Meet Raghu Mahajan, The JEE Topper Who Dropped Out Of IIT Delhi To Enrol At MIT

Most of the people studying engineering dream to study at the Indian Institute of Technology ( IIT). To achieve this goal, one needs to clear the JEE Mains and Advance, a nationwide engineering entrance examination conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). There are many aspiring engineers who despite getting admission to IITs drop midway and join the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in search of a better career. The JEE 2006 topper is one such man. Raghu Mahajan topped the JEE exam in 2006 and secured admission to IIT Delhi before taking the bold decision of quitting it halfway.

The IIT JEE topper Raghu Mahajan initially chose IIT Delhi for his graduation. He chose the Computer Science and Engineering program. He decided to quit the course midway with two years remaining for the completion of his graduation. Raghu Mahajan decided to switch to Physics and Maths at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in May 2008 to pursue his intellectual passion. He always had an affinity for physics and so to pursue his dreams he chose MIT to be his next destination. Raghu Mahajan is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University. He was previously a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University. Interestingly, Mahajan had also contributed to the Aam Aadmi Party’s manifesto for the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections.

Raghu Mahajan also believes that individuals entering IITs at the age of 17 or 18 may not be aware of their real career preferences. They are often blinded by the limited options which are often told by the institutes or are known to a normal person. He stresses the importance of the choices that are driven by interest rather than societal expectations.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

The motto of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is “Mind and Hand”. It was established in the year 1861. MIT was initially a small community of problem solvers and science lovers who were eager to share their knowledge with the world. Today, with approximately 1,000 faculty members and more than 11,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students, MIT has grown into an educational giant.