Despite sky-high cut-offs, some courses almost full

Lady Shri Ram College, which created a record by announcing 100% cut-off for three subjects (Political Science, Economics and Psychology) saw no dearth in applications, said principal Suman Sharma. She said there was a “lot of rush” — more on Tuesday than Monday — especially in subjects like Political Science and Maths.

Skyrocketing cut-offs are not proving to be an obstacle for various Delhi University colleges, with several top colleges claiming on the second day of admission on Tuesday that they are close to filling seats in some courses, particularly in reserved categories, or have over-admitted students in some. However, seats in most courses and colleges are still a long way from being filled.

Meanwhile, colleges are dealing with another problem brought on by the online admission system — rejection of a barrage of applications from applicants who haven’t met the cut-off criteria. Several colleges complained this is turning out to be a time-consuming exercise. As per data released by DU, out of 49,712 applications, 7,640 have been approved and 6,790 applicants have paid their fee and completed admission by Tuesday. Wednesday is the last day for taking admission. Fees can be paid until Friday.

Lady Shri Ram College, which created a record by announcing 100% cut-off for three subjects (Political Science, Economics and Psychology) saw no dearth in applications, said principal Suman Sharma. She said there was a “lot of rush” — more on Tuesday than Monday — especially in subjects like Political Science and Maths. “Except for one department in which admission may exceed a bit, for all others we are within the limits,” Sharma said, without naming the department. She also said of the three subjects with 100% cut-off, “there were quite a few applications for two”.

At Hindu College too, which had six courses with 99% cut-off, reserved seats in several courses have been filled up. “In reserved categories, we have gone above sanctioned strength in some courses, like for OBC category in History, SC category in Economics and EWS category in B.Com (Hons),” said Principal Anju Srivastava. Of the 956 seats, only 321 were filled till Tuesday. While Economics has 10 reserved SC seats, 23 admissions have already taken place. Similarly, for B.Com (Hons), in EWS category, 11 admissions have taken place for eight seats, and for History, in OBC category, 14 admissions have taken place for 13 seats.

At Ramjas College, Principal Manoj Khanna said around 250-300 admissions were approved till Tuesday: “For Political Science especially, we are getting a lot of demand. Seats in the reserved categories are about to fill.”

On Tuesday, Hansraj College cleared 103 admissions for 758 seats in science subjects, and 225 admissions for 956 seats in arts and commerce. Economics, English, Botany and Maths were filling up the quickest, while there aren’t many takers for Electronics, Chemistry and Geology.

Most colleges, however, said a large number of applications are yet to be processed and speed was slowed down due to rejections. Sources at Shri Ram College of Commerce said out of 256 applications received so far, 125 were rejected. “Despite our cut-offs being 99% and above, we are getting applications from those with a best of four percentage in 70-80% bracket. Responding to each application individually with the reason for rejection is taking a lot of time,” said sources.

Khanna also said the exercise was stress-inducing: “These applications should not have been reaching us at all. Students who are not eligible should have been pruned by the university software. We have received a large number of such applications.” Hansraj College too has rejected 131 applications till Tuesday.

Sanjeev Singh, director of DU’s computer centre, however, said, “Colleges have been provided all filters to select eligible students.” On why ineligible applications weren’t cleared at the university level, he said, “Applying is the right of the student.”

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