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IIT mania

cs19844

Active member
Here is my thought on studying and getting into IIT. Certainly your opinion will differ, please make sure you add them in the comments. Thank you.

Firstly, In order to get into IITs you need to slog for at least two years (that was the case during my time of 1998 I am assuming it is even worse now). Such slogging destroys creativity, be with narrow focus which in turn will make up for great servants not leaders, as a result they will be good at solving problems but not identifying problems. Personally I will not encourage my kid to pursue IIT as it is not great for his overall life who wants to be a better achiever with expertise and common sense.

Secondly, if you take the entire history of IIT, or IITians in other places, there is no single Nobel prize or similar achievements as compared to other students in US universities with every single university has a bunch of Nobel laureates. The reason IITians fail to pull off such achievements is that they are trained to solve mathematical problems, for example, but fail to see the bigger picture on the very field of mathematics. The system is such that it will not be possible even in the future.

Thirdly, Taking into account of some childish performance during the class 12 which lead to tagging him with a IIT brand for rest of his life is totally immature. The people should grow up with the idea that anyone can achieve anything at any point of time and get the sense of what is real achievement. Because of such tagging the IITians are again subjected to immense pressure from others that they got to do better than others thereby giving up entirely on life which contributes to creativity and higher level achievements.
 
Nobel prize is not a good metric here. It is not given for technolgy related results.

IITs are technology institutions and do not offer much in terms of research. So expecting Nobel prize out of this training is silly.

World wide leaders and CEOs in technology companies are disproportionately represented by IIT grads.

So many of the criticisms in post 1 are not valid. Indian universities have to offer better education. Then there will be more options. It is better than criticizing IITs and its grads
 
In my post I have mentioned Nobel-like achievements and exactly Nobel prize. Technology streams do have recognition on those lines of Nobel prize. Except for the few people, largely not noticeable achievements. And also technology streams do have research and it's more than the science streams, in fact technology streams hold highest share of research. The reason I am saying this that the idea of selection itself is flawed, slogging for more than two years with the only motive of excelling in those three exams is not the right way to expect high achievers. I am expecting indigenous product companies and not becoming CEOs of well established companies. I am talking about idea of creation, not about making use of already existing opportunities and excelling in that. Narayana Murthy with Infosys come close although it was not a innovation-based company or a product company.

So many of the criticisms in post 1 are not valid
Please tell me which part is not valid. I have reasonably inferred that high-level achievements was not possible and will not be possible even in the future by IITians.
 
To say that one has to slog a lot to get into IIT is a lot of crap.

If one is above average in 10Th and 12th and clears couple of entrance exams is all that is required.


IIT is just a label. It may make possible to institute of higher learning or research besides get a job thru their

placement cell.

Though one may enjoy initial advantage in job due to IIT label.later on it is ones ability to deliver regards work

that matter.

Most lose focus and those who are not ambitious or career driven can end up as averages later.

No point in dreaming of nobel prize equivalent in IITs. Most are a shade better than those from other colleges.

No sense in putting IIT graduates on high pedestals[ Brahmins have a way of worshiping such boys who are

academically a bit better than others.}

In life who does well does not depend on academic GPAs alone......
 
Here is a little snippet of the achievements of IIT alumnus and Madras University and ISI Calcutta Alumnus

1) Subash Khot IIT Bombay Nevalninna-prize ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevanlinna_Prize ) and Madhu Sudan IIT Delhi
2) Subhash Khot and Manu Prakash (IIT Kanpur) - MacArthur Young Genius Award https://www.collegedekho.com/news/two-iit-graduates-win-macarthur-fellowship-2016-6702/ Karthik Chandran (IIT Roorkee) https://www.thebetterindia.com/35426/kartik-chandran-macarthur-fellowship/ L Mahadevan (IIT Madras) https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2009/09/l-mahadevan-wins-macarthur-genius-grant
3) National Medal of Science and Technology: Rakesh Agarwal (IIT Kanpur) and Jayanth Baliga (IIT Madras) https://www.gktoday.in/current-affa...-and-national-medal-of-technology-innovation/ and Srinivasa Varadan (Madras University B. Sc(Hons) ISI Calcutta - Ph D)
4) Abel Prize Srinivasa Varadan (Madras University ISI Calcutta) Abel Prize http://www.abelprize.no/
5) Major Algorithmic Breakthrough Narendra Karmarkar (IIT Bmbay) Linear Programming and Manindra Agrawal, Neeraj Kayal and Nithin Saksena (IIT Kanpur) Primes in P
 
Here is my thought on studying and getting into IIT. Certainly your opinion will differ, please make sure you add them in the comments. Thank you.

