DU Admissions: Dejected Over High Cut-Offs, Angered By Slow Server

Video Editor: Mohd Irshad & Akanksha Kumar

As students and parents queued outside the admission counter at Daulat Ram College, Sanjoli and her father appeared deep in conversation. A sense of quiet despair was writ large on their faces as they walked away from the counter, having just finished the application process.

Sanjoli has scored 95.5 percent in the ‘best of four’ subjects. Clearly, that’s not enough according to the first cut-off list published by the University of Delhi (DU) on 18 June. Disheartened with high cut-offs in the first list, Sanjoli has now pinned her hopes on the second and third cut-off lists.

I’m not getting the college I had dreamt of. SRCC and LSR were always out of reach but I was expecting to get admission in Kirori Mal and Daulat Ram. Now I’m not getting even that. My best of four is 95.5 percent and all I’m getting is Deshbandhu College. So, I’ll wait for the second and third cut-off list.

Sanjoli Bajaj, Student

Concerns About High Cut-Offs

At Miranda House, Maulshree was quite relaxed after making it to the college of her choice. She was, however, upset about the fate of her friends who couldn’t make the list.

Cut-off for B.Sc Honours is 97.33 and some of my friends have scored 97 percent, so they are upset at having missed out by a few decimal points. Although, the seats might get filled after the first cut-off itself.

Maulshree, Student

Interestingly, the highest cut-off this year is 98.75 percent for the BA programme at Lady Shri Ram College (LSR). Usually it’s the Honours courses that take the lead since they are the most sought-after programmes at DU.

Muskan, who made the cut for the B.Sc (Honours) Maths at LSR, didn’t seem surprised by the high cut-offs:

The number of students who want to pursue BA is usually high while not many are interested in B.Sc Honours course. Many science students opt for B.Tech or take a break for JEE preparation, so it’s not really surprising.

Muskan

A professor at one of the DU colleges, who didn’t want to be named told The Quint that cut-offs usually spike when the number of applicants for a course is really high.

Students Upset with Technical Glitches

Several students The Quint spoke to complained of the server being slow, which meant it took them hours to fill the application form. Simran, from Chandigarh, who was accompanying her sister at the Shri Ram College of Commerce, was of the view that the application process needs to be more ‘effective’.

Delhi University’s server is very annoying. It’s very difficult even to access our forms. There are such long queues and if more time is spent in just downloading the form, then we can even lose a seat!

Simran

For Valli, who has come all the way from Telangana, the delay due to technical glitches may prove costly as her family had return tickets for the same evening.

This is very irresponsible on part of the concerned authorities. We have come from far and have booked return tickets as well which will now be wasted.

Valli, Student

Does DU Need a West Campus?

Around 3,38,000 students had applied for 55,000 seats available across colleges affiliated to the University of Delhi. On a day when hordes of prospective DU students were caught up in the application process, the arts faculty witnessed protests. Student organisations backed by the left parties demanded that the number of seats should be increased both at the graduate as well as post-graduate level.

If more than 2 lakh people have applied for 55,000 seats that means almost 70 percent will return empty-handed. Where will these students go? Neither the state government nor the Centre is willing to answer this question.

Sanjeev, Member (Democratic Youth Federation of India)

Delhi University has not opened a new college in the last 20 years. In 2016, BJP MP Pravesh Varma, son of former Delhi chief minister, Sahib Singh Varma, had suggested opening new colleges in Delhi. Varma had proposed that land in the villages adjoining Dwarka and Najafgarh be given to the University of Delhi. Nothing really happened after his Zero Hour speech and dreams of a West Campus were reduced to just wishful thinking.

The topper from Uttar Pradesh has got 94 percent and is not eligible for Delhi University. This is an ‘exclusion’ of a certain kind. Jab padhega nahin toh kaise aagey badhega India (When people don’t get to study, how will they move forward?)

Sumit Katariya, Member (Students’ Federation of India)

The AAP government led by Kejriwal had passed a resolution in 2017, seeking 85 percent quota in 28 colleges that receive funds from the state government. Domicile quota would have further reduced the chances of applicants from other states. While the political class continues to be in snooze mode, it’s the students who are hit hard due to DU’s limited seats.