FYJC first merit list to be out on Friday, cut-offs expected to rise

Students whose names appear in the first merit list will have time till 6pm on August 30 to complete the admission confirmation process. A list of vacant seats after the first round will be displayed on the admissions website after 10pm on August 30, following which the second merit list is scheduled to be announced on August 31.

After much anticipation, the first general merit list for first-year junior college (FYJC) aspirants will be released on Friday. Several minority institutes have already started admitting students for their quota seats including management, minority and in-house quotas, and while the cut-offs have been similar to last year, colleges are expecting higher cut-offs in the general merit list.

The merit list will be announced at 10am on Friday. (PHOTO FOR REPRESENTATION) (HT FILE)

“Minority quota seats are usually filled up by students out of fear, because for top scorers the main aim is seats in bifocal courses, which are only available in the general merit lists. Even though minority quota lists were similar to last year, high scores of Class 10 students this year will definitely push overall cut-offs,” said Marie Fernandes, principal, St Andrew’s College in Bandra.

While cut-offs for science and arts streams remained similar or lower than last year, the demand for seats in the commerce stream at St Andrew’s College witnessed an increase this year compared to last year, she said.

At St Xavier’s College, too, the cut-off for the arts course, a popular choice for many, surprisingly dipped by 1.5% in the minority list released last week. Similarly, at RD National College in Bandra, cut-offs for all three streams remained similar to last year, said the principal.

While the provisional general merit list was released on August 23, the first general merit list will be released on Friday at 10am. “In 2021-22, common entrance test (CET) was introduced for Class 11 admission. This CET, however, has been cancelled as per a government resolution dated August 11. AS per directions of the Bombay high court, instructions have been given by the education department to start the process of FYJC admission in the state,” said a circular released by the department of secondary and higher secondary education on Friday.

This year, Class 10 board exams across several school education boards had to be scrapped due to rising Covid-19 cases. Results for the Class 10 batch was instead based on students’ performance in Class 9 and 10 combined. This decision helped boost marks of students across education boards. While overall success rate of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) students was 99.5% this year, ICSE student in Maharashtra and CBSE students from the Pune region (which includes Mumbai) boasted of a 100% success rate.

“Like degree college admissions, all FYJC admission process will also be conducted online only, so we are preparing for an overload of work to be done on Friday. Students are anyway anxious so we want to make sure our staff and teachers are available to guide and help students,” said the principal of a suburban college.

Students whose names appear in the first merit list will have time till 6pm on August 30 to complete the admission confirmation process. A list of vacant seats after the first round will be displayed on the admissions website after 10pm on August 30, following which the second merit list is scheduled to be announced on August 31.