Over 3,000 bifocal seats lie vacant after first merit list

Students hoping to get a seat in the science or commerce bifocal streams can still have hope—3,408 seats, lying vacant after the first round, will be opened up when the department declares the second merit list on Monday at 5pm.

Students hoping to get a seat in the science or commerce bifocal streams can still have hope—3,408 seats, lying vacant after the first round, will be opened up when the department declares the second merit list on Monday at 5pm.

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Friday was the last date for securing provisional admission for students who had made it to the first merit list. Though nearly double the number of students took admission to the science and commerce bifocal streams this year as compared with last year, more than 3,000 seats remain unfilled.

“We were surprised to have so many vacant seats,” said Marie Fernandes, principal of St Andrew’s College in Bandra. “People are very keen to get into these courses.”

The bifocal courses are very popular and have the highest cut-offs because they give students the option of dropping the second language and studying a vocational subject instead.

Colleges surrendered the vacant seats online through the admission website to the education department. “These seats will be opened up in the second round,” said an education department official. “Sometimes students leave these seats when they have already managed to get admission through the minority or management quotas for which the admission process ended earlier.”

“The cut-off is unlikely to drop by more than 1% point,” said Swapne Durve, vice-principal of Mithibai College. “Last year we closed at 94.18%, and that is likely to be the same this year too.”