Why do India’s brightest find Harvard easier to enter than IITs?

For many Indian students, gaining admission to Harvard feels less daunting than cracking the IIT entrance exam. While IITs admit just 0.2% of applicants, Harvard accepts around 3–5%. This stark disparity reveals a deeper crisis within India’s education system—one that often values rote endurance over holistic potential, pushing the country’s brightest minds to seek recognition abroad.