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If Lateral entry does not work out

Lateral entry is one way to reach 2 destinations. Here are the others we have recorded — 7 routes that do not pass through it at any point.

Every one of them links to the body that runs it, so you can check it rather than take our word for it. None of them is easy, and none of them is guaranteed — they are simply open, and separate from the one that closed.

One path stopped, others continuing to the same destinationThree paths run left to right towards one destination. The middle path stops at a bar partway along. The other two curve around it and reach the destination.

Still leads to

Design and build physical things

Machines, structures, power systems, vehicles, factories. The work of turning a requirement into something that exists and holds up.

  1. After Class 12Selective, with more places than the best-known routes

    A state engineering entrance, for colleges in your own state

    1. Step 1. Sit the state entrance examination — WBJEE in West Bengal.
    2. Step 2. Admission is to engineering colleges in that state, with places reserved for students domiciled there.

    A separate examination with its own paper and its own competition. Many students sit both this and JEE Main; a rank in one has no bearing on the other.

    Where to check this

  2. After Class 12Many more applicants than places

    A university’s own entrance test

    1. Step 1. Sit the institution’s own examination — BITSAT for BITS Pilani, Goa and Hyderabad.
    2. Step 2. Admission is to that institution only, on its own rules.

    Independent of JEE entirely. Several private universities run their own tests on the same pattern.

    Where to check this

  3. After Class 12Many more applicants than places

    JEE Main and then JEE Advanced, for the IITs

    1. Step 1. Qualify in JEE Main first — JEE Advanced cannot be entered directly.
    2. Step 2. Sit JEE Advanced in the same year.
    3. Step 3. Admission to the IITs is on that rank, through JoSAA counselling.

    Two gates rather than one. Not clearing it closes the IITs and closes nothing else on this page.

    Where to check this

  4. After Class 12Many more applicants than places

    JEE Main, then an NIT, IIIT or centrally funded institute

    1. Step 1. Sit JEE Main in Class 12.
    2. Step 2. Seats at the NITs, IIITs and other centrally funded institutes are allocated by JoSAA and CSAB counselling on that rank.

    The best-known route, and the reason so many students believe it is the only one. It is one of five on this page.

    Where to check this

Everything that leads to design and build physical things

Still leads to

Build software and work with data

Writing programs, designing systems that handle scale, and working with data. One of the few fields where what you have built matters as much as where you studied.

  1. After Class 12Many more applicants than places

    A university’s own entrance test

    1. Step 1. Sit BITSAT.
    2. Step 2. Admission is to BITS Pilani, Goa or Hyderabad on its own rules.

    A completely separate gate from JEE, with a different paper and a different cohort.

    Where to check this

  2. After Class 12Selective, with more places than the best-known routes

    CUET-UG, then a B.Sc or B.C.A. at a central university

    1. Step 1. Sit CUET-UG in the subjects the course requires.
    2. Step 2. Admission is to a central or participating university’s three-year degree rather than a four-year B.Tech.

    A science degree rather than an engineering one. For software work specifically, employers are far more interested in what you can build than in which of the two you hold.

    Where to check this

  3. After Class 12Many more applicants than places

    JEE Main, then computer science at an NIT or IIIT

    1. Step 1. Sit JEE Main in Class 12.
    2. Step 2. Computer science is usually the highest-demand branch, so it closes at a higher rank than the institute as a whole.

    The branch, not only the institute, decides whether this route is open at a given rank.

    Where to check this

Everything that leads to build software and work with data

One more thing worth saying plainly

A rank is a measurement of one paper on one morning against one cohort. It is a real constraint on which door opens next, and it is not a measurement of what you are capable of. The routes above exist because the education system has more doors than the ones people talk about — not as consolation for missing this one.

If you are struggling, talk to someone you trust. This page can list routes; it cannot do that part.