No downturn in Commerce craze

The cutoff for Commerce — both Honours and Pass — is set to soar if the number of applications received by Delhi University colleges is any indication. Colleges have been deluged with applications for B Com Programme and B Com (H), which have emerged as the two most popular courses, reports Swaha Sahoo.

The cutoff for Commerce — both Honours and Pass — is set to soar if the number of applications received by Delhi University colleges is any indication.

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Colleges have been deluged with applications for B Com Programme and B Com (H), which have emerged as the two most popular courses.

BA Programme is a close third.

Initial analysis of application received by colleges also shows a huge demand for English and Economics.

The rush for forms, however, may not be the true indicator of of genuine Commerce aspirants since most students apply for a number of streams.

Hindu College, which offers 30 B Com (H) seats in general category, has received 30,528 forms.

Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) — which posted a cutoff of 94 per cent - has received 28,167 applications through the common preadmission forms.

Even an off-campus college such as Keshav Mahavidyalaya has received 21,784 for 78 seats in B Com (H).

Ram Lal Anand in South Campus raked in a total of 51,970 forms for its B Com (H) and pass programmes.

“The common admission form makes it easy for everyone to apply everywhere,” said PC Jain, SRCC’s principal. “But it makes it equally difficult for colleges to analyse the numbers and decide on the cutoff.”

SRCC has received 3,000 applications for 91 reserved OBC seats. In the general category, 605 students with 94 per cent and above have applied for B Com (H).

“We have to filter students according to their subject combinations. The final figure of acceptable candidates will be a little different,” said Jain.

While the low performance of public school students in CBSE Class XII English paper has pulled cutoffs down in 2008, the high marks scored in English this year will push up cutoffs for BA (H) English, said experts.

“The number of high scorers applying for BA (H) English this year is huge. This will definitely push up the cutoff since the number of seats is limited,” said Samanyu Satpathy, head of English department at DU.

Notably, Hans Raj College has received 22,891 applications for 57 seats in the general category in BA English (H). Sri Venkateswara has received a whopping 20,079 forms for 19 seats.

The BA Programme at Hindu College has also emerged a clear favourite with 28,141 applications for just 19 general category seats.

The course also notched up high cutoffs last year.