Lower turnout on Day 1 as colleges set bar high

Delhi University colleges saw lower than expected turnout on Thursday after they pushed the cut-off bar higher this year.

Exercising caution in the first cut-off list issued a night before, two colleges this time had set the threshold at 100 per cent for admission to the BSc (Computer Science) course. Surge in number of high-scoring applicants had pushed to the cut-offs to a near perfect score for popular courses in commerce, humanities and science.

Indraprastha College for Women, where cut-off ranged from 97 to 100 percent for admission to BSc (Hons) Computer Science, 97 per cent for BCom, Psychology and English and 98 per cent for those choosing B A (Honours) Economics, admitted almost 50 students on day one.

Based on the first admission cut-off list, students can take admission until June 27.

“For Psychology (Hons) we received eight-nine admissions on Thursday. It is one of our flagship courses,” IP College principal Babli Moitra Saraf said.

On high cut-offs this year, she said, “We have to somewhat caliberate the intake keeping in mind the seats and resource limitations. We exercise caution rather than over admit.”

In Ram Lal Anand 40 students, Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College (74), Daulat Ram College (110) and Hindu College (117) turned up for admission on Thursday.

Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), which is among the most sought after colleges, is likely to come up with a second cut-off list despite posting 98.25 per cent for BA (Hons) Economics and 97.375 per cent for BCom (Hons).

This year, the cut-off ceiling and penalty clauses has disappointed thousands of aspirants. Non-Commerce students wanting to study BCom (Hons) face a disadvantage of 2.5 per cent in the ‘best of four’ aggregate.

“How is one expected to score beyond 100? Isn't this unbelievable,” said Ruchi Vohra, an SRCC aspirant.

However, a faculty member at SRCC, BK Goel told Deccan Herald that response on first day of admissions was little less enthusiastic when compared to last year.