With the results of the JEE Advanced Examination scheduled to be declared later this month, the jury is already out on the pros and cons of the various courses on offer in the Indian Institutes of Technology. A dilemma which candidates regularly encounter, deals with the choice between a conventional B. Tech degree and a Dual degree – both of which are offered by the IITs. We shall, in this article, try and help the budding IITians to understand the nitty-gritty’s of these two undergraduate courses.
B. Tech Degree
This is the single most important conventional (or traditional) reason that has helped IITs to hold sway over engineering education in the country for the last 6 decades. The flagship Bachelor of Technology degree is awarded upon completion of four years of undergraduate studies. The idea is relatively simple – you spend four years of your life pursuing engineering studies in an IIT, and at the end of it all there is ample scope of being rewarded with a good job, or the choice of going ahead with further studies. In case you are inclined towards research work, you are free to take up Masters studies in Indian and foreign universities.
The most important advantage of going for a B. Tech degree is that it keeps you free of any baggage. You complete your undergraduate studies, understand the nuances of your life and then decide how to go ahead from there. This stands in sharp contrast to the Dual degree courses for which you have to make up your mind, to a certain extent, about your future even before joining college.
Dual Degree
This is one of the novelties of the present day education system, first put in place by foreign universities and then successfully adopted by the IITs. In a Dual degree course, you are allowed to do a Bachelors and a Masters degree in a single course! A Dual degree lets you complete the two degrees in just 5 years, whereas, individually the courses would entail 6 years. In simple words, this seems like an attractive combo package!
However, the important thing to note about Dual degrees is that it is more suited for those students who are oriented towards higher studies and research work. Thus, even before joining the course, you might have to take a decision about how you want your future to unfold. However, this takes nothing away from the fact that the degree, by itself, is an asset to your life and can propel your future to unprecedented heights, if you know how to make the best use of it.
