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DU Admissions 2025: Spotlight on ECA trials, testing talent and toughness
At theatre trials, in Miranda House college at North Campus, the DU aspirants recently gave their best shot for ECA quota. Here's how they faced the competition
Young hopefuls from across the country show up with backpacks of ambition, faces lit with nervous energy, and one goal in mind: to make it to that coveted seat through sheer performance. Such was the environment at the trails of Extra-Curricular Activities (ECA) in Delhi University’s undergraduate courses. But hitting the bulls-eye is no mean feat! And why not since 75% weightage is given to ECA performance and 25% to the CUET score.
Hence, performing beyond the regular script-and-rehearsal gig were some DU aspirants who turned up last week from various parts of India. We caught up with some who were called for theatre trials at Miranda House in North Campus. Being handed surprise prompts on the spot, these young guns were pushed by the judges to shed layers of inhibition and step into characters they had never met before. For some, it was a moment of quiet collapse under pressure. But for others, it became the unexpected spark that lit up the room.
After spending nearly three minutes on stage – trying to impress the judges with performative storytelling – a visibly anxious Ujjwal Shrivastava, a resident of Delhi, shivered as he heard the judges exclaim: “You are failing to show what you really have in you. You’ve got one minute to prove why you deserve to be here.” Thirty seconds of silence and then something clicked, as if he broke free of his own nerves and delivered a show-stopping improv that compelled the jury to sit up, clapping, and beaming, saying: “Look, this is you... Brilliant!”
Looking back at those moments spent on the stage, Ujjwal says, “I had four minutes to perform, and all the prep I’d done suddenly felt like nothing when I stood before the judges. But when they said one minute, something shifted. I just thought, this is it and I broke loose. I feel so happy and free right now and I am hopeful that I will be scored well.”
It’s sure about breaking inhibitions and that’s what was proved by Suhani Kumari, another aspirant from Delhi, who delivered a monologue and was asked by the judges why wasn’t she sounding confident. She confessed: “I got drenched in the rain and now I’m freezing in the AC.” The ACs were promptly turned off, as a judge said, “Bas itni si baat thi? Now let go and perform like no one’s watching”. Nervous yet determined, she broke into a lively dance and sang aloud to popular Bhojpuri song Jab Lagawelu Tu Lipistic, leaving everyone in splits and cheers. “With the traffic and rain, I nearly missed my slot and that made me super nervous,” Suhani admitted later, adding, “But I reminded myself why I was here. I really wanted good scores to get into a good college and everything kind of hinged on this very moment. So I told myself, forget everything, just dance and enjoy it.”
But there were also some like Mohit from Delhi and Geetanjali from Jhansi , for whom the trials felt calm and confident. While Mohit slipped into his character with ease, Geetanjali commanded the stage from the moment she stepped on it. “I want to get into Hansraj College and pursue English (Hons). I’ve been visualising myself on that stage for days,” said Mohit, adding, “So when my moment came, it felt easy and smooth and I really wanted to fuel my dream with that performance.” Geetanjali, who had travelled all the way from Jhansi to the Capital, knew there was no room for error. “I was doing a solo sketch with props and had just four minutes to show what I had. Fitting everything into that short time was tough, but I kept thinking about how badly I want to get into DU. Coming from so far made me focus even more and give it everything I had,” she said.
“These students carry the weight of their futures. They come in with talent but also fear. Our job isn’t just to judge but to draw out what they don’t even know they’re holding back,” said a jury member on the condition of anonymity, adding, “Stage presence, spontaneity, how they use the space — these are what we’re really looking for and are scoring them on.”
