Joint Entrance Examination (JEE Main) is one of the highly competitive engineering exams conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). JEE Main is the exam required for admission to B.Tech, B.Arch, and B.Plan courses at NITs (National Institutes of Technology), IIITs (Indian Institutes of Information Technology), and other GFTIs (Centrally Funded Technical Institutions) and institutions/universities funded/recognised by participating state governments. Candidates seeking admission to Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) must first pass the JEE Main exam with the required cutoff score. Every year lakhs of students take the JEE Main exam, so the competition is high, and there is a limited number of seats in these institutes.
The JEE Main 2026 Session 1 exam is scheduled from January 21 to 29, 2026. It is held twice a year, so the session 2 exam dates have been revised and will take place between April 2 and 9, 2026. Through JoSSA Counselling, the JEE Main scores are used for seat allocations.
NITs are among the most preferred engineering colleges in India. Through JoSSA, candidates get admission into branches like CSE, ECE, and Electrical Engineering, which usually have higher cut-offs. Home state and other state quotas also matter in the seat allocation. Aspiring students can check the table below to see which are the top NITs accepting JEE Main 2026 scores:
IIITs are quite famous among the tech-focused aspirants, as they are mainly known for their Computer Science, IT, AI, Data Science, and Electronics-related programmes. Tech-focused aspirants can check the table below to see which are the top IIITs acceptingJEE Main 2026scores:
GFTI institutes offer quality education with relatively lower cut-offs compared to NITs and IIITs, making them good options for mid-range ranks. Candidates need to stay updated with Exam Cutoffs. Students can check the table below to see which are the top GFTIs accepting JEE Main 2026 scores:
JEE Main plays an important role as a gateway to some of the most prestigious institutes of India, like NITs, IIITs and GFTIs. Before filling the JoSSA counselling choices, students must analyse the previous year's cutoffs, seat availability and the counselling trends. Candidates with proper planning, smart counselling decisions and realistic expectations can definitely secure admission into a good, reputed engineering college.
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