On Monday, the first day of issue of applications for the Tamil Nadu engineering admission, students and parents from across the city and suburbs, turned up in large numbers at Anna University.
Nearly 7,500 applications were sold till afternoon, said V. Rhymend Uthariaraj, Secretary, Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission.
On the rise in the number of applications issued, Mr.Uthariaraj said nearly 1.8 lakh applications have been issued, an increase of 20,000 from last year's 1.6 lakh. “There have been a steady 10 per cent increase in the number of applicants. We expect nearly 1.6 lakh students for counselling this year.”
The applications have been distributed to 57 centres across the State, he said. Cities such as Madurai, Tiruchi, Coimbatore and Salem have three centres each, followed by Nagercoil and Tirunelveli, each with two centres. Students, accompanied by their parents, came from places such Perambur and Chengalpattu since morning. Of the 10 counters, two counters were allotted for women and one for SC/ST candidates.
As the day progressed, the queue shrunk, helping students receive their applications faster. “They have made good arrangements here. We did not have any problem receiving the applications,” said P.Tamizhselvan, whose daughter, a student of Vellammal Matriculation School, is about to apply.
However, a few parents such as M. Jayaraman from Anna Nagar felt that there was no proper information about the centres where applications were available. “Unlike last year, where media carried details about the centres, this year there was only information about the number of centres. So we decided to come and check,” said the director of a chemical laboratory.
Like any year, Computer Science seems to be the favourite pick among students, followed by Electronics and Communication Engineering, and Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
P.Ganga from ICF Higher Secondary School, however, is particular about securing admission at M.I.T. to nurse her dreams of becoming an aeronautical engineer.
A group of students from P. S. Higher Secondary School have decided to apply to private colleges just in case, even as they are hopeful that their marks would fetch admissions in top-slot engineering colleges. “We have written the AIEEE and BITSAT examination. We hope to get into one of those colleges,” says S. Sriram, walking out with his application.
The applications will be issued from 9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. on all days, except Sundays. May 29 will be the last day for the issue of applications.
