A 98 percentile in JEE Main 2026 is considered a good score. At this score, candidates can usually get between ~15,000 \u2013 22,000 (CRL).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you’ve scored around this range, you have a good chance in mid-tiers to newer NITs and IIITs, mainly in branches like ECE, Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, or Chemical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Colleges like NIT Hamirpur, NIT Jalandhar, IIIT Kottayam, and IIIT Surat have seen cutoffs close to this range in past counselling rounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Candidates also have the opportunity to get the CSE, AI branches in NITs, IIITs and state government colleges through state quota and smart counselling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So at 98 percentile, your final college depends a lot on smart choice filling and staying till the last rounds of JOSAA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s why many students check a JEE Main College Predictor<\/strong><\/a> before counselling, it gives a much clearer idea of what\u2019s actually possible at this percentile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your percentile is close to 98, these are some realistic colleges you can expect during counselling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is the list of NITs, IIITs, GFTIs and State Government options for students scoring around 98 percentile in JEE Main 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Students in this range usually start getting core branches in mid-level and newer NITs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For Delhi colleges like DTU and NSUT, home state quota changes the picture completely. Delhi students get a major advantage compared to outside Delhi candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is also the stage where students get confused between \u201cpossible\u201d and \u201crealistic.\u201d A lot of colleges may technically appear in counseling, but not all are practical choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s why many students compare previous cutoff trends before filling their order list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can also try the JEE Main College Predictor 2026<\/strong><\/a> to see what students with similar ranks got in recent counselling rounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is where many students get confused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n IIT admission does not depend on JEE Main percentile directly. IITs use JEE Advanced ranks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So even though 98 percentile is enough to qualify for JEE Advanced in most cases, getting an IIT seat depends entirely on your Advanced performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So if your target is IIT, your focus should shift completely towards JEE Advanced preparation now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are preparing for the next attempt, trying a Free JEE Main 2026 Mock Test<\/strong><\/a> can help you improve speed, accuracy, and time management before the actual exam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A 98 percentile in JEE Main 2026 is definitely a strong score. You may not get every top branch, but many solid opportunities are still open \u2014 especially in NITs, IIITs, and state government colleges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The biggest difference at this stage usually comes from counselling strategy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many students around this percentile improve their final college outcome simply by making smarter counselling decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A. At this stage, counselling strategy matters a lot like staying till final rounds, keeping flexible choices, and understanding realistic cutoff trends.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A. Very important. For example:Delhi students get a major advantage in DTU and NSUT. Also the home state quota also helps in many NITs.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A. In some cases, yes. Colleges like DTU, NSUT, IET Lucknow, or COEP may offer better placements or location advantages compared to lower NIT branches.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A. Yes. Many students around this percentile improve their college or branch in later rounds. A. The most realistic branches usually include: Electrical, ECE, Mechanical, Civil, Chemical, Production, IT or AI-related branches in newer IIITs.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A. For most students, 98 percentile usually falls around the 15,000\u201325,000 CRL rank range, depending on normalization, shift difficulty, and total candidates.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A 98 percentile in JEE Main 2026 is considered a good score. At this score, candidates can usually get between ~15,000 \u2013 22,000 (CRL). If you’ve scored around this range, you have a good chance in mid-tiers to newer NITs and IIITs, mainly in branches like ECE, Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, or Chemical. Colleges like NIT … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":49503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[84,30,31,85],"class_list":["post-49408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jee-main","tag-colleges-at-98-percentile","tag-jee-main-2026","tag-jee-main-college-predictor","tag-nits-with-98-percentile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeeprep.co.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeeprep.co.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeeprep.co.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeeprep.co.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeeprep.co.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49408"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/jeeprep.co.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49504,"href":"https:\/\/jeeprep.co.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49408\/revisions\/49504"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeeprep.co.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeeprep.co.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeeprep.co.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeeprep.co.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Top Colleges at 98 Percentile in JEE Main 2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
NITs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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IIITs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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GFTIs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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State Government Colleges<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Are IITs Possible at 98 Percentile?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Why Counselling Strategy Changes Everything<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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FAQs<\/h2>\n\n\n
Q. What matters most after getting 98 percentile?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Q. Is the home state quota important at 98 percentile?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Q. Are state government colleges better than lower NITs?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Q. Do JoSAA Round 5 and CSAB really help at this rank?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Cutoffs in newer NITs and IIITs often drop during Round 5, Round 6, and CSAB counselling.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nQ. Which branches are most realistic at 98 percentile?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Q. What rank can I expect at 98 percentile in JEE Main 2026?<\/strong><\/h3>\n