Firstly, In order to get into IITs you need to slog for at least two years (that was the case during my time of 1998 I am assuming it is even worse now). Such slogging destroys creativity, be with narrow focus which in turn will make up for great servants not leaders, as a result they will be good at solving problems but not identifying problems. Personally I will not encourage my kid to pursue IIT as it is not great for his overall life who wants to be a better achiever with expertise and common sense.

Secondly, if you take the entire history of IIT, or IITians in other places, there is no single Nobel prize or similar achievements as compared to other students in US universities with every single university has a bunch of Nobel laureates. The reason IITians fail to pull off such achievements is that they are trained to solve mathematical problems, for example, but fail to see the bigger picture on the very field of mathematics. The system is such that it will not be possible even in the future.

Thirdly, Taking into account of some childish performance during the class 12 which lead to tagging him with a IIT brand for rest of his life is totally immature. The people should grow up with the idea that anyone can achieve anything at any point of time and get the sense of what is real achievement. Because of such tagging the IITians are again subjected to immense pressure from others that they got to do better than others thereby giving up entirely on life which contributes to creativity and higher level achievements.
Dear writer,
It was an interesting note on IIT. I can and also need to answer. Firstly I am one who passed out in from IIT Madras 1975 and also from IIM Calcutta in 1978. The only reason I went to both the places were the low fees structure and Union Govt support for education. Without Union Govt support it is technically impossible to receive any higher education in India, particularly if you are a brahmin. With that the core issue of IIT or IIM or any such national institutional brand stops. To go by media attention and glamour you will get only larger than life image a key problem with most Indians. They fail to take a normal view of life.
IITs are like any Govt department say registrar office where you seek land registration. They never ask you any question on your identity or your purchase detail, except the recommendation of your accompanying broker be it the real estate builder or the document writer at Registrar office. You can even register the Fort St George building in your name as long as you pay the right bribe to the right person. I am saying this to add that most degrees in India are just like that. Even if I hold a document, that Fort St.George is registered in my name, I cannot occupy the CM's chair, as even the security officer at the Fort will not allow me, as he can neither read or write (most probably). A gentle node and a push from a lower level constable alone can do any miracle.
The point I am saying is that we need to remove the concept of linking education or performance to an institutional degree. Any performance in any field like Ilayaraja in music, Modiji in politics, late Karunanidhi in political acumen, has no backing of a degree. It would apply to every degree. By accident some teachers may be good in a reputed institution. It is more by default, than by design.
The best performance comes only through commitment, single-handed focus and devotion which every world class performance demands. It has nothing to do with any degree.
On the positive side, an education at IIT teaches a lot of life skills, confidence, problem solving capacity, leadership qualities but the technical capability is very questionable. That is why you do not get Nobel prize winners in science or technology from IITs but from few unknown universities in the world who provide those atmosphere. Our own world class anthropologist M.N.Srinivas is from one such university. When you read his contribution on social anthropology, no one bothers from where did he come from.
Still IITs have been set a role by one set of people from Govt i.e politicians who want them to perform so that they can get more votes and administrators who want to control and this does not do well for institutions of higher learning. Their long term death is written in this method itself. That is how they killed great institutions like Madras University and the others are waiting in cue for their demise. To day the top university in the world like Peking University in main land China have total autonomy and we can never compete with them in producing ace technocrats. But IITs will ensure that still we produce good managers, but not necessarily specialist scientists or technocrats, which is a different cup of tea. You will have to still buy a Chinese designed and made phone or laptop for the next 10 years at least.
V.Ramachandran
 
Why our IITs are not among the top 100 world class Universities…?

Why all those who graduated at IITs are not successful in life…??

What does actually successful in life means for these graduates…?

Does that means only achieving great wealth..as believed by few...?

I remember Chetan Bhagat, an author of Novels and one of his fiction was also produced as a movie I believe.

He is an IITian.

He studied in IIT and IIM

And he ended up as an author...!!

