Think about it, after clearing the competitions, you sit for a counselling that merely decides which college you go to for the next one year. Based on your rank and preference, you get allotted an institute.
Now you go there and you study the usual syllabus for Engg. I year - a little bit of Computer Science, Electronics, Electrical, Mechanical, Chemical Engineering, a little Maths, Physics, Chemistry - you get the idea. Then at the end of the year, based on your performance, you get allotted an engineering stream. If you show aptitude for Civil Engg. but not for Electronics, no matter how high or low your rank in JEE(let's say), you should get Civil Engg. and not Electronics.
This means that there is a higher likelihood that people graduating from an Engg. Institute will work as as engineers or researchers, instead of going for MBAs, etc. because they got to study something that they loved, and not something that was forced upon them.
It will also give us more incentive to study in first year. Engg. grads will know what I mean. Most of us are hardly able to keep up with the syllabus in first year, and we regret it for the remaining 3/4 years we are in college. If we have a choice, if we are allowed to give more attention to subjects we love and just barely pass in others without screwing up our CG, who won't take it?
I think most Engg. students wish for such a system, once they realize that the branch of study allotted to them based on their AIR has nothing to do with their interests and capabilities. So many of us just while our time away in college, because we just don't 'get' what the profs are saying.
A prof once told my class,"The difference between the top ranker and the last ranker is just 10 marks". Think about it.
