St Stephen's College sets record cutoff at 98 percent

New Delhi, June 21: It received a record number of applications and now has set another record in cutoff percentage for admissions. At Delhi's St Stephen's College the cutoff for the four-year undergraduate economics programme this year is a staggering 98 percent.

Why such high cutoff percentage? "The cutoff is determined on the basis of the marks of the applicants. This time, the board results have been good," says St. Stephen's spokesperson Karen Gabriel.

The college received a record 25,636 applications this year for 410 seats. Last year, the number was less than 25,000. The largest number of applications was received for Bachelors in Economics (6,469). This was followed by 5,956 students applying for English and 4,023 for Mathematics.

The alumni list of the college runs like whose who of India's wellknown and the achievers.

On an average, there is a minimum one percent rise in the cutoff percentage to 95 percent for almost all the courses offered by the college.

At 94 percent, the cutoff for the four-year undergraduate mathematics course for general category students is almost three percent higher than last year.

For undergraduate programmes in English and history, the rise in the cutoff is 0.5-1 percent higher than last year at 95.25 percent and 94.5 percent.

Similarly, the cutoff for subjects like physics and chemistry is at 96 percent for general category students.

But being in the cutoff category does not guarantee seat in St Stephen's. The college gives 85 percent weightage to the marks scored in Class 12 exams and 15 percent is given during the interview. The interview board quizzes a student about the subject she wants to opt for. This year, the college asked students to write an essay about themselves in their application forms.

St. Stephen's reserves 50 percent of its seats for Christian candidates, 8.5 percent for students belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, 1.5 percent for differently-abled candidates, while the remaining 40 percent of seats are for general category students.

The application process at the college is separate from that of Delhi University and is online.

OneIndia News