# Meerut student who missed JEE Advanced joins ISRO as scientist 2026-08-05T23:18:47+00:00 | Health & Science | Indian Opinion Desk The Economic Times reported on Sanket Kumar of Meerut, whose score in JEE Advanced 2021 fell two marks short. He took a drop year and worked through it alone, relying on YouTube lectures and past question papers instead of a coaching institute, and passed JEE Main and JEE Advanced in 2022. That took him to the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology at Thiruvananthapuram, where he read Aerospace Engineering, chose vibration and acoustics as his specialisation, and finished on 8.2 CGPA. On that record the ISRO Centralised Recruitment Board summoned him straight to an interview, bypassing the written test. Asked there about his technical grounding and the projects he had done, he came away with an appointment as Scientist-Engineer, SC Grade. His family supported him during his preparation. ## Indian Opinion Analysis The sequence here is compact: a two mark shortfall in JEE Advanced 2021, a one year drop spent on YouTube lectures and previous years' question papers without coaching, and a pass in both JEE Main and JEE Advanced the following year. What converted that into an ISRO posting was the 8.2 CGPA Kumar earned at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology while specialising in vibration and acoustics, since the Centralised Recruitment Board called him to interview directly rather than through the written exam. The interview itself covered his technical knowledge and project work, and the appointment that followed is to Scientist-Engineer, SC Grade. ## Coverage - The Times of India Tags: Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Sanket Kumar Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/meerut-boy-missed-iit-admission-by-just-2-marks-self-studied-from-youtube-now-became-a-scientist-at-isro/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/meerut-boy-missed-iit-admission-by-just-2-marks-self-studied-from-youtube-now-became-a-scientist-at-isro/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.