Mumbai college admissions: High cut-offs worry aspirants as many institutes announce no third list for FYBA

The third and final cut off of degree colleges affiliated to Mumbai University has left many seeking admission to popular colleges in the city worried. Aspirants hoping to make the cut in the third merit list were disappointed after colleges like Jai Hind, Ramnarain Ruia and St Xavier’s closed for admissions in arts stream. At Mithibai and DG Ruparel, entry scores dropped marginally. [caption id=“attachment_3750775” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. PTI[/caption] The open category, which had fewer seats in arts, has surged in demand over the years leading to high cut-offs. In DG Ruparel and Ruia, the introduction of Maratha quota and EWS (economically weaker sections) in the open category has brought down seats, pushing cut-offs to be higher. St Xavier’s College principal Rajendra Shinde told Mumbai Mirror that they were not expecting a third list for arts. Only five students were admitted in the second round. As reported by The Indian Express, at KC College, the cut-off for FYBA is 87 percent, whereas BCom closed at 88 percent. Like last year, the cut-off for BSc remained at 55.08 percent. For self-financed courses, the cut-off remained over 90 percent. At Jai Hind College, there was no third list for open category students in BCom as well as BA course. For BMS (Bachelor of Management Studies), the cut-off was 95.17 percent for Commerce students and above 86 percent for Arts and Commerce students. Whereas for BSc, the cut-off was 50 percent. Students in the third list are required to secure admissions by 27 June. At Mithibai, the first merit list closed at 96 percent, and the final one at 94.80 percent for arts courses. At DG Ruparel, admissions, the first list closed at 98 percent as the final list closed at 94 percent for arts. The cut-offs for traditional courses such as BCom and BA as well as for self-financed courses (Bachelor of Financial Markets, Bachelor of Accounting and Finance, BMS, Bachelor of Mass Media, Bachelor in Banking and Insurance, etc.) in most of the renowned colleges remained in the 90s. The science cut-offs for BMM, BMS and other self-financed courses related to computer science, IT, accounting, finance, and banking are markedly higher than those for pure science subjects like physics, mathematics, chemistry, and biology. At St Xavier’s College, like in the arts stream, there was no third list for BSc courses. “While the trend remains the same as last year, the cut-offs for BSc has dipped in most colleges. Since the courses, in general, have increased, the interest towards pure sciences has become less,” principal Shinde of Xavier’s College told The Indian Express. “In arts, psychology and sociology are the popular options. BMM is always a popular course. In sciences, chemistry, life sciences, biotechnology, computer science (CS) and IT are popular. There was a time when the line of students opting for CS extended till the Oval Maidan and then the interest waned. Now we are again seeing a growing interest in the field. People follow trends,” said KC College principal Hemlata Bagla told Times of India. A  Mumbai Mirror article stated that the newly-appointed school education minister Ashish Shelar, on 18 June, had announced that the number of seats for science will go up by five percent while those in arts and commerce will increase by eight percent for First Year Junior College (FYJC) admissions_._ However, colleges do not seem to be happy about Shelar’s announcement even though the move came after a poor performance of students in the SSC examination as they grappled with higher admission cutoffs in FYJC due to better results of ISCE and CBSE board results. The Mumbai Junior College Teachers’ Union (MJCTU) even threatened to go on an indefinite strike if the government did not withdraw its decision. About 2.8 lakh candidates have applied for admission to the degree colleges this year. Till now, over 8.6 lakh applications have been filed. Last year, nearly 12.1 lakh applicants applied for the Mumbai University seats with BCom drawing maximum applications. This year, 2.5 lakh candidates have applied for the said course, said an Indian Express report.