CUET scores out, students still in doubt over DU prospects

The common University Entrance Test (CUET) scores are out but applicants to Delhi University (DU) do not know if they stand a good chance of getting into a college and programme of their choice.

University officials said until all the applicants fill in their scores on the Common Seat Allocation System (CSAS) portal it will be very tough to get a picture of what scores could assure a seat at the university. The university portal is open for registration till October 10 and from September 26 onwards, students will be able to choose their course + programme combinations after which the merit list will be prepared. “The first merit list will be notified on October 10,” the university announced.

This year, DU has done away with the cut-off system for admission and will be using the CUET scores instead. Board examination scores will only be used as qualifying marks. Of the 14.9 lakh students who appeared for CUET, over 6 lakh have shown interest in applying to DU where 70,000 seats are on offer, the university said.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) that conducted the CUET said the merit lists will be prepared by individual universities, which will decide on the process of counselling based on the CUET-UG scorecard and scores that are required for particular subject combinations for admission to various programmes.

The scorecard of a candidate mentions subject-wise percentile scores and normalised scores. “The normalised scores were calculated from the raw scores of each candidate using the equipercentile method for parity across sessions in which they gave their exams,” the NTA said.

Programme-specific merit list

DU said it will prepare its programme-specific merit list based on normalised scores. Students have been asked by Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh to select multiple courses + college combinations based on their qualifying subjects on the CSAS portal so that they can avail a wide variety of options.

It is only by October 10 that students will have a clear picture of where they will be able to secure a seat using the CUET result. Reacting to her result, Priyansh Gupta, a student of Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram, said, “I really don’t know what my results are as the system is so new. It’s a first for all of us and there are no cut-offs or old data to fall back on. I can’t gauge my results and I really don’t know where I am standing right now.”

For Debosmita De, an applicant, the results were not encouraging due to the sheer number of people who got 100 percentile. “There is so much competition now. My results were average, I don’t think I hold a chance of getting into a central university,” Ms. De said. She added that she wanted to study political science or English but there are so many competing for such few seats, she is unsure of getting admission into her preferred college.

For others who had done well in their CBSE examination, the CUET scores were a disappointment as they felt they had a better chance of getting into college with their board examination marks. “I am not satisfied with my percentile in CUET. I have scored above 90 all through my school life and I scored 98.2% in Class XII. It’s of no use now. I am aiming for economics (Hons) from Shri Ram College for Commerce or Hansraj College but I am not sure if I will get these colleges. There is a lot of uncertainty this time,” said 17-year-old Khushi Jindal.

Jamia Millia Islamia, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Ambedkar University Delhi are the other universities that will be admitting students using CUET scores for their undergraduate programmes.