By Bhanvi Satija:
The DU admission saga 2015 began last night with St Stephen’s, one of the most prestigious colleges in Delhi University, releasing its cut off list. While the university has decided to stay away from separate stream-wise cut offs this year, Stephen’s continues to follow the previous pattern.
Stephen’s has set the bar extremely high with 99% for English (Hons) and 98.5% for Economics (Hons). Students from a commerce background will require 99% to seek admission in English, while students with a science and humanities background will require 97.75% and 97.5% respectively. For economics, students from commerce background will require 98.5%, while students from science and humanities background will require 97.5% and 97% respectively.
Moreover, there are additional riders to seek admission in a few of these courses. For English, one must have 90% in English Core and 85% in Elective English. For economics, a 90% score in mathematics is mandatory, while for admission in mathematics, the students are required to include their mathematics score in the best-four percentage.
To top it all, Stephen’s also introduces a 30-minute aptitude test this year, apart from the cut offs and personal interview. The aptitude test will take place on the same day as the interview.
Why a whopping 99%?
The cut offs at Stephen’s have seen a 1% increase from last year, while the number of applicants has increased by much higher. “We have received the maximum applications this year. While 27,000 candidates had applied in 2013, this year’s figure is the highest in the college’s history,” said Stephen’s spokesperson Karen Gabriel. The college has received a total of 32,100 applications this year – while only 400 seats are up for grabs, hence the astronomical cut offs.
The major reasons for such high cut offs are two – the increasing number of applicants, and the high scores rewarded by CBSE to students in the Class XII board exam. The idea is to control the number of students seeking admission, and avoid over-admissions. “Students are getting such high marks in Class 12 boards and that is bound to be reflected in the cut-offs. We have 410 seats and we call students for interviews in the ratio of 1:4 (seat: candidates for interview). If we keep the cut-off lower, then that will disturb the ratio,” said Karen Gabriel. Other colleges are also expected to follow the same trend of high cut offs, majorly due to the above stated reasons. The university has received about a 2.9 lakh applications, a jump of over 17,000 from last year. The number of seats remains fixed at 54,000.
Last year too, Delhi University saw SRCC release a 100% cut off for aspiring students. The question is, after a 99 and a 100, where are we headed next?