DU colleges keep high cut-offs despite empty seats, 3rd list set to see 2% dip

The process of admissions to University of Delhi (DU) colleges under the second cut-off list is over, and thus far, colleges have filled up less than half of their seats. More than 28,000 of the total 54,000 seats are still up for grabs.

At most colleges, the first cut-offs were so high that very few general category students managed to get admission, and even then, the percentages dropped by minuscule amounts in the second cut-off list. The average drop in popular courses like B.Com., Economics and Political Science was 0.25-1%, and in most colleges, the cut-offs remained above 95% even after the second list.

Why, then, are colleges so insistent on keeping their cut-offs high, despite the high number of seats still available?

The race for top rankings

One of the main reasons for this practice is that colleges want to maintain their top status by maintaining very high cut-offs. This year's high cut-offs will reflect in the ranking of top colleges during next year's admission process.

One of the factors in DU's college rankings are the maximum and minimum cut-offs until all seats in each college are filled. Hence, colleges want to make sure that most of their seats are filled up while cut-offs are still high.

For instance, at Shri Ram College of Commerce, the cut-off for B.Com. (Hons) came down from 97.75% to 97.5%. The highest cut-off percentage in the second list was 98.25% at the Lady Shri Ram College for BA (Hons) Psychology, which also saw a drop of just 0.25% from the first cut-off list.

Even the comparatively less-popular colleges in the university have joined the race by starting with very high cut-offs.

Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College set a record for the highest cut-off this year in all three streams – science, commerce and humanities. The cut-offs for courses in the college have reduced by almost 2% in most subjects in the second cut-off list, because the college was not able to fill even one general category seat for any of its courses during the first cut-off admissions.

For the Political Science (Hons) course in the college, which saw the highest cut off at 99% in the first list, the figure has come down by 1.75% to 97.25% in the second list. The same goes for its other subjects. For B.Com. (Hons), the first cut off was the highest in DU at 98%, which then dipped to 96.5% in the second list. The college's cut-offs dips by 2% in the English, Economics, Chemistry and Political Science courses as well.

According to a college official, all the courses in the college still have seats available post the second round of admissions.

However, Savita Roy, principal of Daulat Ram College, denied that the rankings were a factor for high cut-offs. She told Catch: “We will bring our cut-offs down very gradually. We do not want over-admission. We are not allowed to turn away any student, even if the seats are full. As per DU policy, a college has to give admission to all those who meet the cut-off.”

How things stand

While the top colleges offering the most sought-after courses may have already filled their general seats after the first cut off, other colleges might eventually have to drop their cut-off percentages to acceptable levels.

SRCC, for example, closed admission to the Economic (Hons) for the general category after the first list. The college is likely to close to admission to B.Com. (Hons) as well after the second list.

At LSR, seats are still available offs in Psychology, Journalism, Political Science and English (Hons). However, of the 14 courses offered at LSR, 10 courses did not have a second list.

Seats are still available at Hindu College after the second list in Economics (Hons), B.Com. (Hons), Political Science (Hons), History (Hons) and Sanskrit. A college official told Catch: “In the third list, we are likely to close admissions for honours courses in Economics, B.Com., Political Science, History and Sanskrit. The cut off for third list might dip by about 1-2%. Even though of the 18 courses being offered at Hindu College, there is no second list for 10 science and humanities courses.”

At Sri Venkateshwara College, seats are still available in B.Com. and Economics (Hons) courses, because of the high second cut-off at 97% and 96.75% respectively.

Seats are still available in most colleges for the B.A. Programme course. Ramjas, Daulat Ram and Miranda House all have seats available in B.A. Programme, Economics (Hons), B.Com. (Hons) and Political Science (Hons) after the second cut-off list. The third cut off list in most DU colleges is expected to drop by 1.5-2%.

The third cut-off list will be announced on 7 July, and admissions under it will continue till 10 July.

This year, the university has said colleges will come out with five cut-off lists. Classes are scheduled to begin on 20 July. If the seats continue to be filled after that day, it will go well into the beginning of the session and could potentially harm the prospects of the students admitted late, in the first semester examinations.