‘Safe’ option ECE emerges favourite on day 1

Counselling for engineering admissions begins; mechanical engineering is second favourite branch

New beginning: At the end of day one, 269 seats in Anna University and 98 seats in other government/government-aided colleges were filled — Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

Rather than going in for an engineering discipline that interests them, top scorers of class XII this year, decided to do what many of their high-scoring seniors did over the last three years – choose Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE). This branch, evergreen and safe, attracts placements from both the IT and core sector, said toppers, as they confidently walked away with an ECE seat.

Counselling for the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission (TNEA) started around 9 a.m. on Friday, and was divided into four batches of students scoring either 200/200 or 199/ 200. “Since it was the first day, the batches had a difference of 0.25 marks; from tomorrow, there will be a two-mark difference,” said TNEA secretary V Rhymend Uthariaraj.

Out of the 645 students called on the first day, 137 went for the ECE course. Mechanical engineering emerged as the second-favourite branch, with 104 students opting for it. The two most preferred options for students were the College of Engineering, Guindy and P.S.G. College of Technology.

When nearly 12 of the top 20 rankers opted for computer science, it was predicted that the subject, after a gap of three years, had also emerged as a favourite. “At the end of the day, 75 took computer science. We will know the actual trend only on Saturday when 2,500 more will make their choice,” said Mr. Uthariaraj.

What was also conspicuous was the number of absentees – 271 – most of who possibly went for the IITs, NITs or medical courses. “This is not unusual as even last year, 307 of the 1,025 students called on day one were absent,” said Mr. Uthariaraj.

This year, two students who had already been admitted admission in medical colleges, appeared for counselling.

At the end of the first day, 269 seats in Anna University and 98 seats in other government/government-aided colleges were filled. Five students also opted for seats in self-financing colleges.

The general academic counselling is scheduled to run until August 18. A separate counselling session will be held for students who clear the supplementary examinations on August 21.