Top 5 Successful People who could not clear IIT JEE

Over 15 lakh students compete for just about 10,000 IIT seats every year. Even if we count NITs and other premiere engineering institutes, there are still many who remain left out in the JEE race. But the key to Success is to learn to use our Failures as steps of our Learning Process and ultimately emerge as a Winner.

Here are some of the best-known celebrities who could not clear JEE and yet made it to the top:

1.  Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

‘The Missile Man of India’ and one of the most beloved ex-Presidents of India, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam was not an IITian. This did not stop him from earning fame and renown as one of the finest engineers of the world. In fact, many of the IIT aspirants today grow up idolizing Kalam.

Kalam said, “My message, especially to young people is to have courage to think differently, courage to invent, to travel the unexplored path, courage to discover the impossible and to conquer the problems and succeed”

2. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Currently the President of the Royal Society, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009 along with Ada Yonath and Thomas A Steitz. During a lecture at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in 2010, he revealed that he failed to get admitted to any of the IITs or CMC, Vellore years back.

Even after be crossed that stage, he obtained his PhD in Theoretical Physics before switching to the field of Biology and become one of the most renowned Structural Biologists of our age.

3. Satya Nadella

Can you believe that Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, is not an iITian or even NITian? Before becoming the CEO, he was looking after the company’s computing platforms, developer tools and cloud computing services.
Satya did not bother about failing in JEE exam because he is good at finding alternatives. He graduated in engineering from Manipal University, started his career at Sun Microsystems and then, joined as Program Manager at Microsoft while pursuing MBA. He worked across different divisions ranging from XBox to Bing to cloud and services division (one of the most profitable divisions of the company).

4. Kalpana Chawla

The first Indian woman in space, Kalpana Chawla was the mission specialist of Space Shuttle Columbia. Born in Karnal, she failed to crack JEE exams but that could not stop her from getting the Aeronautical Engineering Degree from Punjab Engineering College. She then went to the US and did MS in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas in Arlington and PhD in the subject from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She died as a hero and a role model for many young women of today. Life is not about Successes and Failures…but the Choices we make.

5. Vinod Dham

‘Father of the Pentium Chip’ Vinod Dham could not clear IIT JEE exam. But this did not ended his career. He went on to invent Pentium Processors.

What we all need to remember is that IITs are just a platform you have to learn and acquire knowledge. They are not a ‘guarantee’ to Success and certainly not ‘the only road to Success’. To be really successful, you need to have determination, dedication, strength to get past your failures and find alternatives, and the will to work hard.

Best of Luck!