There was chaos at Delhi University (DU) on Day One of the undergraduate admission process on Thursday, a day after the first cut-off list was released, after the varsity portal crashed or remained non-responsive in the morning.
Students who made the cut were expected to log onto the portal, sign in with their registration details and get a printout of the admission slip. The admission slip was to be taken to the college of their choice for document verification.
Students sent back
With the portal either not responding or working extremely slowly at 9 a.m., the time the admission procedure started, the students reached the colleges without a printout. However, they were sent back as the colleges could not complete the process without the admission slip.
Crowded cyber cafes
Many applicants dashed over to nearby cyber cafes for a printout of the admission slip. Teeming with students, the cafes were unable to cope with the rush due to the speed at which the portal was functioning.
Hopeful
Since the admission window closed at 1 p.m., many students had no option but to go back home hoping they would be more successful on Friday.
One of those who landed on campus without the admission slip was Tamil Nadu resident Brintha, who scored 99.25 per cent in her Class XII board exams. Accompanied by her sister, she hoped to get admission in the B.Com (Hons) course at Shri Ram College of Commerce.
“The online application process was very easy. Everyone is stranded now that the DU website has crashed. I have been trying to get the application slip since 9 a.m. and it’s been a few hours now. The website is not moving past the homepage,” Brintha said.
Lucky few
Some students however managed to beat the odds and secured admission.
One such student was Kerala resident Salim Aslam, who scored 96.75 per cent. He said he always wanted to pursue English (Hons) from Hindu College.
“I did not face any problem in getting the admission slip. One of my friends got it for me. It feels great to get my choice of course and college on Day One of admissions itself,” said Salim.
Ujaan Ganguly from Kolkata, who scored 96.25 per cent, added: “Honestly it felt great to have made it. Back home it felt like ‘Oh my god! I have scored so much.’ But after coming to Hindu College here I realised that everyone has scored well. It feels good to see a lot of students performing well and this gives me an incentive to perform even better.”
However, Ujaan, who opted for Elective English, which added two percentage points to his average, was upset over the “hectic” morning.
“I have never reloaded a page so many times despite having a fast Internet connection. I have also never used so many gadgets simultaneously. Somehow I managed to get the admission slip. I think the whole admission process till now was much simpler than getting that one printout,” he said.
Second cut-off list
For those who failed to make it to the first cut-off list, the second list will be released on July 5. The required marks are expected to fall by 0.25 per cent to one per cent in the second list. The cut-offs are expected to dip further at colleges that are not as much in demand.
Getting the admission slip printout was one of the first and major technological hurdles on Thursday. The university had initially faced some glitches after it took the entire procedure online. DU had also extended the last date for registration of applications, which delayed the process by three days.
( With inputs from Ayushi Ahluwalia, an intern with The Hindu )
