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Delhi University first cut-off list out on Thursday, may increase by 0.5-1 percentage point
DU will announce the first cut-off list by late Thursday evening. College officials say qualification mark may go up by 0.5-1 percentage points.
Delhi University (DU) colleges will release the first cutoff list for admissions to undergraduate courses by Thursday evening. Officials at almost all colleges said the cut-off for popular courses is unlikely to go down and may increase by 0.5 to 1 percentage points.
Last year, the highest cut off across all courses was 98.75% for BA(programme) at Lady Shri Ram College.
Explaining the criteria of fixing the cut-offs, principal of Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), Simrit Kaur, said the colleges receive the data on number of applications per course from the university and analyse it. “Colleges arbitrarily take a percentage and then see how many students from among the total applicants have scores above that percentage. If the figure is less than the number of seats available in the respective college in that particular course then we consider a lesser percentage,” she said.
SRCC, which is one of the most sought after commerce college in DU, offers only two courses – BCom (hons) and Economics (hons). It had last year fixed the highest cut-off for BCom (hons) at 97.75% and Economics (hons) at 98.5%. Kaur said that cut-offs for both the courses are unlikely to go down this year. “The university gives aspirants the option of applying in as many colleges as possible. Almost all those who apply for these two courses at other colleges also apply for the SRCC. Any candidate who applies and meets the cut-off is entitled to take admission. There is no first come first serve option. So we are very cautious while fixing the cut –offs,” she said.
In Delhi University, colleges are supposed to give admission to all applicants who meet the announced cut-off criteria. There is no first come first serve policy. Many times colleges have to increase some seats to accommodate the eligible students. “This is one of the main reasons why colleges fix such high cutoffs,” said a member of the university’s admission committee, who wished not to be named.
Rama Sharma, principal of Hansraj College, said cut-offs are primarily decided on the basis of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) class 12 results because majority of the applicants are from CBSE. This year, DU has received 2,58,388 applications for 62,000 seats in undergraduate courses. Of which, 2,05,434 are from the CBSE board.
“The cut-off definitely will not go down because the CBSE class 12 result has improved this year. The number of those who have scored 95% and above has increased this time. So, there is a high probability that the cut-off for some courses will increase by 0.5 to 1 percentage points,” she said.
This year, as many as 17,693 students have scored 95% and above marks in CBSE class 12 exams, substantially higher from last year’s 12,737. There was also a considerable increase in the number of students getting more than 90% — from last year’s 72,599 to 94,299 students this year.
Ramjas College principal Manoj Khanna also said that there is a possibility of slight increase in the cut-offs of some sought after courses in his college. “When over 94,000 students have got 90% and above marks it is highly unlikely to expect any decline in the cut-off. There is a possibility that there will be a slight increase only,” he said.
In 2018, Ramjas College had last announced the highest cut-off for BA (hons) in History at 97%.
Many off-campus colleges say that they are trying to fix “realistic” cut-offs in the first list. Manoj Sinha, principal of Aryabhatta College said, “Admissions in off campus colleges picks up only after second or third cut-off lists because majority of the candidates first try to enrol in on-campus colleges. So, we try and fix a realistic cut-off to ensure there are some admissions in under first list as well.”
