100% cut-offs: DU principals say it will help cut over admissions
The Delhi University (DU) announced its first cut-off list on Friday. At least eight colleges declared 100% cut-off in eleven courses such as Political Science, Computer Science, and BCom.
New Delhi: Even as the first cut-off list released by Delhi University colleges have broken all records, with eligibility scores mostly ranging from 98-100% for popular subjects such as English, Political Science, Economics, Computer Science, and BCom (Honours), principals across colleges urged students to not lose heart and expressed hope that seats may free up in the courses as applicants tend to switch colleges in subsequent cut-off lists.
DU Principals’ Association (DUPA) president Jaswinder Singh, who is also the principal of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College which has a 100% cut-off for its BCom course, said that most colleges were being cautious by setting extremely high cut-off as they want to avoid over admissions. This year, 38 out of 54 DU colleges are offering BCom (Honours) to students with a score of 98% and above.
“Last year, admissions under popular courses such as English, BCom, and Economics had closed under first list itself and even then, we saw over admissions. We reopened Commerce courses after the fifth list as some of our students had either moved to other colleges or cleared DU entrance tests for other courses and hence cancelled their admission. Another trend is that in off-campus colleges such Kamala Nehru, Gargi, Satyawati, Bharati or Vivekananda colleges, admissions really begin after the second cut-off (as students wait for seats to free up in their desired courses),” he said.
On Friday, eight colleges declared 100% cut-off in eleven courses such as Political Science, Computer Science, and BCom.
Applicants who take admissions under the first cut-off but wish to change colleges and apply to other colleges under subsequent cut-offs can do so by cancelling their admission and paying a cancellation fee of ₹1,000.
This enables movement of applicants between different colleges of the university or to other institutes, freeing up seats in popular courses in some cases and leading to reduced cut-offs in subsequent lists. However, in the second cut-offs, the dips are mostly marginal.
Last year, over 34,800 students had taken admissions under the first cut-off for the 70,000 undergraduate seats offered by the varsity.
However, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, which had announced 100% cutoff in Political Science, Psychology, and Economics, had not filled its seats under the first cut-off. The college had marginally reduced it in the second cut-off, with a drop of 0.25 percentage points in Political Science and Psychology and one percentage point in Economics.
Last year, students seeking admission in Economics – one of the most sought-after courses – could apply to around 25 colleges under the second cut-off list as admissions were closed in 12 colleges in the first list. A few prominent colleges like Hansraj College, Hindu College, IP College, LSR, Miranda House and SRCC still had seats to fill as a result of which the second cut-off list saw a drop between 0.25-1 percentage point.
Last year, Miranda House too had dropped cut-offs in the second list by 0.25 percentage points in courses such as Economics (98.50%), History (98.50%) and English (98.75%) even as it closed admissions in Political Science with the 99% first cut-off.
In Science courses too, cut-offs in Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics dropped by 0.33 to 0.50 percentage points, ranging between 97% and 98.25% in prominent colleges like Hindu College, Ramjas College, Hansraj College, and Venkateswara College.
For courses such as English (Honours), colleges like Daulat Ram College, Gargi College, and College of Vocational Students dropped their second cut-offs by 1-1.25 percertange points, though the dip was only marginal, from 0.25 to 0.50 percentage points, in colleges such as Hansraj College, Miranda House, LSR, Ramjas College, and Kirori Mal College.
Vibha Chauhan, principal of Kirori Mal College, said students should take admission in eligible colleges instead of waiting for preferred colleges under the first list itself. “Colleges have no prior knowledge about the number of students who will take admission in different courses or the number of over-admissions. There is no way to gauge whether there will be a second list or not (in their preferred college-subject) so students should take admission in eligible colleges. The drop in cut-off percentage depends on the admissions that take place in the particular subject. If there are fewer seats, the drop in cut-off will be marginal.”
With a record number of top-scorers from Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools, which constitute around 70-80% of DU applicants, the cut-offs this year have broken all records. A total of 220,156 students scored 90% or more marks in their Class 12 this year, as compared to 196,620 in 2020 — a jump of nearly 12%. Students scoring 95% or more almost doubled to 70,004 from last year’s 38,686. According to data given to principals, around 1,250 students have a score of above 100% (in best of four subjects) in Class 12 exams.
Admissions under the first cut-off will be conducted between Monday and Wednesday, and the second cut-off list will be released on October 9. The university is expected to release five cut-offs, followed by a special cut-off to fill vacant seats.