[tokyoHacker]

On a personal note the brand IIT has helped me in making me what I am (whatever that be). Even though I did not make it to IIT, the aspiration to get into IIT made me push myself to my limits. The preparation to get in helped me in getting top score in my state engineering exam allowing me to gain admission to the “best” engineering college of my state. That led to easy job placements, getting selected for lead role ( my manager actually said that he selected me just by the Engineering school I graduated from.. He was happy so I guess I didn’t do too bad on real life performance parameters) and getting accepted for research based masters by prof who knew about the college.

So coming back to the point, the IITs inspire you to dream and be ambitious and bold. I think for that matter alone, the premium value of the brand needs to be preserved. It has helped people from small towns like mine, where people don't know the difference between IIT and ITI, to aim high.