The IITs are considered to be the most coveted institutions for undergraduate studies across the country. The fact that only around 1% of the candidates appearing in the entrance exam manage to secure a seat in these institutions is a testament to the quality of students that manage to get through.

But added to this is the disadvantage that your fate is left in the hands of that little amount of magic that you produce during the 6 hrs of one of the most difficult and strenuous examinations across the globe. The incredible load of expectations of all those who surround the examinee sometimes leads to blunders that can cost the candidate his/her dreams. However, the institute offers a second chance to pursue your desired path: the opportunity for a branch change during your freshman year.

In the oldest technical institute of the country, this opportunity presents itself at the end of the first semester. The best part about it? The students compete as equals with nothing but merit separating them from their dreams—that, and of course, their JEE rank that comes back to haunt some of the candidates. Most of the freshmen find themselves struggling to strike that sweet spot of balance between exploring the plethora of opportunities that the campus has to offer and studying “hard enough” in order to have a better shot at changing the cards they were dealt with.

This article aims to dispel some of the myths that seem to surround the idea of changing your branch, make past year statistics easily accessible, and hopefully provide perspective with regards to the ideology behind the process.

Rules and Regulations

Key Takeaways from the policy:

1. Eligibility: You must have earned all specified credits in the Autumn Semester, not failed in any subject, and not been penalized for indiscipline. Students from B.Arch and B.Des programs are not eligible.
2. Available Seats: The change of branch is strictly against the number of vacancies or 10% of the sanctioned strength of the branch, whichever is higher.
3. Branch Strength Constraint: The resulting strength of the branch from which the transfer is made cannot fall by more than 25% of its existing strength.
4. Tie-Breaker: Change of branch is allowed strictly on the basis of SGPA. If the SGPA of more than one student is equal, their JEE (Advanced) ranks will be used as a tie-breaker.

Note: The above points are a summary, not an exhaustive list. These are based on last year’s policy and the institute holds the right to change it. You can reference the complete list of rules from last year’s policy here: https://channeli.in/noticeboard/notice/18375.

“In India, we don’t choose our major but our major chooses us.”

Reflect on this for a second. Most of the students who enrolled in IIT Roorkee in any branch whatsoever did so without much research about what they were getting into. In fact, the research generally begins after the JEE ranks are out and your future has already been partially decided. Most of us are told to choose any available branch from the old IITs simply because of their reputation(sounds familiar?).

According to the modern-day convention, almost everyone seems to be aiming for the “circuit” branches without actually even knowing what the stream is all about.

But since we’re already here, how about adopting a different approach?

Adopting a Holistic Approach

The first step in any life-changing decision is to identify why you think taking that decision means so much to you. Most of the candidates that think about changing their department do so citing the placement statistics of the previous years. While not the best way to make that decision, we don’t discourage you from going down that road. But what we certainly encourage you to do is to understand that now that you are on campus, you have the opportunity to talk to a wide variety of seniors, all of whom are working in various different fields. In doing so, you enable yourself to make an informed decision of what you want to do, at least for the next few years, if not eternity.

Contrary to popular belief, being a traditional “ghissu” is not the key to changing your branch. For most of it, it is a journey in parallel to the one you embarked on when preparing for JEE but also a lot different in terms of the opportunity cost and final outcome.

Most candidates who give their everything towards the idea of a branch change often make the same mistakes, the most major of them all being never actually stepping out of their rooms to explore what the campus has to offer. This decision either comes back to haunt them if they fail or becomes something that just falls into the pit of buried regrets if they are successful.

Adopting a holistic approach in getting through your time on campus is probably the best thing that you can do regardless of what your aspirations are. Devote yourself to your studies, the idea being to give your best but not to be bogged down if you’re unable to do so (this is where relative grading is most helpful). At the same time, don’t disregard all the talks and lectures that the institute and the various campus groups organize.

The key is to manage your time exceptionally well and also to be persistent with your efforts towards the final goal (see the similarities yet?).

How tough is it?

To put things into perspective, we now follow up with a diagram based on last year’s statistics. The numbers provided here are just to give the viewer an idea of what he/she needs to do in order to secure a branch change. It is important to note that these numbers do not form a standard basis and change each year according to the preferences of the candidates that year.

As mentioned earlier, the rules for this procedure have been considerably relaxed, but the entry into the “much coveted” circuit branches(CSE, DSAI, BSMSMA, ECE, and EE) remains an uphill task. The cutoff SGPA for the 2025-26 batch was as follows:

In case of ties in SGPA, official ties breaking rules for last year can be found at: https://channeli.in/noticeboard/notice/18375.

Final Word of Advice

The truth is that changing your branch is by no means easy, but consistency and persistence go a long way in getting you what you want. It is important to remember that your college isn’t just here to provide you with quality education; being an IITian is a lot more than that. It’s about modeling yourself into a better individual, something that is only possible if you step out of your room and your comfort zones to experience the journey that is IIT-Roorkee. So although putting a semester into something that draws you as much as the idea of a branch change (and we know it does), it wouldn’t be the worst idea to allow yourself to indulge in the little joys of campus life as well.

Hear it from them

Paras Agarwal, 2nd Year, Branch Changer from BSMSCY to CSE

“Its honestly not that hard to get a branch change if you are disciplined. You don’t need to overwork but be disciplined in general for example about submitting assignments on time and studying for quizzes. Have fun throughout the semester but please know your limits. Also being curious for courses like PHI-101 and MAI-101 makes it easier. Just don’t leave your studying for the last minute and avoid getting caught up in toxic competition with your friends and classmates since there is a high chances that’s bound to happen.”

Ishaan Bansal, 2nd Year, Branch Changer from EE to ECE

“Don’t obsess over changing your branch, try for it, if it happens then its great, if not then still its ok, also try other things, like give Hackathons, learn to code, try other things which interest you, CTFs, ML, don’t get super obsessed over competitive programming from the beginning”

Mehual Yadav, 2nd Year, Branch Changer from BSMSCY to EPH

“Take admission here with the mindset that I would try my best for branch change if you didnt get what you wanted but I am also ready to study XYZ for 4/5 years happily if that didnt happen because that is what I got. And be proud of your jee advanced rank. This is result of your efforts. And rest for those who do want to branch change, just work hard in semester 1, keep good friend circle of people who are also motivated enough, rest its also a little bit of luck but like I said at beginning come here with mindset of I am happy with what I got here. And of course if you happen to pick BSMS Chemical Science we seniors would be happy to guide you cause from our branch this year, 3 people changed their branch to CSE! (That’s a new record and also meant it was even more competitive than previous year). Do read all about the policies related to branch change, all the rules etc.”

Rudra Goyal, 2nd Year, Branch Changer from IN to ME

“The only advice I would give to juniors is that don’t always constantly keep thinking about branch change just go with the flow put efforts as much as you can, since luck plays a very big role in this game of branch change and you do not have control over it so just let destiny decide where you will end up finally, without constantly pressurising yourself in this game of branch change.”