Cut-offs at Delhi University (DU) are set to head north all thanks to the large number of applications received by colleges this year.
An increase of 7,000 seats across all affiliated institutions as part of OBC expansion triggered a huge rush of aspirants this time.
So much so that DU received the highest number of common forms ever — 1.13 lakh approximately.
Glutted with applications, colleges are left with little choice but to pitch higher cut-offs in the first list for popular courses such as B.Com (Honours), Economics (Honours) and English (Honours).
Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) is a case in point. The already saturated cut-off range of 94.5 per cent to 98 per cent of 2008 is set to reach another dizzying height with an increase of up to .75 per cent this year.
Other North Campus colleges — Ramjas College, Hindu College, Kirori Mal College — too will embrace the trend with qualifying percentage across popular courses registering an increase anywhere between .5 per cent to two per cent.
“This year the number of applicants across all courses has registered an increase between 25 and 40 per cent,” said a teacher of Kirori Mal College on conditions of anonymity as he is not authorised to talk to the media.
{{/usCountry}}“This year the number of applicants across all courses has registered an increase between 25 and 40 per cent,” said a teacher of Kirori Mal College on conditions of anonymity as he is not authorised to talk to the media.
{{/usCountry}}“An increase of .5 per cent in most courses become inevitable the moment we factor this in while calculating the cut-off.”
The academic performance of students, too, is much better than last year’s.
“We have 250 seats reserved for general candidates in B.Com (Honours) and about 370 of our general category applicants have scored above 95 per cent,” said Gopalji (who uses one name), admission coordinator, SRCC.
The high cut-offs, however, are also an indication of colleges playing safe.
“Our first list is as high as it has been in the last couple of years,” said Pratibha Jolly, principal, Miranda House.
“One of the reasons being that we want to play safe and not admit more than what we require.”
“Earlier we could afford to exceed our sanctioned strength,” said Devraj Mookerjee, associate professor of English at Ramjas College. “But the infrastructure expansion is clearly not happening in consonance with the increase in OBC quotas.”
“So one of the intentions of pitching high cut-offs could be that colleges want to strictly steer clear of over admission,” he said.
The English cut-off at Ramjas this year is notched up by two to three per cent.