Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

About College:

The Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi (IITD), like the other older IITs has become synonymous with excellence. It is often remarked how in India, kids hear more about the IITs when they are growing up, than about their cousins, such is the rush towards reaching this very top. Lakhs of students from all over the country enrol themselves over countless hours of coaching classes in order to secure a seat among these IITs. Within this elite list of institutions, there is a super- elite subgroup known as the original IITs, which is a group of the 7 original ones which are – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kharagpur, Kanpur, Guwahati and Roorkee. 

Securing a seat at the IITs is done through a rigorous selection process involving the JEE (Joint Entrance Examination). This is the largest entrance exam in the country in terms of numbers and possibly amongst the largest in the world. This paper is given by more than 12 lakh people annually. It is a 3- hour exam worth 90 marks constituting 3 segments with equal weightage. Those segments are- Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics. The best of the performers, totalling roughly 2 lakhs of them are further shortlisted for the JEE Advanced which is for selection to the IITs. The JEE Advanced is conducted over 2 rounds on the same day. The morning paper which runs from 9 am till noon is followed by a break and then another 3 hour one. The pattern, however, is not so well understood as the marks pattern is not clearly defined. It keeps changing annually. All this effort means that the acceptance rate is minuscule, standing at around 0.5% for IITD in stark contrast to global luminaries such as MIT, Stanford or UC Berkeley standing at 7.5%, 4.8% and 17.5% respectively. Admissions to the master’s level programmes is via the GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering).

The IIT Delhi was established in the year 1961 with help from the UK. It Was chronologically the fifth one to be established. It covers 320 acres of land right at the heart of South Delhi. There are several courses of study that can be pursued here. The flagship course is the 4- year B. Tech which can be pursued in multiple specializations. In addition, there are M. Tech, M. Sc., MBA and M. Des. programmes that are available here, conducted by various departments. These master’s level programmes are equally prestigious. The graduation courses that can be pursued here include- chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science & engineering, textile technology, engineering physics and production & industrial engineering. The IITD is also host to several interdisciplinary centres, which combine the efforts from different areas to develop something new. Some of the areas where these centres are dedicated for are – Energy Studies, Atmospheric Sciences, Biochemical Engineering, Services Centre, Natural Resources & Environment, Polymer Science & Engineering, Design Development and several others. 

IITD has featured prominently across national as well as international rankings. It is placed 172^nd worldwide in the highly- acclaimed QS World University Rankings. In the same rankings, it also finds itself ranked 17^th among the BRICS nations. India Today has placed IITD as the best engineering college in the country. The Government of India has also certified IITD as one of the Institutes of Eminence (IoE). A lot of this is to do with the alumni of the institute. Some of the luminaries to have passed through the walls of IITD include- Raghuram Rajan, Vinod Khosla, Padamshree Warrior, Binny Bansal, Sachin Bansal, Kiran Bedi, Chetan Bhagat, Vijay Thadani, Arogyaswami Paulraj, Sanjay Suri, Ashish Nanda, Kiran Seth, Manvinder Singh Banga and many others. As can be well deduced, entrepreneurship has been a way of life with several leading companies such as Flipkart, India bulls, Party gaming, Sun Microsystems and NIIT being founded by IITD alumni. 

Beyond the core academics, a lot of activities also take place at IITD both on the co-curricular as well as a fun side. The former is conducted by the departmental societies, and the latter by the clubs. The departmental societies are in – Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Textile Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science Engineering, Physics and Mathematics. There are clubs for – Robotics, Economics, Astronomy, Aeromodelling and Entrepreneurship Development. There is also the Axlr8r club which is for automobile racing. TRYST is also conducted by the institute. It is the largest science, tech and management fest in North India. 

As the IIT Delhi has been associated with excellence for so long, placements have likewise been among the very best in the country. A total of 373 companies participated in the placement process in 2018, which makes it almost 1 company for every two students. Contrary to the usual perception, it is textile engineering that drew the maximum job offers. Some of the top recruiters have been the likes of – Intel, Goldman Sachs, Samsung, EXL, Microsoft and several others. Intel alone made a staggering 32 offers in 2018. The top recruitment profile was core technical followed by IT, finance and analytics. Consulting, startups, teaching & research and public sector were the other major profiles besides miscellaneous ones.