First merit lists of Mumbai University colleges: Arts cut-off touches 98%

The first merit lists for non-professional courses, released by University of Mumbai (MU) colleges, saw a sharp rise in cut-off scores for humanities programmes, with those at coveted institutions touching 98% for the first time.

Experts attributed the rise in cut-offs in humanities programmes to the growing popularity of the Arts discipline and the reduced seats at non-minority colleges owing to the newly-introduced quotas for the Maratha community and the economically weaker sections (EWS).

The cut-off for Bachelor of Arts (BA) at DG Ruparel College in Matunga is 98% — the highest ever minimum score for a degree course recorded by a MU college. It’s a five percentage point increase compared to last year’s 92.46% cut-off for the course in the first merit list. Ramniranjan Ruia College, Matunga, and VG Vaze College, Mulund, recorded around four and seven percentage points increase in BA cut-offs respectively.

On the other hand, the threshold for admission in Science courses at some of the sought-after colleges saw a large dip.

St Xavier’s College at Fort, which had recorded the highest cut-off of 89% for BSc last year has set a cut-off of 77.08% this time — a whopping 11.9% dip in the minimum required score. At Jai Hind College and VG Vaze College, Mulund, the BSc cut-offs fell by around seven and six percentage points respectively.

According to colleges, increasing demand for Humanities programmes, especially BMM, among high scorers has pushed the cut-offs for the Arts faculty courses.

“Since the past few years, Arts has been trending more than science among students. This trend has become more intense, as students are looking for careers in creative fields,” said Ashok Wadia, principal, Jai Hind College.

Wadia also said students are increasingly opting for Bachelor of Mass Media (BMM) as the mass media sector is booming. “Students are looking for something other than regular courses,” he said.

The competition for these programmes became more intense this year as the introduction of 16% reservation for Marathas under socially and educationally backward classes (SEBC) category and 10% economically weaker section (EWS) quota has reduced the number of seats available to aspirants in non-minority institutes. “There has been an increase in cut-offs for all the courses owing to increase in reservation categories,” said Anushree Lokur, principal, Ruia College.

Religious and linguistic minority colleges are exempt from caste-based reservations as they set aside 50% of their seats for students from their community.

The proportion of in-house junior college students taking admission in degree colleges is also much higher in the Arts stream.

“The number of seats get further reduced owing to in-house admissions in BA. The proportion of in-house science admissions is much smaller as most science students in top colleges opt for professional courses,” said Vidyadhar Joshi, vice principal, VG Vaze College.

Rajpal Hande, principal, Mithibai College, Vile Parle, said that despite the variation in cut-offs, the aspirants will eventually get admission in their preferred course. “My advice to parents and students is to not panic, and wait for remaining merit lists. Everyone will get admission according to their merit, but the candidates shouldn’t insist on a specific college,” he said.

Students have until June 20 to confirm their admissions. The second merit list will be out on the same day, while the third and final list will be published on June 24.