IIT Admission 2025: Cut-Off of Lower Branches Increased in Top IITs

Boy with 8,343 and Girl with 13,761 AIR Got Admission in IIT Bombay

The counselling process of JEE Advanced 2025 conducted for admission in the country’s prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) has been completed. Along with this, the first semester studies have also started in all the IITs.

After the completion of the counselling process, the figures of this year’s Opening & Closing Ranks have come out. These figures clearly show that this time the cut-off of Lower Branches of top IITs has increased more than in previous years.

For example, the closing rank from the Open Category Gender Neutral Pool in BS Applied Geophysics branch of IIT Bombay was 8,343. At the same time, a girl student got admission in IIT Bombay with 13,761 AIR. This situation is completely different from previous years, because till then the lower branches of these top IITs used to close at a relatively low rank.

Lower Branch Cut-Off Increased in Top IITs

Educational experts say that this year the option of Branch Change has been closed in top IITs like IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Guwahati and IIT-BHU. This is the biggest reason for this change.

If we look at the data released from counselling, the closing rank of the lower branches of these IITs has gone up much higher than before.

Closing AIR from Gender Neutral Pool (Open Category)

IIT Bombay (BS Applied Geophysics) – 8,343
IIT Madras (BS Biological Science) – 10,290
IIT Kharagpur (BS Applied Geology) – 13,685
IIT Hyderabad (Industrial Chemistry) – 10,043
IIT Guwahati (Bioengineering) – 10,727
IIT BHU (Mining) – 14,243

Closing AIR from Female Pool

IIT Bombay – 13,761
IIT Madras – 15,596
IIT Kharagpur – 21,618
IIT Hyderabad – 16,983
IIT Guwahati – 16,742
IIT BHU – 24,662

It is clear from these figures that the cut-offs of the lower branches in which admission was possible even with low ranks earlier have increased this time and students with relatively low scores have also been able to get seats in these top IITs.

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Key Reason for Increase in Cut-Off

According to education expert of ALLEN Career Institute, the main reason for the increase in cut-off is the discontinuation of the Branch Change Policy.

In the earlier system, students had the option to change the branch in the second year on the basis of their first year performance (CGPA). Due to this, students often chose lower branches of top IITs so that they could upgrade and get the core or preferred branch next year.

For example, if a student did not get a good rank and got a lower branch in IIT Bombay or IIT Madras, he would choose it. His strategy was to score good marks in the first year and shift to a core branch like Computer Science, Electrical, Mechanical or Civil Engineering the next year.

But from 2025, this option was closed by the top IITs. The direct effect of this was that now students started avoiding choosing the lower branches of those IITs where the option of changing the branch is not available. As a result, the closing rank of these branches went up.

Change in Students’ Preferences

Compared to previous years, this time students preferred the core branches of new IITs (which were established in 2012 and 2017). The reason for this was that the facility of changing the branch is still available in these institutes.

That is, if a student was getting a lower branch of IIT Kharagpur or IIT Madras but there was no option of branch change there, then he chose the core branch of places like IIT Mandi, IIT Ropar, IIT Bhubaneswar or IIT Tirupati. This increased the cut-off of lower branches of top IITs and changed the Rank Preference Pattern of students.

Possible Impact in the Future

Experts believe that this change will also affect the counselling process in the coming years.

Attractiveness of lower branches will decrease – Since the option of branch change is not available, students will now prefer only core branches.
Demand for new IITs will increase – Students will not hesitate to choose those institutes where they get the opportunity of branch upgrade.
Change in career approach – Earlier students used to take lower branches by giving preference to the IIT brand name, now they will directly prefer to choose the core branch, even if it is a new IIT.
Cut-off will vary further – If this policy continues in the coming years, the cut-off of lower branches of top IITs may go up further, while the core branch of new IITs may be available at relatively lower ranks.

IIT Admission 2025 has made it clear how important the role of Branch Change Policy was in the admission process. As soon as the top IITs ended it, the cut-off of lower branches increased unexpectedly.

This time, students from 8,000 to 25,000 AIRs got admission in the lower branches of institutes like IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Guwahati and IIT-BHU.

Students are no longer taking decisions by just looking at the name of the IIT, but they are giving preference to the core branch, even if it is a new IIT. This trend is likely to strengthen in the coming years, making admission strategies even more complex.

This change has added a new chapter to the IIT admission process and is an important lesson for incoming candidates to prioritize not just the name of the IIT but also the branch, career opportunities and policy changes.

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