What we propose initially is different and what we deserve at the end that matters.

If we do a research, there may be lot of Chetan Bhagats...coming out of IITs every year.
 
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To say that one has to slog a lot to get into IIT is a lot of crap.

If one is above average in 10Th and 12th and clears couple of entrance exams is all that is required.


IIT is just a label. It may make possible to institute of higher learning or research besides get a job thru their

placement cell.

Though one may enjoy initial advantage in job due to IIT label.later on it is ones ability to deliver regards work

that matter.

Most lose focus and those who are not ambitious or career driven can end up as averages later.

No point in dreaming of nobel prize equivalent in IITs. Most are a shade better than those from other colleges.

No sense in putting IIT graduates on high pedestals[ Brahmins have a way of worshiping such boys who are

academically a bit better than others.}

In life who does well does not depend on academic GPAs alone......

I write this as a parent of IIT graduate

(To say that one has to slog a lot to get into IIT is a lot of crap)

.Should be highly focused to say the least - .It was his dream to enter IIT triggered by by his cousins entry into IIT 6 years elder to him - My son was called for counselling by Anna University which he refused to attend Had a call from Bits Pilani and had a good rank Rourkee entrance as well - IIT results were the last to be out - I was anxious and worried- one day before the closure of other institutes JEE ranks announced and to my relief , he got into IIT -M. The second choice Indian Institute of Statistics Calcutta he didn't qualify! Thank god it would have been a very difficult to decide ! After B Tech. - they are not interested MS or MTech in I IT - the focus is MBA in IIM or in US with some work experience - Joined Tata Steels Jamshedpur and then on to Columbia University! This much of Focus puts lot of worries and tension on the parents !

My B in L who was in the recruiting board PSU - His opinion - Never go to IIT will not sign a bond and no scope of selecting except a few reserved category who are keen on PSU Offers! So he preferred RECs from where the bulk of them hired . The other university colleges were not in their radar at all..
 
Ashoke Sen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoke_Sen (IIT Kanpur) - Breakthrough prize in Physics https://economictimes.indiatimes.co...-ashoke-sen/articleshow/27612815.cms?from=mdr

Very few people in India would know that we have a Breakthrough Prizewinner living and working in our country: Ashoke Sen of the Harish Chandra Research Institute in Allahabad. Sen, by far India’s best living physicist, works on string theory. Sen might have won a Nobel Prize if string theorists were allowed to. In 1998, when he won the fellowship of the Royal Society, his name was nominated by none other than Stephen Hawking. Yet Sen is not wellknown in India, and winning the $3 million Breakth ..

Read more at:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/27612815.cms?from=mdr&utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
 
I write this as a parent of IIT graduate

(To say that one has to slog a lot to get into IIT is a lot of crap)

.Should be highly focused to say the least - .It was his dream to enter IIT triggered by by his cousins entry into IIT 6 years elder to him - My son was called for counselling by Anna University which he refused to attend Had a call from Bits Pilani and had a good rank Rourkee entrance as well - IIT results were the last to be out - I was anxious and worried- one day before the closure of other institutes JEE ranks announced and to my relief , he got into IIT -M. The second choice Indian Institute of Statistics Calcutta he didn't qualify! Thank god it would have been a very difficult to decide ! After B Tech. - they are not interested MS or MTech in I IT - the focus is MBA in IIM or in US with some work experience - Joined Tata Steels Jamshedpur and then on to Columbia University! This much of Focus puts lot of worries and tension on the parents !

My B in L who was in the recruiting board PSU - His opinion - Never go to IIT will not sign a bond and no scope of selecting except a few reserved category who are keen on PSU Offers! So he preferred RECs from where the bulk of them hired . The other university colleges were not in their radar at all..
I am an IIT product of late sixties.
Those days competition was much less . There were only five IITs.

I was a late bloomer.

After graduating from delhi univ with maths major , I wrote JEE for admission for lateral entry to 2nd yr of BE
.
I got selected in mech engg and joined Indian institute of science which had a three years BE .

Saving one year was an attraction.

Later returned to IIT delhi for PG.

Was a research student for more than a year doing nothing much in particular.

Quit after one year as got a class 1 UPSC job.

To tell you frankly I was ignorant about engg after my degree as I had hardly any aptitude for it.

