Its not just with IIT Kanpur, its in all IITs.
But on the other hand, not all fingers are same. Some of them accept their limitations or others abilities.

Back when we were in IITK, I heard this line which at the time seemed funny. “People say we have a superiority complex. We don’t have a superiority complex, we are superior!”

I think they have a right to be so… They prepare for as many as two years and crack the toughest admission test in the country to be where they are .. And its not a hidden fact that they go on to be the privileged ones in whatever field they pursue… even against the more qualified ones from other institutes… not only because they come from a great institute and had a terrific education … but also because they deserve .. because they really are the cream of the crop….
Indeed it can be argued that not all fingers are equal.. and not all at IITs are bright.. but majority of them deserve to be there… which is evident by all having cracked the JEE…
For others, even at IITs, lets admit that they don’t face such a stiff competition as those for the B.Tech. M.Techs, MBAs, etc. all are relatively much easier to get through to IIT than B.Techs.
Disclaimer: I am not a B.Tech from IIT. I am an MBA from IIT Kanpur, yet believe that B.Tech’s were far better than many MBA students in my course.

Nice question! I think its sometimes the brand (IIT) that people don’t know how to use. They know who they are!
No doubt they are getting a good education but what matters is precisely how they use it and make a good living. Many of them crack the JEE and then don’t know what the heck to do after that. Keep up the brand image folks!….don’t ruin it by being snobish and show an attitude.

Let me talk in general because always there are exceptions. As then the President Mr. Abdul Kalam said in his speech in the PAN IIT 2006 in Mumbai, his friend opined that there is nothing great about IITs but what is great is the intake. IITs can not take an average student and make him top performer. IITs take the best talent in the whole country (in general), as intake to their programs. So, in my opinion, someone who is in IIT has gone through numerous filtering process in his life to prove herself/himself again and again that she/he is different. Getting into IIT is just an endorsement. Once again, I am not saying that everyone who goes through IIT is great. There are exceptions. At the same time, there are numerous individuals who did not go through the IIT system but are cream of the society. People argue that if you take a list of 1,000 top leaders of the world, only a very small percentage are highly educated. At the same time, if you take the top performer IITans/IIMans, they are not necessarily doing great in their career. So, in my opinion, IITans certainly have superior analytical skills compared to others but that may or may not be enough to be successful in their life (strong analytical skill is a required but not sufficient condition to become successful). Now the question is: if artificial sense of superiority is justified? My answer is yes and no. Yes, if they think they are different than others. No, if they think that others can not become more successful than them.

I feel it is unfair to generalize. I have met some of the most down to earth people in my 4 years at IIT.

Even for a moment if we assume what you say is true. question is extremely loaded. You are calling something ‘artificial’ at the same time asking if it is ‘justified’.

I think most IITians think of themselves and act as regular guys. There is some degree of confidence in IITians that can be labeled as a sense of superiority (its real not aritificial). Its not what the IITians do or how they conduct themselves in a professional or social environment, its the graduates of other engineering schools who percieve IITians to be superior.

I think you are confusing superiority with a belief in oneself and some right amount of confidence. Its like Obama’s message “Yes, We can”, not superiority.

I don’t think thats the case based on my experience. The really bright BTech students are from the computer science and electrical streams who give IIT its name. Rest are very ordinary. The real joke are the post graduates who come into IIT and call themselves “IITians”. Most of them are JEE failures!. Disclaimer: No offence meant to anyone here, no not even to PGs.

I have sensed some air of superiority with fresh-out-of-college guys. However any senior pros I have met were very down to earth.

Self-confidence / belief-in-self in general I have observed is higher with IIT B.Tech grads, which I think is a great attribute.

I have met with people from all walks of life. I haven’t found much differentiators other than self-confidence and attitude, both of which imho can be crucial to success or failure.

It is indeed the manifestation of artificial mis perceptions of others about IItians. As they tend to figure out potential intelligence of iit B. tech guys/gals in view of the some how tough test they use to clear. IITians don’t have any fault of their own , of being more intelligent then others anyway.One shud take it naturally…….