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JEE Main 2026: Least opted courses of IIT Delhi this year

The five-year Aerospace Engineering course had 9,920 interested students, up only 7.4 per cent from 9,230 last year — keeping it among the less sought-after programmes.

These are the less popular courses in IIT Delhi (Image source; IIT Delhi)

While Computer Science and Electrical Engineering continue to dominate the preference list at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi), some courses have recorded relatively lower interest among JEE aspirants this year. As per the Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) report 2025, the BTech in Design programme remains the least opted in IIT Delhi, with 3,173 students choosing it this year — a rise of 8.5 per cent from 2024, when 2,925 students had shown interest. Despite its creative and interdisciplinary curriculum, it continues to appeal to a niche group of candidates.

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BTech in Design programme was introduced this year at IIT Delhi. This programme is structured as a four-year degree course with a total credit requirement of 155. The programme began with an initial intake of 20 students.

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The newly introduced Abu Dhabi campus programmes have also seen modest traction in their first year. Energy Engineering (5,229 students) and Chemical Engineering (5,302 students) recorded comparable choice counts, while Abu Dhabi Campus – Computer Science and Engineering (7,321) found slightly greater interest due to its association with a high-demand stream.

JEE Main

Among the Delhi campus offerings, Chemistry remained on the lower side with 6,117 students — up 8.4 per cent from 5,641 in 2024. Similarly, Textile Technology registered 9,006 choices, a 9.5 per cent increase from 8,225 last year, and Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering saw 9,930 choices, marking a 9.1 per cent rise from 9,100 in 2024.

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The five-year Aerospace Engineering course, despite its legacy, had 9,920 interested students, up only 7.4 per cent from 9,230 last year — keeping it among the less sought-after programmes.

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By contrast, the top courses continued their strong hold. Computer Science and Engineering drew 27,697 aspirants in 2025 — an increase of 10.5 per cent from 25,064 in 2024 — followed by Electrical Engineering (23,503) and Mathematics and Computing (20,087).

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Last year, the four-year CSE course was the most popular programme and the five-year programme only attracted 16,188 students. However, that was an increase of 19.59 per cent, from 13,536 in 2023 to 16,188 last year. Similarly, the five-year Mathematics and Computing course also failed to pull as much traction last year as only 13,741 students expressed their interest towards this programme.

Mridusmita Deka

Mridusmita Deka covers education and has worked with the Careers360 previously. She is an alumnus of Gauhati University and Dibrugarh University. ... Read More