MUMBAI: The JEE final rank may determine the stream a student gets while entering an IIT, but it’s the youngsters themselves that are increasingly deciding what they will graduate as. The trend of freshmen switching branches as they advance into their sophomore year is catching up fast at the elite tech institutes.

At IIT-Bombay , the number of students who changed streams midway through their course doubled from 32 in 2010 to 68 in 2013. The trend is prevalent across all IITs. At IIT-Kanpur, the migration rose from about 10 in 2012 to close to 40 in 2013. The competition to move to popular branches is no less fierce than the preparation that 18-year-olds put in to enter the hallowed portals of the tech institutes.

“Many students do try this option to get a branch of their choice. Last year, more than 140 students applied to change their branch, with 68 being successful,” Narayan Rangaraj, dean, academic programmes (IIT-B), said. “There definitely is a positive motivation to do well in their academics and also the satisfaction of achieving a technical branch of their interest that is not purely determined by their JEE performance. It is a popular initiative,” he added.

At IIT-Madras , the move takes place immediately after the first semester.

Dean, academics, K Ramamurthy said, “We allow 10% of the total class strength to change branches. And many do so too.”

In the current system, because the entry is so competitive, there is a linear ranking of students based on their performance in the advanced JEE. Institutes and branches within those institutes are allotted based on the scores. Despite the norms, there are vacancies due to some students leaving. “To make use of this capacity and to allow students to find a better match to their interests, we allow them to change branches in a limited manner based on their performance in the first year,” Rangaraj said.

IIT-Kanpur goes a step further and allows candidates to shift at the end of the first and second years. Not only does the institute allow students to also pursue a minor (pick 3 to 4 courses in another stream), it also has a scheme of a second major under which 10 courses for another stream can be chosen. At IIT-Kanpur, computer science, mechanical and electrical engineering, economics and math are the most popular branches that freshmen shift to.

“We have noticed that many students take up a stream due to family and peer pressure, but after they join they realize where their interests lay. All the schemes we have allow a perfect marriage between the student and the stream where his/her heart is. We are liberal because we see our undergraduate programme as the one that should broaden the mind,” IIT-Kanpur dean (academic affairs) Dheeraj Sanghi said.