No relief for Class 11 aspirants as top college cutoffs stay sky-high

Mumbai Class 11 admission cutoffs disappoint students as many colleges see high or rising marks, despite expectations for drops due to lower Class 10 scores.

MUMBAI: Students hoping for some relief in the second round of Class 11 admissions were in for a disappointment, as cutoffs at several popular colleges remained high and, in some cases, even increased.

No relief for Class 11 aspirants as top college cutoffs stay sky-high

Many students and parents had expected cutoffs to fall this year because Class 10 board scores were generally lower. However, strong competition for seats in Mumbai’s most sought-after colleges ensured that admission marks remained largely unchanged.

According to the second merit list for the Mumbai region, 1,46,827 students were eligible for admission. Of these, 71,089 students were allotted seats. Significantly, 29,569 students secured admission to their first-choice college, while 12,074 got their second preference and 8,603 their third. In all, nearly half the students allotted seats managed to get admission to one of their top three preferred colleges.

Commerce continued to be the most sought-after stream. Of the total seats allotted in the second round, 39,187 went to Commerce students, compared with 24,418 in Science and 7,484 in Arts. The figures underline the continuing popularity of Commerce and Science courses among students.

The intense demand was reflected in college cut-offs. In the Commerce stream, the cutoff at Podar College rose from 94.2% in the first list to 94.4% in the second, while Vaze-Kelkar College saw its cut-off increase from 92.4% to 93.4%. Several other colleges recorded only marginal declines, frustrating students who had hoped for a sharper drop.

Top institutions such as HR College, NM College, MCC College, Dahanukar College, Ruia College and St Xavier’s College continued to admit students with marks of around 90% or higher, indicating that competition for seats remains intense.

The Arts stream witnessed only minor changes. At Jai Hind College, the cut-off dipped slightly from 89% to 88.8%, while Ruia College saw a fall from 91.8% to 91.4%. Vaze-Kelkar College recorded a marginal drop from 89.4% to 89.2%. In many colleges, cut-offs remained almost unchanged.

A similar trend was visible in the Science stream. Colleges such as Ruia, Ruparel, St Xavier’s, KJ Somaiya and Bandodkar continued to attract heavy demand, with cut-offs remaining above 90%.

While parents are complaining about the delay in admission process after they visited the colleges to confirm their kids admission, Mahesh Palkar, director secondary education clarified that due to some technical issues the admission process was stuck for an hour after releasing the list later it was run properly.