SECOND LIST ON AUG 11
MUMBAI: The University of Mumbai’s first merit list for undergraduate degree courses was released on Thursday, with many colleges seeing higher cut-offs. Unaided self-financed courses remain a favourite of applicants. Students allotted seats in the first merit list have from August 6 to 11 to complete their admission process. To confirm admission, a candidate must submit documents online along with a copy of the pre-registration form to the college and their fees. The second merit list will be released on August 11 at 7pm.
A MIXED RESPONSE FOR ARTS
This year, some of the top arts colleges retained high cut-offs. The cut-off for BA at St Xavier’s College is 92% for HSC students and 98.60% for other boards. Mithibai College closed its first list at 96%. Compared to 93% in 2019, this year the cut-off at KC College is 96% and Ramnarain Ruia College ended the first merit list on 95.6% compared to 95% last year.
At Wilson College, the cut-off is 93.6%, seven percentage points higher than 2019. “Cut-offs for almost all courses have gone up or remained similar to 2019. Despite Covid-19, students want to study in Mumbai. We got applications from many outstation students and the competition seems to be as fierce as 2019,” said Rajendra Shinde, principal, St Xavier’s College.
Surprisingly, DG Ruparel College saw a lower cut-off than last year. The BA cut-off at Ruparel College is 88.6% this year, compared to 2019’s 98%. “One reason is that we increased the intake for BA. We are also seeing a slight dip in the applications because of the Covid-19 situation as many students are in their hometown and unsure about moving back to Mumbai, at least for this academic year,” said Tushar Desai, principal, DG Ruparel College.
UNAIDED COURSES ATTRACT TOP SCORERS
Once again, unaided courses like bachelors in management studies (BMS), bachelors in accounting and finance (BAF), bachelors in banking and insurance (BBI), bachelors in mass media (BMM) as well as bachelors in financial markets (BFM) remain favourites among students. Most top colleges recorded a slight rise in cutoffs for these courses. “Unaided courses invariably attract more students because students still feel they have better job opportunities after such courses. Arts students, however, are moving more towards the traditional course over unaided courses,” said Hemlata Bagla, principal, KC College.
This year, the cut-off for BMS at Jai Hind College in Churchgate is 96.2% for commerce, slightly higher than last year’s 94.6%. For science stream, the BMS cut-off is 93.4%, compared to 89.8% last year. The cut-off for arts dipped by two percentage points.
BCOM, BSC ATTRACT MORE STUDENTS
Traditional courses like bachelor of science (BSC) and bachelor of science in information technology (BSC-IT) or computer science (BSC-CS) received more applications in many colleges. “MU received 25% more registrations and it could be due to the uncertainty over admissions to professional courses. Many students must have blocked seats in traditional courses until they bag a seat in the course and institute of their choice,” said Bagla.