Three Rajkot boys in IIT-JEE’s top 100

Three students from Rajkot figure in the list of top 100 candidates in this year’s IIT-JEE whose results were announced on Friday. While Siddharth Patel is ranked 60, Ridhesh Bhalodiya and Shalin Moravia have stood 65th and 66th respectively in the all-India examination.

The joint entrance examination (JEE) is held every year for admission to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and other top engineering colleges of the country.

Siddharth, Ridhesh and Shalin have several things in common besides their being from Rajkot. All the three began preparing for JEE when they were still in Std 10; they attended vacation batches of coaching centres at Kota for IIT; and all want to join IIT-Bombay. However, they differ in their choice of engineering branches for further studies.

On his preparations, Siddharth says that after his SSC examinations, he focused on acquiring a sound understanding of the basic concepts of physics, chemistry and mathematics. 
“One thing is for sure. For JEE you need a clear idea of the basics of science subjects,” he said.

Siddharth scored 335 out of 401 marks (83.5%) in JEE. “I wish
to study computer science at IIT-Bombay,” he said. His father is owner of Everest Wafers, a food product company based in Rajkot.

Ridhesh Bhalodiya, who scored 333 out of 401 in the examination, wants to study electrical engineering at IIT-Bombay. "My father is a general surgeon. I was always interested in mathematics, which is why opted for engineering. I started preparations when I was in Standard 10. Having your basic concepts clear is very important for this examination," he said, adding that he had taken coaching at Kota. Shalin Moraviya too scored 333 out of 401 like his friend Ridhesh. His father runs a unit manufacturing spare parts of diesel oil engines.  "I and Ridhesh began preparing for the JEE during the vacations after the Std 10 examination. I too took coaching at Kota. I want to study Mechanical engineering at IIT-Bombay," Shalin said.  In all, 4,79,651 candidates appeared in the examination held on April 8. "Of the total candidates, 24,112 have secured ranks in various categories and 19,426 have been shortlisted for counselling for admission to 9,647 seats in the IITs and other institutes," JEE chairman GD Reddy said in New Delhi.

He said the counseling website will be open to the shortlisted candidates from Friday and all of them are expected to fill up their choice of courses by 5 pm on June 10. Apart from the IITs, IT-BHU, Varanasi and ISM Dhanbad accept JEE scores for admission.