By Bhanvi Satija:
The admission saga at Delhi University began with Stephen’s releasing its cut off at a whopping 99%. This seems to have set back quite a number of aspirants out there, since the same trend is expected when the cut offs finally release on June 25th. Meanwhile, the ECA and Sports category admissions and preliminaries started a few days ago from June 17th onwards. While this gives some hope to the aspirants who are good at either sports or some extra-curricular activity, there is still a long way to go.
[envoke_twitter_link]Students applying under the ECA category have to deal with a bunch of additional decision making[/envoke_twitter_link]. Questions such as: which college do you want to apply to? And which activity do you want to apply in? Along with that additional anecdotes about how if you choose to take admission through ECA you would be stuck with that activity throughout college.
While most students apply to as many colleges as possible for trials and/or submit their certificates to them, their list of preferred colleges is as much the same as about another thousand students out there. Lady Shri Ram College for Women, one of the most reputed institutions of Delhi University, often features on this list for many of us. (It sure did on mine, and even though I didn’t get through the ECA category, I did apply!) Invariably, the admissions in these preferred colleges is extremely competitive.
“ECA at LSR is damn competitive. As everyone knows! There is approximately only one seat per course and only the best of the people in their field get in“, says Tarana Faroqi, a third year student of Journalism at LSR. Tarana got through the ECA category and she is currently the MUN Coordinator for the MUNSoc at LSR.
Eshna Kutty, a second year student of Psychology at LSR – one of the most preferred courses in the college, while sharing her experience says, “I remember losing complete hope because most colleges wanted to see a number of certificates and prizes in dancing and I had none to offer. Since the first round of elimination is based on those certificates, I obviously didn’t get through. On the other hand, LSR prefers videos over certificates. That’s what saved my academic life!”
So one of the factors that could work in your favor would be that LSR decides on the basis of preliminary videos of performances or your work portfolio, instead of certificates and achievements.
Talking about the procedure after the prelims, Eshna says, “There was an audition, and right after that there was an interview of sorts by three teachers who convinced me to take History or Political Science over Psychology, since I was making the cutoff for those. They did the same with the other students too. Don’t fall for it!” Eshna, was very determined on what she wanted to do – for her, it was always course over college – “I made it pretty clear that it would be Course over College and that if I didn’t get Psychology, I’d probably go someplace else.”
Tarana agrees to this philosophy, “At LSR especially, they see determination and potential – which is a reflection of how much you can contribute if you become a part of the college. You need to be focused about things. This is what they judge you on during the interview,” to which, Eshna adds that once you get through, the interview might not even feel like an interview, since the conversations varied from ‘Why Psychology?’ to ‘Do you go out clubbing with boys?’
“In fact I don’t think they were interested in knowing anything conventional. ‘Why don’t you sing us a Carnatic song, and I might sing along’, said MG (the name that students lovingly call Meenakshi Gopinath, former principal of LSR). Or ‘Have you ever tried hooping while doing Sarvangasana? No? Well how about you hop onto that stage and try it right now’.”
The list for the first round of selected applicants in the ECA category comes out on 24th of June, 2015. Keep an eye on the college notice board, here’s wishing you a good luck. “Just give it your best shot and don’t be afraid in the interview round,” says Tarana. To which, Eshna agrees and adds “LSR is an incredible institute, remember that everybody likes a confident person, but don’t fly. Be humble. There will always be other deserving people too, and you need to be at peace with that. And just have fun! It’s an experience to remember, whether you get in or not. If you do, great. If you don’t then you obviously are meant for greater things than ECA trials.”
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