My mugging capability and good memory helped me to be a distinction student

I never practised as one and drifted away to other fields like marketing, Tech project execution.

Since I became a free bird living in hostels, I painted the town red, learnt to smoke and drink and saw more

than 100 films in bangalore in three years. I had a national scholarship and minimal tuition fees.

This explains my remark that IIT education is all crap.
 
I know .There were only 5 IITs and BHU was admitting students on JEE Ranking - But was not popular with IIT aspirants Roorke had separate entrance exam Which was next to IIT in ranking BITS was popular with high scoring State Board students who could not qualify in these entrance exams.

Students of +1 could take JEE and joined IIT without +2 saving 1 year . My Son joined after +2 but his role model cousin joined after+1 After that batch +2 was basic for JEE .

I am not aware of lateral entry to 2 year in IITs.

When I asked what will you do if you don't get into IIT?

I will join auditors office to do CA and B.Com (Correspondence) simultaneously - was the reply - so focused!
 
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In sixties It was aspiration of every brahmin parent to get his son/daughter admitted to IIT.

The courses in elite IITs was the first step to enable these children to go abroad for a PG degree in some top

institute in US.

Most of thsse later found jobs and not many returned to india.

Those who stayed back joined PSU mostly in bangalore

It was considered prestigious to join BEL,ITI, HMT ,HAL ,Defence reseach labs,NAL.

Those who were with lower grades joined electricity boards .BSES or some tata company.

Some opted for Engg services exam to get into central govt class 1 jobs.

A few who could not get proper placements continued in IITs for PG and research. if they did not go abroad for

further studies.

For most IIT s was a good resting place with research scholarship with hostel accomodation and subsidised

food.Some in course of time ended as lecturers and settled in good flats provided in IIT.
 
Some entered politics to become Chief Ministers

Our neighbor in TVS Nagar Madurai is a carnatic singer(trained initially by TN Seshagopalan ) running a musical school

One is popular columnist and Novelist !
 
Ashoke Sen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoke_Sen (IIT Kanpur) - Breakthrough prize in Physics https://economictimes.indiatimes.co...-ashoke-sen/articleshow/27612815.cms?from=mdr

Very few people in India would know that we have a Breakthrough Prizewinner living and working in our country: Ashoke Sen of the Harish Chandra Research Institute in Allahabad. Sen, by far India’s best living physicist, works on string theory. Sen might have won a Nobel Prize if string theorists were allowed to. In 1998, when he won the fellowship of the Royal Society, his name was nominated by none other than Stephen Hawking. Yet Sen is not wellknown in India, and winning the $3 million Breakth ..

Read more at:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/27612815.cms?from=mdr&utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Its not just Sen. Professors/Scientists from 9 Indian universities have shared the "special" breakthrough prize in fp in the year 2016 for the first observation of GW. Out of those 9 universities, IIT-Gandhinagar is the only IIT in that paper (there are TIFR, IPR, IISER, IUCAA, CMI but by definition, they are not IITs :giggle: ). Ofcourse, not all of them won $3M since it was awarded to all the people who contributed to the discovery of gravitational waves (including my co-advisor). Technically, there are many breakthrough prize awardees in India.

There was a pessimistic mindset among my friends when I was in my 11th/12th, that they wouldn't be able to get in because they didn't start from 10th std (I guess it's still there) and that they have to get settled down with AIEEE ! I never gave it a try, so I don't know. On the brighter side, I got to be with my parents for another 4 years ! But let me say this, most of these competitive exams are ATMs for coaching agencies !
 
The sex ratio in IITs used to be very poor in IITs.

In my days it was less than 10%.

They were pretty intelligent .

They did well in streams like Electronic engg and electricals.

Most ended up finding lifetime mates while studying there.

They could pick and choose because of skewed ratio.

In my batch, some married their class mates.

One who got left behind , married her boss in the job she got placed later.

Due to high academic pressure and lack of other avenues, boys could even date lamp posts in sarees.
 
What many are not aware is that IITs have excellent oppurtunities for research in science and humanities.

In our days, there were large computer main frames [2nd generation] occupying huge halls got as part of aid

from foreign nations who helped set up these IITs.

I remember fondly all the novels that I read sitting in air conditioned comfort in IIT library.. Hemingway,saul

bellow,PG Wodehouse and many more.

