Delhi University first admission cutoff list released, dip in most courses

For the first time in many years, Delhi University’s first cutoff list saw a dip ranging from 0.25-3 percentage points across colleges in most subjects, including Economics (hons) and BCom (hons).

Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) announced its first cutoff with BCom (hons) and Economics (hons) at 97.75%, a dip for both subjects over last year. In 2016, the first cutoff for BCom (hons) was 98% while Economics (hons) it was 98.25%. Ever since 2008, SRCC’s cutoff has always increased except for 2014 when it dipped to 97.25% from 2013’s 97.5%. Similarly, the BCom (hons) cutoff saw a dip only once in 2015 when it was at 97.375%, compared to the previous year’s 97.5%.

But SGTB Khalsa College -- a minority college where 50% seats are reserved -- continued to announce an increase in its cutoff with Political Science at 99%, a jump of 1.50 percentage points from last year’s 97.50%. If a Commerce or Science students opt for the course then the cutoff will become 101.5% as university imposes a penalty of 2.5% on a student willing to change stream of study. This leaves no scope for students from other streams to apply. Like last year, the college had the highest cutoff for English (hons) at 98.75%, B.Com at 98.25%.

The highest cutoff for Economics was 98.25% at SGTB Khalsa followed by Shivaji College at 98% and SRCC at 97.75%. At 99. 66%, SGTB Khalsa had the highest cutoff for Electronics.

Other colleges such as Ramjas recorded a dip of 0.25-2 percentage points this time. BCom (hons) was at 97.5%, a dip of 1.75 percentage points from last year’s 99.25%. Economics (hons) was at 97.5% as compared to last year’s 98.5%. At Lady Shri Ram College for Women, the cutoff for 11 out of 14 undergraduate courses have seen a dip.

The unprecedented dip in DU’s cutoff has had many scratching their heads. But officials claimed this should have been expected as the cutoff is determined by the number of applications and the grades of applicants.

The deputy dean of student welfare, Gurpreet Singh Tuteja, said the cutoffs this year, albeit lowered, are truer representations of the candidate pool and their scores. “These are the ‘realistic’ cutoffs. This year, we did not allow students to submit multiple applications with the same roll number. This reduced repetitions and duplicate applications. So the authorities had a better understanding of how many students were actually applying and what their grades were. This made the process of preparing cutoffs easier,” he said.

DU has received about 30,000 fewer applications this year while there are 2,000 more seats this time because of introduction of new courses.

Some officials claimed the dip in cutoffs could also be reflective of the confusion over the moderation policy that plagued 12th grade results this year.

“This year many boards had done away with moderation. Even under CBSE, despite re-introducing moderation, many students have scored below their expected grades. This may have meant that the percentage scores of the applicants in general was also less,” explained a DU official.

This year, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)’s overall pass percentage also dipped to 82% from last year’s 83% for Class 12. Though the overall number of students with 95% and above score has increased in the country, in Delhi the number has gone down to 2,326 from last year’s 2,927.

Almost 50% of the applications that DU receives are from Delhi.This year, after Delhi, the maximum number of applications came from Uttar Pradesh (64,557), Haryana (39,870), and Bihar (11,199).

Whatever be the reason for the dip in percentages, Tuteja asked students to be prompt with the admission procedure. “As the cutoffs are ‘realistic,’ like I said, the seats may be gone if you don’t act in a timely manner,” he said. Students have until June 28 to seek admission in the college of their choice, given that they have cleared the required percentage requirements.

SRCC’s officiating principal R P Rustagi said:“This year’s data is more structured so we are able to announce the most accurate cutoff. Last year we announced four cutoff lists with the last being at around 97.25 %. But this year we expect to close admissions in the first or second list.”

The trend of cutoffs going lower continued at Hans Raj College also where most subjects either remained at the same mark as last year or saw a 0.25-1 percentage points. The college kept the cutoff for Economics (hons) at 97.25% and B.Com (hons) at 97.5%. For English (hons) the cutoff remained same as last year at 97%.

Only BA Programme saw a rise in cutoff. The subject was available at 97% as compared to last year’s 96%.