NEW DELHI: St Stephen’s College on Saturday released its cutoff list for the coming academic season, springing a surprise as the minimum benchmark did not register an increase for the first time in years in the general category.
In certain subjects, the cutoff fell by 0.25-0.5 percentage points and remained more or less the same in others.
Though this comes as relief for students, qualifying to St Stephen’s still requires at least 95% marks in the Class 12 board examinations.
The cutoff for Economics, the most sought-after course in the college, fell by 0.25% percentage points compared to last year for students across streams. But you have to score 90% in Mathematics to qualify for the subject.
For Economics, the cutoff for Commerce students is 98.25%, higher than Science students who have to score 97.25%.
“It is surprising that the cutoff for a Commerce student who would have studied both Economics and Math is higher than for a Science student who would have not studied the subject in Class 12. When seen in that light, this cutoff seems quite unrealistic,” said a teacher of the college who did not want to be named.
The cutoffs for History and Economics are the same this year. This will mean fewer students will appear for the History test and interview as they are generally held after that of Economics. “The whole purpose of the interview is defeated. It is generally true that a student applying for History would have also applied for Economics… Last year even though the cutoff was different, only 50% students appeared for the (History) seat,” said another teacher on condition of anonymity.
{{/usCountry}}The cutoffs for History and Economics are the same this year. This will mean fewer students will appear for the History test and interview as they are generally held after that of Economics. “The whole purpose of the interview is defeated. It is generally true that a student applying for History would have also applied for Economics… Last year even though the cutoff was different, only 50% students appeared for the (History) seat,” said another teacher on condition of anonymity.
{{/usCountry}}The teachers did not want to be quoted allegedly because of a gag order from the principal.
As per the college notification, four students will compete for every seat of BA (Hons) Economics, History and English, while five will compete for every BA (Hons) Mathematics seat. Six applicants per seat will compete for every BA (Hons) Sanskrit, Philosophy, BSc (Hons) in Chemistry, Physics and BA and BSc courses.
The cutoff for English is the highest with 98% for Science students, 99% for Commerce and 97.5 % for Humanities. For BA Programme, the cutoff increases by 0.5 percentage points for Science (96.5) and Commerce (97%) students compared to last year.
A similar trend was seen in Science courses. Only Physics (97.33%) saw 0.33 percent points increase compared to last year.
Teachers say the number of high-scorers in Mathematics decreased, which may have pulled down the cutoffs. The decrease across streams is only for general students. For students in the SC/ST category, the cutoff increased across all streams.
A religious minority institution, the college reserves 50% seats for Christian candidates. Their cutoffs are usually lower than the general and reserved categories.
College sources said they received fewer applications across 11 programmes this year compared to last year.
Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.
Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.