Birla Institute of Technology, (BIT) Patna, has invited applications from students ranking as low as 80,000 in All Indian Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) this year, giving tech aspirants faring not-so-well in the test a chance to get admission in a premier institute.

A. Narayan, the registrar of BIT-Patna, said: “As we do not conduct the admission process on the merit list prepared by CCB (Central Counselling Board), we have sought applications from students securing AIEEE rank up to 80,000 (general category) for the first counselling.”

The institute will complete the locking of seats for its first counselling on June 29 and declare its first merit list on July 2. Based on the merit list, admission will start on July 3. The second and third merit lists would be declared on July 10 and July 20, respectively.

Courses in computers, electronics and communication, electrical and mechanical engineering are the most sought-after at BIT-Patna. Classes will start on July 23 this session.

The admission process will start at National Institute of Technology, Patna, as well. It will complete locking of seats on June 25.

Admission to these colleges is conducted on the basis of ranks in AIEEE. Based on the results, CCB prepares a merit list of students who opt for admission to 30 NITs, five IITs, government-funded institutions and 45 self-financed engineering colleges. BIT-Patna, however, prepares its own list based on the AIEEE results.

NIT-Patna placement officer Sanjay Kumar said: “The locking of seats will end on June 25. The institute will declare its merit list on June 27.”

Electronics and communications engineering is the most sought-after course at the institute. For the first counselling, students securing rank up to 6,000 could be called. After electronics, mechanical, civil and computer sciences are popular courses at NIT-Patna.

If the seats of the college do not fill up in the first counselling, students would be called for second, third and fourth counselling between July 6 and August 3. Students with rank up to 15,000 could be called. As NIT is a government-funded college, students in Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes category with rank up to 40,000 and Other Backward Classes with rank up to 1 lakh would also be called for counselling.