JoSAA Counseling 2025: How to Fill College Preferences? Step-by-Step Guide

JoSAA Counseling 2025 to begin from June 19

Hello students! The process of JoSAA Counseling 2025 is going to start from June 19, and you will be given time till June 28 to fill college preferences. This time is extremely important because it will decide where you have to study in the coming years, in which branch and in which direction your career will go.

Many students are confused about how to choose from so many colleges and branches, which one to put on top and which one to put below? In today’s guide, we will tell you a systematic and logical way to decide your Preference Order.

Institutions Participating in Counselling

This year, a total of 116 institutions will have admission options in more than 700 branches, including:

23 IITs
32 NITs
26 IIITs
35 GFTIs

Each college has its own identity, infrastructure, faculty and placement record. Keeping all these things in mind, a systematic preference order has been described in this guide.

Things to Keep in Mind While Making Preference Order

Choose the branch of your interest – First choose the branch and then the college.
Give preference to old colleges – Old IITs and NITs have more credibility.
Check placement data – put the college with strong placements on top.
Don’t think of changing branch just because of the opportunity – Some IITs like Bombay no longer provide branch change facility.

Preference Order of Top IITs

First of all, IITs should be given preference. A general sequence could be as follows:

IIT Bombay
IIT Delhi
IIT Kanpur
IIT Madras
IIT Kharagpur
IIT Roorkee
IIT Guwahati
IIT Hyderabad
IIT Varanasi (BHU)
IIT Indore
IIT Gandhinagar
IIT Ropar
IIT Mandi
IIT Bhubaneswar
IIT Jodhpur
IIT Patna
IIT Goa, Palakkad, Tirupati
IIT Bhilai, Dharwad, Jammu

Top Preferences in NITs

Some institutes in the list of NITs are highly prestigious. Usually filled in this order:

NIT Trichy
NIT Surathkal
NIT Warangal
MNNIT Allahabad
NIT Calicut
NIT Rourkela
MNIT Jaipur
NIT Nagpur
NIT Kurukshetra
MANIT Bhopal
NIT Jalandhar
NSUT Delhi (GFTI)
BIT Mesra, Ranchi (GFTI)

Order of IIITs

For top branches (CSE, ECE) some IIITs are considered even above NITs. Like:

IIIT Hyderabad
IIIT Bangalore
IIIT Allahabad
IIIT Gwalior
IIIT Jabalpur
IIIT Lucknow
IIIT Pune
IIIT Guwahati
IIIT Kota
IIIT Kancheepuram
IIIT Vadodara

GFTI: Institutes Worth Considering

Many institutes in GFTIs have limited branches/locations. Some important names:

BIT Mesra (Top GFTI)
Punjab Engineering College (PEC), Chandigarh
JNU Delhi (for engineering)
University of Hyderabad
Assam University
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University
Central University of Rajasthan/ Haryana
Indian Institute of Carpet Technology (Bhadohi)
School of Planning & Architecture (for Architecture aspirants)

Branch vs College Question

Should you go to a top college with a lower branch or a normal college with a top branch?

If you want to explore yourself, want to do coding or are placement focused, then lower branch in a top college can be a better option.

But if you have a branch-specific goal (like R&D, core engineering) then give preference to the branch.

Final Tips

Make an order according to your interest and goal.
Make a complete order on a paper in advance.
Make changes during mock counselling but don’t make them too quickly.
Consult a senior/guide but in the end the decision should be yours.

Conclusion

JoSAA counselling is a step that decides the direction of your entire engineering journey. A single mistake can affect your future, so complete understanding and research is important while filling the preference order.

If you find this guide useful, please share it so that more students can get help. If you have any query, do ask in the comment below – we will try to give accurate and personalized answers to every question.

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