Soaring applications set to trigger spiralling cut-offs

A 40 per cent increase in the number of applications at St Stephen’s College this year is set to trigger a scramble for seats here. Ritika Chopra reports.

A 40 per cent increase in the number of applications at St. Stephen’s College this year is set to trigger a scramble for seats here.

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And the competition will be even more intense as a large number of applicants have scored an aggregate of over 95 per cent.

So much so, that the college expects the cut-offs for most courses to increase by 0.5 to one per cent this year.

St. Stephen’s has received approximately 21,000 applications in all, which is a sizeable jump from 15,000 last year. There 410 seats available across all courses.

“For several courses, the number of candidates scoring 95 per cent and above is far more than the seats available. In such a scenario, cut-offs are bound to be higher than last year’s,” Sanjeev Grewal, teacher and member of the admission committee.

This holds true for Economics (Honours) especially, which is the most sought after stream of the college.

“We have 50 seats and at least 100 candidates, who have notched up an aggregate of 95 per cent and above.” added Grewal. “20 out of the 50 seats are meant for the general category and a bulk of high-scoring students are also from this category. So competition for this group will be stiff.”

“Students seem to have scored well in their Board exam this year and so scramble for seats is a natural fall out,” said Nandita Narain, Tutor for admissions.

The CBSE results this year registered a boom in the number of students with 95 per cent and above. The figure for such students had increased from 2266 in 2008 to 2,708 this year.