live long. Successful are those who forget their past and look forward to achieving bigger goals. Look ahead; many opportunities are eying at you!

Be Successful!

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