The wait was over for several hundred students when St Stephen's College flagged off its interview process on Monday, with the departments of English, Economics and Physics conducting the first round.
Large sections of those shortlisted had skipped the interviews in the past two years. This trend, however, was not repeated this year.
A record number of students turned up for the interviews, with college authorities stating that only 4-5% of the students had not come.
While the college had set the bar high for its applicants, interviewers claimed they were satisfied with the quality of the candidates and their presentation during the interview.
"The turnout was very good this year and more than 95% of the candidates shortlisted had come for the interviews. We were quite satisfied with the quality of students who had come. In English itself, more than 90% of the students had come for interviews. We took note of their personality, what they wanted to do and why they wanted to study the subject," said Karen Gabriel, professor of English, St Stephen's College.
{{/usCountry}}"The turnout was very good this year and more than 95% of the candidates shortlisted had come for the interviews. We were quite satisfied with the quality of students who had come. In English itself, more than 90% of the students had come for interviews. We took note of their personality, what they wanted to do and why they wanted to study the subject," said Karen Gabriel, professor of English, St Stephen's College.
{{/usCountry}}The interview process, which left many applicants daunted, largely tested their conceptual clarity of the subject that they had applied for. In addition to this, some interviewees claimed the panellists had asked them application-based questions, which were a combination of real-life scenarios as well as concepts from the subject.
"The interviewers were largely looking at how clear my concepts were. They were looking at why I wanted to study the subject since I had done well in other subjects from the Commerce stream as well. There were a few tricky questions which had me puzzled, but I think it was most important to keep one's cool and admit if you didn't know anything, instead of lying," said a student, who had come for the interview process.
However, in the days to come, the college's professors said that the process would continue to remain stringent, with the prime focus being on students' aptitude towards the subject and holistic development.
"No matter what subject students are coming to interview for, we will continue to focus on whether or not they possess the aptitude for the subject, along with their ability of critical analysis and their general perspective on what they would like to do in future," Gabriel added.