FYJC Round 4: Fewer than 1 lakh seats left, principals tell Mumbai students to choose carefully

Of the 2.3 lakh applicants, more than 1.37 lakh took admission in the three previous rounds, while the rest are awaiting a seat in the upcoming round

Fewer than one lakh seats are available for the final round of admissions to first year junior college (FYJC), which will begin on Sunday. Education officials and principals have advised students to choose colleges wisely in the fourth round as only a handful of seats are vacant in coveted colleges.

The race will be intense as only 93,000 seats are available in the general category. (HT)

Of the 2.3 lakh applicants, more than 1.37 lakh took admission in the three previous rounds, while the rest are awaiting a seat in the upcoming round. But the race will be intense as only 93,000 seats are available in the general category. There are an additional 23,000 quota seats —minority, management, and in-house — but they will be filled at the college level.

City principals fear that the cut-offs for arts will shoot up in the fourth round as only a couple of unfilled seats remain in sought-after colleges. The cut-off mark for commerce are likely to stay the same, but that of science will fall further, they predicted.

At St Xavier’s College, Fort, there is only one seat in arts, while there are 21 seats in science. Ramniwas Ruia College, Matunga, has two and six vacant seat in arts (English medium) and science. All seats in arts (Marathi) have been filled. Similarly, Jai Hind College, Churchgate, has eight vacant seats each in arts and commerce and 26 in science.

But Wadia expressed concerns over the large number of students yet to secure admission.

“Many of the kids did not take colleges allotted to them as they were not their first choice, they are waiting to get seats in their most preferred college, but they are playing a risky game,” said Wadia.

He pointed out that several students are unaware of the new admission rules and are still counting on colleges opening offline admissions at the end of the round, although all admissions will be strictly done online this year. “The education department needs to counsel such students and brief them on the new rules.”

Education officials advised students not to wait for offline admissions.