I had a research guide who knew I would run away sooner or later would tell me that if apply my mind , I could

do well.I To please him I wrote a paper or two
.
At last UPSC came to my rescue and I landed a job in Rand D organisation of national repute.

I was sorry that my good days came to an end. At the same time it was a class 1 job that I could not refuse.
 
JJ ji ,You are very correct. IIT fellows excel in whatever they do.

Some get carried away and end up breaking laws of this country.

The finance laws are such that when you break one , you end up breaking half a dozen related laws.

Judiciary is slow and it takes years to recover from such muddles.
 
JJ ji ,You are very correct. IIT fellows excel in whatever they do.
Some get carried away and end up breaking laws of this country.
The finance laws are such that when you break one , you end up breaking half a dozen related laws.
Judiciary is slow and it takes years to recover from such muddles.
What happens when 2 with the same name and Brand work in tandem? - exponential - Flipkarts growth and success!
 
At last one thread where people discuss ground level realities rather than copy pasting divisive media reports and nothing much to be gained cycle of caste and its associated prejudices.
 
Thanks Zebra 16. I feel encouraged that someone is reading what I post.

Does anyone know the dress preference of IIT types.?

Those in research level, used to wear tight skin fitting khadi pants , long kurtha beside sporting beard and

moustache [unshaven for months] with jhola bag over the shoulders and smoking cheap,strong charminar

cigarettes In late sixties , one got drawn to leftist ideology and posed as socialist.Drinking kadak chai jumping

IIT wall to shacks at the back of hostels used to be a pastime.All had dreams of changing the world with our

earth shaking contributions {some later went abroad and did commendable work in this direction]

Others mostly got lost in career pursuits in Govt/psu jobs and got married to become typical middle class

types.

One can run into IIT fellows in most unlikely places . My room mates brother in my first job in PSU ended up in

Rajya sabha as MP of CPI[m]. He was from Jadhavpur univ. . He remained a bachelor.

There are quite a few with conviction to be different and contribute to social causes
 
Thanks Zebra 16. I feel encouraged that someone is reading what I post.
Does anyone know the dress preference of IIT types.?
Those in research level, used to wear tight skin fitting khadi pants , long kurtha beside sporting beard and
moustache [unshaven for months] with jhola bag over the shoulders and smoking cheap,strong charminar
cigarettes In late sixties , one got drawn to leftist ideology and posed as socialist.Drinking kadak chai jumping
IIT wall to shacks at the back of hostels used to be a pastime.All had dreams of changing the world with our
earth shaking contributions {some later went abroad and did commendable work in this direction]
Others mostly got lost in career pursuits in Govt/psu jobs and got married to become typical middle class
types.
One can run into IIT fellows in most unlikely places . My room mates brother in my first job in PSU ended up in Rajya sabha as MP of CPI[m]. He was from Jadhavpur univ. . He remained a bachelor.
There are quite a few with conviction to be different and contribute to social causes

This description perfectly fits with JNU as well . Unlike JNU IIT nurtures research and academic excellence unhindered by political and left influences.

In recent past there were attempts to create an adverse political climate in IIT campus
By Periyar Ambedkar Study Circle - (political non academic Circle) - and was banned by the director. I hope their activities will not lower IITs eminence to JNU levels!
 
There are quite a few with conviction to be different and contribute to social causes(#18)

True One took up farming near Kolkata Another tech guru became a spiritual guru!
 
IITs are great educational institutions because they had and have great Teachers. Teachers who taught concepts and not mere processes. Like all other great institutions IITs also have their share of successful students shining in their chosen fields as well as failures who were "also ran" cases.

In the 1960s IITs were largely attractive to the urban middle class parents and their children. The awareness was the key and the wherewithals to finance the education was there. For small town and village folk IITs were distant dreams. Many were just not bothered.

I got selected for admission but did not join because staying in hostel in Madras and doing the course was a big financial burden for my parents and I could get just a National Loan scholarship which gave me just the princely sum of Rs. 60/- per month. While my Dad wanted me to go and join I was adamant not to join. I joined the local college and nothing was lost.

Later in life I have met several pof these IITans and they were good in structured thinking capabilities because they were students of great teachers.

IITs are great because they have great teachers who mould young men and women into great graduates and Post Graduates capable of refined structured and logical thinking for solving problems.
 

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