From 100% cut-off to CUET score, DU’s ‘unrealistic’ merit lists over a decade

Until last year, all DU colleges admitted students on the basis of cut-offs, which were decided how the board results had been in a particular year. Many top colleges took in students at cut-off marks as high as 99 per cent, and even at 100 per cent.

But have DU cut-offs always been this high?

How it all began

In 2009, Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) — a top commerce college — hit the headlines when it released the cut-off marks in the range of 95.25-98.75 per cent for its B.Com (Hons) programme, and 93.75-96.75 per cent for BA (Hons) Economics. In 2010, Lady Shri Ram (LSR) College fixed 95 per cent as the cut-off for most-sought after B.Com (Hons) course. For BA (Hons) Economics, LSR had a 95.50 per cent cut-off and SRCC came close with a range of 93.5-96.5. The lowest cut-off that year—in the second list—was 76 per cent for Satyawati (Evening) College.

The cut-offs have been soaring since then, and it jumped to an unimaginable 99 and 100 per cent. In 2016, Ramjas College reported a requirement of 99.25 per cent for admission into B Com (Hons), followed closely by SGTB Khalsa, with a cut-off of 99 per cent for BSc (Hons) in Electronics.

“The rising cut-offs are simply reducing the confidence in the system. It is not that you are thinking students are smarter, it is simply that inflation is becoming mindless,” said Pratibha Jolly, former principal of Miranda House.

Simrit Kaur, the principal of SRCC since 2017, echoed a similar view. “Two decades back, scoring first division was considered respectable, and in 70 per cent also, (students) would get admission in best of the DU colleges; the first cut-off would be in the 70s,” reminisced Kaur.

Akriti Sehgal, a student of the 2009-12 batch, said when St Stephens College published a cut-off of 94 per cent for History and LSR had released the same around 89 per cent, there was a lot of buzz about it. “I feel I would have not been able to make it if I was to get admission now,” said Sehgal.

Even 90% isn’t enough

Traditionally, B.Com (Hons), BA (Hons) Political Science, and BA (Hons) English have been some of the most popular undergraduate courses at Delhi University, show applications and high cut-offs. Seats in many top colleges were filled in the first list itself. Even a decade ago, scoring between 80-90 per cent could not guarantee admission to one’s favourite course or college. In 2012, the lowest cut-off for admission to B Com (Hons) was 81 per cent at Aditi Mahavidyalaya in the second cut-off.

“The percentage has been crazy now. Earlier 80 to 85 per cent used to generally be the highest cut-off, and then around 2010-2012 the cut-off increased to 90-95 per cent, and then in 2014 or near about the cut-off soared more and since then it has been rapidly increasing. Social Sciences, about 12 years ago, were not very popular but the trend is changing and there is a high rush in every course. Students now care about getting into one of the popular colleges, and after that, they do not care about the course combinations that they might have to take,” said Anju Srivastava, principal of Hindu College.

Srivastava also recalled how BA (Hons) got more attention after DU changed its name from BA (Pass). “Since then, these courses also became popular among students. Students also understood that specialising in two subjects gives them better chances, especially in civil services,” she added.

Ashish Mishra said the cut-off when he got through the Delhi College of Arts and Commerce (DCAC) in 2009 was 79 per cent. He pursued BA (Hons) in History from DCAC in the 2009-2012 batch and then MA in History from Hindu College in the 2012-2014 batch.

Number mismatch

When asked about the rising cut-offs in the past decade, DU student Sehgal said, “One issue is the number of colleges. I think there is a strong need to increase the number of colleges because there is a discrepancy in the student-college ratio.”

Agreeing with this, Hindu College’s Anju Srivastava added this might be “due to the online and centralised admission. So, the application process for DU admission is more accessible now.” As a result of this, colleges “are over-admitting for no fault of ours, even with such high cut-offs,” she added.

Recalling the time when the student-teacher ratio was better, Srivastava said, “We used to remember every student’s name and where they would be sitting. The teachers’ used to connect better and they could even approach and discuss their personal problems. At this time of their life, students are at that vulnerable stage as they are familiarising themselves with the freedom they get in college. But now, we are taking them as a herd and they are not being treated the way they want and need to be treated. That is why the role of counsellors is increasing in academics. Otherwise, numbers are failing us.”

Talking about Hindu College’s cut-offs nearing 99 per cent and 100 per cent in the last decade, she said this notion seems unrealistic, but is very real. “We do not get a single moment to breathe in the first few days of admissions, because there are so many coming in from across the country, especially due to the online admissions. Last year, or before that, we had 90 students with the perfect score,” she said, trying to explain that this is the new normal where students are scoring this much.

Students’ merit, cut-off unrelated

DU graduates and professors also said the rise in cut-off cannot be justified by colleges by saying it is designed to increase quality among students. “It would be unfair to say that these cut-offs or CUET scores can decide the quality of students because some candidates may be better at interviews and have exam phobia, while others might be better at written exams. I never felt the quality of students was an issue or was directly proportional to the cut-offs,” argued Sehgal.

MH’s Pratibha Jolly also said it would be a wrong precedent to set and that cut-offs might end up ignoring the holistic development of students. “Data analytics point towards this, but the quality of students is different and is not the main deciding factor. That is highly dependent on the holistic development of a student,” she added.

Sehgal suggested it might be a better idea if colleges conduct interviews or a spoken round to judge a student’s capability rather than depending solely on their board results or CUET score. “Earlier, the writing tests conducted by colleges used to distinguish between the writing ability in a school and in different situations. It used to check creativity, writing skills, cognitive skills and things like that of a student. Interviews work well in smaller-sized and autonomous institutions, but won’t work in DU,” argued Jolly.

“In these situations, one might look at teachers’ recommendations, micro details of internal assessments, components of exam scores in final exams, statement of purpose and more. Many private institutes and universities abroad do that. However, if we centralise everything and scale it up, it would become difficult.”