Regarding Electives and Minors

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I have heard that IITM allows its students to choose 40% of their course via electives (189 credits), of which 72 credits can be earned in any department. As per JOSAA 2023, I have a possibility of getting BS in Biological Science in IITM, so with these 72 credits can I truly choose electives from any dept. with no restrictions, and also can I earn minors in any dept, I such a situation that I am able to earn minors in my preferred dept say EEE or ECE or CSE or Civil etc, then at the end of the day would the minor truly have value during placements, and if I want to pursue a mtech in a different branch say EEE or ECE would that minor be helpful in applying for foreign institutions.

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Hello,

I suggest that you refer to the BS in Biological Science curriculum here to get a better idea about the electives BS students can take.

At IITM, you have different categories of electives:

  • Professional electives: Every department has its own set of professional electives, from which the student can choose according to their interests and career goals.
  • Humanities electives: All undergraduate students at IITM are required to do 27 humanities electives, this number might be different for your course so check the curriculum on your department website. The set of humanities electives offered to all students is the same, irrespective of their department.
  • Science electives: Courses from the Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics departments are considered science electives. They are open to students from all departments.
  • IDDD electives: Every IDDD stream has its electives, which you can check in the curriculum. So all students in a particular IDDD stream have the choice to choose their IDDD electives from the same set of courses irrespective of their Bachelor’s stream.

Students also have unallocated credits, which you can use to take electives from any department. You read about how minors work at IITM here.

We can’t give you advice on admission to graduate programs. Still, these programs are generally very competitive so while a minor will aid your application, you should refer to the programs you are interested in to understand the eligibility criteria better.

Hope that helps!

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Will minors have value during placements / applying abroad? It depends on how you perform. I remember that my wing-mate (same wing of hostel) and I both had “operations research” (OR) as a minor. He was EE, and I was ME. I didn’t do much with my OR minor, but he went in-depth and eventually went abroad to study OR, which became his career.