Colleges which attracted less than 10 students in the first phase of engineering counselling are likely to be further hit with poor student response in the second phase of counselling that ended on Thursday.
About 51,000 candidates gave fresh options in the counselling held from September 5 to 8, while only 1,000-odd fresh candidates gave their options. The fresh candidates were those who did not opt to choose any college or course for various reasons. Some of these also include candidates who were not allotted any college due to very few options given by them. The allotment of seats for these candidates will be done on Friday evening.
Testing luck
Officials said that a majority of the 51,000 candidates who gave fresh options were testing their luck for better seats hoping that some rankers above them did not join the college allotted in the first phase. About 13,000-odd students did not join the allotted colleges for various reasons and these vacant seats would be allocated based on the rank and preferences. In some rare cases, students land in top colleges due to vacancies arising out of sliding in the reserved seats.
According to officials, colleges that got less than 10 students in the first phase were likely to be further hit as students in those colleges would obviously choose better colleges, thus vacating them again. It means the number of students would be further reduced. Some of these colleges are already in talks with other nearby colleges for adjustment. “They would be asked to attend classes in other colleges while appearing for exams from the allotted college,” an official said.
In the first phase, five colleges did not attract a single student, while 44 colleges were allotted less than 10 students. The number was less than 100 in about 250 colleges.
