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Another way in

If NEST does not work out

NEST is one way to reach a destination. Here are the others we have recorded — 2 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

Do scientific research

Working on questions nobody has answered yet, at an institution built around laboratories. A separate track from engineering and medicine, entered through its own examinations.

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

    CUET-UG, then a B.Sc and a master’s

    1. Step 1. Sit CUET-UG in the relevant science subjects.
    2. Step 2. Take a three-year B.Sc at a central or participating university, then a master’s, then a doctorate.

    The longer and much more common route into research. It arrives at the same doctorate; it simply does not begin at an institution with "research" in its name.

    Where to check this

  2. After Class 12Many more applicants than places

    IISER Aptitude Test, then a five-year integrated master’s

    1. Step 1. Sit the IISER Aptitude Test.
    2. Step 2. Admission is to the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, on a five-year integrated BS-MS.

    A research track from the first year, not a science degree with research bolted on at the end.

    Where to check this

Everything that leads to do scientific research

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.