St Stephen’s College admission process begins today, no entrance test this year as well

In view of the pandemic, the college last year decided to do away with the test and conduct interviews online and give the entire 15 marks on the basis of the interview alone, a process which will be repeated this year as well.

The admissions process to various undergraduate courses at Delhi University’s St Stephen’s College will begin on Thursday. This year, too, the prestigious college will not be holding entrance tests, in view of the Covid-19 pandemic and all interviews will be conducted in the virtual mode, college officials informed on Wednesday.

The last date for submitting applications is August 31. The college will not conduct any entrance tests and all the interviews will be held online. (Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times)

St Stephen’s College, being a religious minority institute (it is administered by the Church of North India), has its own admission process, independent of the cutoff lists announced by DU, and reserves 50% seats for Christian students. After releasing cutoffs for its undergraduate courses, the college conducts tests and interviews, which together have a weightage of 15 marks. The remaining 85 marks are decided on the performance of candidates in their Class 12 assessment.

However, in view of the pandemic, the college last year decided to do away with the test and conduct interviews online and give the entire 15 marks on the basis of the interview alone, a process which will be repeated this year as well.

“The college has asked all departments to prepare question papers for entrance tests as a backup, but keeping in mind the pandemic situation it has been decided the college will not be conducting entrance tests this year as well and the interviews will be conducted in online mode. The prospectus and forms will be available on the St Stephen’s website from 10am Thursday,” said college principal John Varghese.

The last date of submitting applications is August 31.

St Stephen’s offers around 450 seats in 11 undergraduate courses, including BA (Hons) in English, History, Economics, Philosophy, Sanskrit, BSc (Hons) in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, among others. All applicants have to register with the Delhi University website before filling the St Stephen’s forms.

Meanwhile, the college has started the registration process for admissions to its hostel for the academic session 2021-22. The last date of registration for availing of the hostel facility is Friday (August 6). In the application form the college has sought details about the vaccination status of candidates and asked them to upload the certificates, if vaccinated.

“The idea is to collect data on the number of students who are vaccinated and who are not before the beginning of the academic session. The college can later facilitate vaccination of students who are yet to take the jab,” said a senior official at the college.