IIT Roorkee Alumni Recall Academic Pressure, Say Faculty Support Can Make a Difference

Former students share experiences of dissertation struggles, mental health challenges and the pressure to perform at the country’s premier engineering institutions.

For Kartik Mehboobani, a difficult master’s dissertation at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee became a turning point in his academic journey. When he struggled with the fundamentals of his assigned research topic, he recalled being told by his guide that he did not belong at the institution. The experience left him without a supervisor and forced him to repeat a year, despite having no pending coursework.

His experience, reported by The Times of India, highlights a concern raised by current and former IIT students: the support students receive during academic difficulties can depend significantly on the faculty members they approach. The accounts have emerged amid renewed scrutiny of how premier engineering institutions respond to academic pressure and student distress following the death of IIT Bombay student Sahil Wakode.

Mehboobani, who graduated from IIT Roorkee in 2018 and now works as a senior consultant in Pune, said dissertation projects were assigned according to grade point averages rather than students’ interests. After struggling with his allotted topic, he eventually found a professor willing to understand his situation.

The professor offered him a relatively manageable project, allowing him to devote more time to finding employment. Mehboobani said the support helped him navigate a difficult period. “I wish there were more people like him in the system,” he told the newspaper.

Mental Health Concerns Extend Beyond Academics

Gokul Ramachandran, another IIT Roorkee graduate from the 2018 batch, recalled approaching a professor about sleep difficulties associated with depression. He said the response he received left him feeling that his concerns were not being taken seriously.

Ramachandran, now a senior product manager at a technology company in Bengaluru, also described how students could feel humiliated when seeking extensions, attendance concessions or help passing a course. He said some interactions with faculty made asking for academic support feel like seeking a personal favour.

The pressure is not limited to students who struggle academically. Aditya, a senior software engineer at Meta who graduated from IIT Kharagpur in 2019, recalled feeling ashamed when he ranked around the middle of his class after being a high-performing school student. He later completed a master’s degree at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States.

However, Aditya cautioned against placing the entire responsibility on individual professors, arguing that the pressure also stems from a grades-focused culture and intense competition for high-paying jobs.

Need for a More Supportive Campus Environment

An IIT professor told The Times of India that students often arrive carrying years of competitive pressure, which can intensify during examinations. Although IIT campuses offer counselling services, the professor said institutions need to do more to address students’ psychological needs.

IIT Bombay’s Student Wellness Centre offers individual counselling, group therapy, mindfulness workshops and peer-support programmes.

Students from less represented social and educational backgrounds may face additional challenges adjusting to campus expectations. One first-generation learner at IIT Bombay told the newspaper that faculty members’ backgrounds and assumptions could make it harder for students from different educational environments to feel understood.

The accounts underline the importance of accessible mentoring, sensitive responses to mental health concerns and transparent academic procedures. For students navigating demanding courses, timely support from a faculty member can make the difference between feeling isolated and finding a way forward.

The challenge for institutions is to ensure that such support does not depend solely on finding an exceptionally sympathetic professor, but becomes a consistent part of campus life.