Why IITians mention everywhere that they are IITians?

Few years back I was looking for a consult but wasn`t satisfied with the doctors I met. I decided to check the yellowpages. You know, which name I zeroed upon - the one that said MD,AIIMS; DM,PGI Chandigarh. And he was actually good. I wonder why he chose to mention those colleges, increasing the tediously long list of abbreviations. The answer to this question as well as yours is almost the same. Because it provides a level of credibility. First, I would not agree that ALL IITians do this. I rarely mention this when I`m meeting new people because I personally prefer not being judged by the IIT tag. Although if I`m talking to a potential employer of marketing my (hypothetical) startup, I might want to add this trivia as it will save me a lot of time and enquiry. People, generally have an assumption that an IITian `knows his shite`; or atleast can get a way around his problems. I `d recently started freelancing for content development. I started as just another person there. The need never arose for me to give out my credentials. Yesterday, I finally met the Director (it`s also a startup), who was quite impressed with my work. This is usually the time I prefer acknowledging my academic background. The guy was already impressed with the work. However, I can tell you for sure, there is a marked difference in the way you are received at any place, at least in India, when you tell someone that you are from an IIT. From being a boss-to-new-writer conversation, it just shifted to a more casual and friendly one, with the guy telling me about his brother who was from IIT as well and how much he struggled in the past few years while setting up this company. People`s perception about you changes with every additional information, and cracking JEE is a big information. Is it fair? I don`t know. I don`t think any sweeping generalizations are fair, to either of the parties. Still, if I had a page about my (future) startup; and I wanted people to pay more attention, I would add the subtext of the company being run by IITians. And yes, because I can. *smug smile* Contributed by: Sonal Singh Aerospace engineering IIT Kharagpur

The euphoria of being an IITian is there only after cracking JEE. After entering IIT, only few are able to mantain their talent, rest all don`t study.

The dumb,egomaniac people mention that,the gentleman don`t care at all to be one in 10k .

aww..i think, this does not go down well with you.....anyways...it takes a lot to be an iitian.....there`s no wrong even in boasting of it! but yes...our job is not to get affected for the worse....but try to focus on what we are upto.....coz you never know...if someday you get such a tag attached to your name that makes you and your family to mention it over and over again! :-) every creature in this world are entitled to have their day! ;-)