With over two lakh students applying for approximately 56,000 seats at Delhi University, the various cut-off lists released by the university would be closely monitored by the aspirants as even a marginal dip in the required score can change the options available.
The first list for 2018 undergraduate admission to DU will be released on Tuesday.
An analysis of the CBSE results for this year shows that 12,737 students scored above 95%, which is 2,646 more than 2017. Of the 12,737 students, 2,237 are from Delhi. The number of students scoring 90% and above this year is 72,599, which is an increase of about 19,000 from last year. Going by this data, provided by the CBSE, it seems unlikely that the DU cut-offs would fall this year.
‘Realistic’ cut-offs
DU is trying to do away with the process of releasing multiple cut-off lists this year by asking colleges to discuss among themselves and come up with more “realistic” cut-offs, as very few seats get filled in the first three lists in several off-campus colleges.
A member of the admissions team of a South Campus college said, “Yes, the DU admission committee asked us to come up with more ‘realistic’ cut-offs but since admission is not based of first come, first served basis and we have to admit every student who has the required marks, it becomes very difficult to come out with a lower cut-off in the first few lists.”
Interface for colleges
At a meeting with colleges, the university administration said it would provide an interface for colleges to look at what cut-offs are being declared by other colleges so that they could make a decision on their cut-offs. However, for most students who have scored between 90% and 95%, it will be a waiting game to get into a college and course of their choice. Looking at how cut-offs have fallen over the past few years, the university officials usually advise students to take admission in the first or second list in whichever college they get the subject they want to study so that they reserve a seat at the university and then change later if an opportunity arises.
Last year, several seats in the reserved category were not filled even after the 10th cut-off list and the university had to conduct special drives to fill the seats. While there was not much of a difference between the first and the second cut-off list, in the third list there was a decline of about 3% in several courses, after which colleges started closing admissions.
