In India, over 20 lakh students appear for IIT JEE every year. With the limited number of seats, every candidate can’t get admission to IITs. Some students get disheartened by this fact, but the following people are an example that life doesn’t end at not being able to clear IIT JEE, it only begins.
1. Peyush Bansal | Co-founder & CEO Lenskart
Peyush Bansal appeared for IIT JEE but wasn’t able to get a college. He then went on to do his Bachelors of Engineering from McGill University, Canada. He is the co-founder of Lenskart and has a net worth of 600 crores.
2. Satya Nadella | Executive Chairman & CEO Microsoft
The Executive Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, didn’t go to an IIT either. He did his BTech in Electrical Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology, Karnataka.
3. Narayan Murthy | Founder Infosys
Narayan Murthy did give the IIT entrance exam and cleared it but couldn’t join due to his financial conditions as his father couldn’t afford it. He did his BTech in Electrical Engineering from the National Institute of Engineering, Mysore. He started Infosys back in 1981 with no business background, and has a net worth of $4.4 billion today.
But he did fulfil his dream of studying at IIT by doing his Masters degree from IIT Kanpur.
4. Shashvat Nakrani | Co-founder BharatPe
Shashvat Nakrani is the co-founder of BharatPe, along with the Shark Tank India judge Ashneer Grover. He joined IIT Delhi but dropped out in 2018 to found the UPI payment service provider, BharatPe. He was named the ‘youngest richest self-made’ individual on the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List in 2021.
5. Azhar Iqubal | Co-founder & CEO Inshorts
Azhar Iqubal is the co-founder and CEO of the news app Inshorts. He was studying Mathematics and Computer Science at IIT Delhi but dropped out in 2012 to focus on his app Inshorts.
6. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan | Nobel Prize, Chemistry in 2009
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan couldn’t clear the IIT entrance exam. He did his undergraduate studies at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009 “for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome”. He also received India’s second-highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2010.
These prominent personalities of the country prove that IITs are not the only path to success. You can become big in life even if you couldn’t crack the IIT JEE. And, hey, if you have a dream of studying at IIT, you can always go for masters as Narayan Murthy did.
Also Read | 7 Times Peyush Bansal Showed Us He’s More Than Just An Investor On Shark Tank India