Now that JEE Main results of all the sessions are out, most students would likely search for the admission process to the NITs, IIITs and GFTIs. While preparing for the JEE Advanced is ongoing, the candidates also search for the counselling and other important admission details. This is where the role of the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) comes to the fore.

JoSAA is the conducting body for the joint common counselling held for the JEE Main and JEE Advanced qualified. This common counselling enables a single process for admissions to the 31 NITs, IIEST Shibpur, 26 IIITs and 29 other government-funded technical institutes (Other-GFTIs) on the basis of JEE Main ranks while admissions to the 23 IITs is on the basis of the JEE Advanced ranks.

The entire process consists of registration, choice filling, mock allotments and finally seat allotments that are announced generally in six rounds. 

JEE Main counselling dates: The conuselling dates will be announced after the declaration of the JEE Advanced results on October 15, 2021. While the JoSAA website is yet to be activated for 2021 counselling, the JEE Advanced website indicates the JoSAA counselling commencement date as October 16, 2021.

JEE Main Counselling: What to keep ready before you apply?

JoSAA uses the JEE Main details of the candidates and therefore students need not keep photographs and such stuff ready. However, some precautions must be taken before one applies for the courses and colleges. These are

— Make a checklist of the preferred courses. Not all branches may be appealing or suitable. So make a list of those that are.

— Draw another list of the most preferred colleges followed by those that are okay in case the top colleges are not feasible.

— Now match the two and draw the list of colleges and courses. This is important as choice filling exercise in JoSAA exactly asks for this.

— Using the past year cutoffs and the ranks students have obtained in JEE Main 2021, a fair idea can be gained of the colleges they have chances in.

— Make sure to include all top dream colleges (irrespective of cutoffs and ranks) followed by the list of colleges as per the past year trends where there may be a chance of admissions.

JEE Main Counselling process 2021 (JoSAA)

It is crucial to understand the entire process of counselling before applying. This enables applicants to be sure of what steps to take and what mistakes to avoid. The steps for JoSAA counselling can be summarised as follows

— Registration: The first step is to register for the JEE Main counselling. This is done using the JEE Main application number and password. Registration is only done once for the entire counselling process.

— Choice filling: The second step is where students enter their course and college preferences. Use the list made as suggested above.

— Mock seat allotment and choice locking: To help students know how their choice filling has gone and what their seat allotments will be like, JoSAA releases two mock seat allotments. Students can check and understand the process better. They have the option to change their preferences at this time. 

— Seat Allotment: The JEE Main ranks, category, choice of colleges etc determine the allotment. Once it is announced, candidates must download the same. They must also accept the seat and indicate their willingness to retain the seat (freeze option), look for upgradation in the next round to higher choices (float option) or choose a different course at the same institute (slide option)

— Payment of seat acceptance fee: Candidates who are allotted seats must pay the seat acceptance fee of and complete the other formalities to remain in the counselling process. Reserved category candidates (SC/ST and even PWD) need to pay Rs 15,000 while the others need to pay Rs. 35,000. This is adjustable with the academic fee. The fee includes JoSAA processing fee of Rs. 2000.

There is no separate JEE Main counselling other than JoSAA. For the seats vacant after the seventh round of JoSAA, a special counselling will be held for only NIT+ seats through CSAB which is a separate process.

Candidates may note that JEE Main results were declared on September 15 by NTA. Around 44 students have scored 100 percentile in the exam out of which 18 students have been declared as first rank holders. A total of 939008 unique candidates had appeared for JEE Main 2021 (all four sessions). JEE Main counselling will be held for 34,769 seats through JoSAA inclusive of the supernumerary seats for female candidates.