JEE-Advanced 2026: CSE Remains Top Choice Among Top 500 Rankers, IIT Bombay Leads

Computer Science Engineering (CSE) continued to dominate the preferences of top performers in JEE-Advanced 2026, with 365 of the top 500 rank holders choosing the branch, while IIT Bombay emerged as the most preferred institute, according to the Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) report released by IIT Roorkee.

The report showed that 183 of the top 500 candidates secured admission to IIT Bombay. IIT Delhi followed with 115 candidates, while IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur and IIT Kharagpur attracted 78, 49 and 40 candidates, respectively.

The preference for IIT Bombay was even stronger among the top 100 candidates. As many as 68 of them joined IIT Bombay, compared with 18 at IIT Delhi, 11 at IIT Madras and one at IIT Kanpur.

CSE remained the clear favourite among branches, with 365 candidates from the top 500 opting for the programme. IIT Bombay alone accounted for 142 of these CSE admissions. In contrast, only two candidates chose Civil Engineering, while none selected Aerospace Engineering. AI and Data Analytics programmes also saw limited preference, attracting just 17 candidates from the top 500.

The trends are broadly similar to those seen in previous years, highlighting the continued demand for technology-focused courses and the strong preference for the older IITs among high-ranking students.

The JEE-Advanced 2026 examination was held on May 17, with 1,79,694 candidates appearing for both Paper 1 and Paper 2. The results were announced on June 1, with 56,880 candidates qualifying. Candidates among the top 2.5 lakh performers in JEE Main are eligible to appear for JEE Advanced.

The annual JIC report, compiled by the organising IIT, provides data on seat allocation, branch preferences and student performance. It also noted that more than 10,000 women candidates qualified in 2026, marking their highest qualifying figure in six years.

The report said qualifying criteria were relaxed to ensure that at least twice the number of candidates qualified compared with the available seats in each category.