Tough journey ahead

It’s barely been a few days since the announcement of the second PUC results. And most students are already running helter skelter from one college to the other grabbing application forms, gathering required documents, making note of the last dates, getting provisional marks card and the list goes on. Most students don’t even have the time to sit down and chalk out a strategy regarding which course to take up in case they don’t make it to a top grade college.

Students have also been facing problems due to the various procedures in different colleges. The clash between interview dates, first list dates and fee payment dates is one such problem. Ann Maria Job, who has applied for B Com in St Joseph’s College of Commerce and Mount Carmel College, says, “I am disappointed that the fees are non refundable. I want to apply in Delhi and Mumbai also, and the confirmation of my seat there will take a little longer. But if I don’t pay the fees here, I will lose my seat. So I will end up losing quite a lot of money. At least a part of the fees can be refunded.”

BA applicants in Christ University have been disappointed as well. Even before the second PUC results were announced, the authorities had conducted interviews for BA courses based on the first PUC marks. And those, who had scored less in the first PUC, were denied a seat.

Says Neha Singhal, who had applied at Christ, “I hadn’t obtained good marks in my first PUC so I was rejected. I have got 89 per cent in the second PUC and am eligible for a seat in PSE (Psychology, Sociology and Optional English) combination. But I am unable to apply in Christ because of this unjust format. So I have applied in Jyoti Nivas College now.”

Varsha Vijay has also applied for B Com in Mount Carmel College and St Joseph’s College of Commerce.

“Clash of interview dates and the list being out on different dates are two major problems. I only have two choices and cannot afford to lose out on either. Though I have scored good marks, such problems make it tough for me to secure a seat in a college of my choice,” she says.

Most students dislike these entrance exams and interviews. Maria Shobana says, “Just two months back, we wrote our final exams. It’s weird to write a test again based on a syllabus which we are yet to study. How are we supposed to know something even before we have started studying it? In order to avoid all this, I have taken up a course where I don’t have to write an entrance test and my ability can be decided by the marks I scored in the last two years.”