The countdown to the anxiousness of which engineering cradle you would fit in has begun.

Suyushpati Tripathi with All India Rank (AIR) 1,951 in IIT-JEE (Advanced) has been busy for the past one week seeking feedback from his parents, teachers and also browsing websites of previous years' IIT seat allocation.

Tripathi, like other students who have cleared the Advanced this year, is confused which engineering branch or college he would get a call from based on the online choice filling exercise starting June 29.

The online choice filling exercise for the IITs, National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) and government funded technical institutes would start on June 29.

The first joint-seat-allocation round would be conducted on July 5, when students would get to know which college or IIT branch they have cracked. The admission to IIT is based on JEE (Advanced) score, while, admission to NITs, IIITs and GFTI is done on basis of JEE (Main) and board marks.

NIT-Patna has been assigned the task of conducting the counselling of students of IIT-Main. NIT-Patna director Asok De said: "The online choice filling is likely to start from June 29, as different school boards have submitted their marks to the CBSE for preparing the merit score."?

The CBSE gives 40 per cent weightage to school board marks and 60 per cent to JEE (Main) to prepare the merit score. While IIT-Bombay is carrying out the choice filling for IITs based on the JEE (Advanced) score, NIT-Patna is the conducting institution for entry at NITs, IIITs and GFTIs.

Tripathi said: "Like many of my friends who have cleared the IIT-JEE (Advanced), I am also tensed about which branch I would get."

But Tripathi, a Class XII passout from Gyan Niketan, who has AIR of 1,951 (general category) in JEE (Advanced), has made up his mind, not to go for computer science or mechanical, but, for less popular branches such as civil and electrical in good colleges, which he can easily get based on his rank.

According to Tripathi, leaving aside the top five IITs (Delhi, Bombay, Madras, Kanpur and Kharagpur) he can easily get electrical and civil in IIT-Guwahati or IIT-Roorkee. His decision to opt for electrical or civil at IIT-Roorkee or Guwahati has a valid reasoning behind it. IIT-Roorkee's civil is considered one of the best among all the IITs.

However, Tripathi's friend Ayush Ranjan with a JEE (Advanced) rank 94 and also the topper in the IIT-Guwahati region, is cooling his heels these days. He is sure of getting computer science, mechanical or electrical in the top five IITs. "Based on previous years' record it has been observed that top 350 to 400 AIR holders easily get computer science in any of the five IITs," Ranjan said.

The two pals are, however, overcoming the anxiety by watching films. "Last week we watched Jurassic World and then Kangana Ranaut-Madhavan-starrer Tanu Weds Manu Returns at a multiplex to distract ourselves from the last-minute apprehensions," Ranjan said.