At least four DU colleges release 100% cutoffs for science courses

Among the Delhi University colleges that offer science courses, at least four colleges on friday declared a 100% cutoff for courses such as BSc (Hons) Computer Science and BSc (Hons) Physics in the first cutoff list.

Hansraj College, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College kept the cutoff at 100% for BSc (Hons) Computer Science, while Ramjas College kept a cent percent cutoff for BSc (Hons) Physics.

It is after a gap of six years that BSc (Honours) in Computer Science is seeing a cutoff of 100% in certain colleges. Prior to this, in 2015, two colleges – College of Vocational Studies and Indraprastha (IP) College for Women – had fixed cutoffs at 100% for BSc (Honours) in Computer Science.

This year, for science courses, most colleges have come out with cutoffs in the range of 90-100% in the first cutoff list.

Computer science continues to be a sought-after course with at least three of 20 colleges offering BSc (Hons) Computer Science setting the highest cutoff for the course.

Hem Chand Jain, principal, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, attributed the high cutoff for the course to an increase in the number of students scoring high in their Class 12 board exams. Jain said there were around 1,250 students whose best-of-four percentage touched 100%, according to the data collated by the college.

“Around 1,250 students have a score of above 100% (in best of four) as per our data. We assumed that the maximum number of aspirants may have applied for computer science since the course is popular and in demand these days due to more job opportunities,” said Jain.

He said the number of aspirants for each course has also shot up this year with students being given the freedom to apply for multiple courses. To ensure an optimum intake, colleges are compelled to keep a high cutoff, said Jain.

Poonam Verma, principal of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, said the college has limited seats for computer science and it could not afford to over admit students.

According to the DU admission rules, all students who meet the published cutoff for a particular course have to be offered admission to that course, irrespective of the number of seats available. This is one reason why colleges tend to keep sky-high cutoffs for popular courses; so that they do not have to over admit students.

“As per the data we received, around 1,254 students in unreserved (UR) category scored 100% (in best of four). If we include all reserved categories as well, around 2,700 students got the perfect score. We have around 23 UR seats in the computer science course. Even if 10% of students opt for computer science, it is likely that we would have to over admit students under the first list itself,” Verma said.

She said the real picture would emerge only after the completion of admissions under the first list. “Many students who would have been waiting for their competitive exam results might not even opt for these courses now. So, students should not get disheartened by the high cutoffs,” said Verma.

Manoj Khanna, principal of Ramjas College, said the high cutoff for BSc Physics was a precautionary measure against over-admissions. “We have over a hundred seats in Physics and over a thousand students have a score of above 100%, as per our data. If we don’t keep high cutoffs and over admit students, how will we manage classes amid a pandemic? That will be challenging. I’m certain a few colleges will see surplus admissions even with 100% cutoffs,” said Khanna.

He said over-admissions also affected the student-teacher ratio due to which the NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework) ranking of colleges were bound to suffer. “NIRF and NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) ratings of the college will be affected if the student-teacher ratio is skewed negatively,” said Khanna.