Delhi University admissions: Second list brings little cheer for DU applicants

New Delhi, June 30: Students applying for admission to Delhi University (DU) colleges were on Tuesday left with little hope despite the university releasing a second cut-off list on Monday night.

While the university announced a dip of up to 1 percent in arts and commerce and up to 3 percent in science courses, students said such meagre slashes were of little or no help.

"I scored 95 percent in my Class 12 and wanted to pursue B.Com (Honours) from Shri Ram College of Commerce. But the college never released a second cut-off. Now I am trying my luck at some other colleges here at the north campus," 18-year-old Aditya Nagpal told IANS.

Another student, Aseem Abbas, termed the second cut-off list a "farce".

"This is frustrating. After the high first cut-off list, I was hopeful that I would secure a seat for myself at Hindu College for B.Com (Honours). But the college, while still accepting applications, retained the cut-off at 97.25 percent," Abbas said.

However, the list did bring a glimmer of hope for science students.

"I have finally secured myself a seat in Hindu (college) in BSc (Honours) chemistry which announced 96.33 percent in the second list. My aggregate is exactly the same," Srishti Gulati told IANS.

She had earlier secured a seat at Sri Venkateswara college -- from where she would withdraw her application.

Commenting on the cut-offs, a university official said that colleges initially kept their cut-offs high depending on the results of the students.

"The student results that we get are so good that the percentages go high. Also, we tread very cautiously as we cannot afford more students than the number of seats that are available in a college. Since we can release multiple cut-offs, we then gradually decrease the cut-offs depending on the seats," the official told IANS on condition of anonymity.

Miranda House principal Pratibha Jolly advised students to be patient.

"We have to decide a (high) cut-off initially to ensure that we do not over admit students, and since the system allows us to declare several cut-off lists, we are going to come down point by point. This is what most colleges are doing," Jolly told IANS.

Advising students, she said they should first secure a seat in a college for a reasonable course and later withdraw if they get something of their choice.

"This is the sensible thing to do rather than getting into a state of panic," she said.

IANS