In a unique outreach effort, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has invited the top 200 All India Rankers (AIRs) of JEE Advanced 2025 to visit its campus in Chennai, and is covering air travel costs for both the student and one accompanying parent.
This first-of-its-kind initiative aims to offer India’s brightest engineering aspirants a first-hand experience of the IIT Madras life, from academic infrastructure and hostel facilities to research labs and student support systems. The idea is to help students make a well-informed choice during counselling, rather than relying solely on brochures or rankings, as per a report by India Today.
While IITs routinely woo top JEE rankers through online interactions, alumni meetings and personalised counselling, IIT Madras has gone a step further this year.
The campus visit includes guided tours, faculty interactions, lab demonstrations, hostel walkthroughs, and meetings with alumni and current students.
“We want to offer students a glimpse of what life at IIT Madras is like beyond academics. It’s about community, research, innovation, and support,” an institute official told the media.
Students will also get to explore IIT-M’s innovation ecosystem, from its research centres and entrepreneurship cells to international academic partnerships.
The initiative has been well-received by top-ranking individuals and their families.
“We had read about IIT Madras, but this visit gave us a real sense of the campus. Speaking to faculty and walking through the labs helped us visualise what studying here would be like,” a parent from Mumbai told India Today.
JEE Advanced 2025: Highlights
JEE Advanced 2025 results were declared on June 2 by IIT Kanpur, the organising institute this year. Out of 1.8 lakh candidates who took both Paper 1 and 2, over 54,000 qualified for the ranking.
Rajit Gupta from the IIT Delhi zone topped the exam with a score of 332 out of 360, followed closely by Saksham Jindal (AIR 2) and Majid Mujahid Husain (AIR 3). Both Rajit and Saksham had identical scores, with tie-breaking protocols applied.
Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JOSAA) counselling for IIT admissions began on June 3, following the release of the final answer key.
