Mumbai : Race for sought-after degree courses to hot up

31th May, 2018

MUMBAI: The last of Class XII results, for HSC, has brought cheer to many with a higher number of students scoring above 90% and Mumbai cornering the largest share. On the flipside, though, the results have paved the way for a competitive admission season for degree colleges.

This year, 5,486 students scored more than 90% in the state. Of these, 2,288 were from Mumbai—the maximum number among the nine divisions. Both Mumbai and the state saw a higher number of students secure a distinction as well (see box). The improved scores, though, might still not give them a level playing field during admissions where students from other boards will compete too.

Ashok Wadia, principal, Jai Hind College, said the pressure on admissions would increase. “While the number of HSC students with 90% has increased, one has not come across too many candidates who have bagged more than 95% in the state board. But the ISC and CBSE have several such students.”

All CBSE and ISC schools in the city recorded a higher number of students who scored not only more than 90% but even 95%. The top score among Class XII students was 98.6% in the science stream, 98% in commerce and 96.6% in humanities. Similarly, Tansa Shah, a humanities student from the city, topped the country with 99.2%.

What this translates into is while in-house students will automatically gain entry into vanilla degree courses, programmes such as BMS, BMM, computer science, banking and insurance and accounting and finance will see tough competition.

Interestingly, Mumbai University data shows the numbers of CBSE students in colleges affiliated to the varsity rose by 80% in the past five years. During the period, the rise among ISC students was close to 50.

At HR College, too, the merit list for sought-after courses is largely hogged by central boards. Despite an increase in the count of their 90 percenters from 24% last year to 26% this time, the crucial differentiator will be the students who scored more than 93%. “Sliding up from 89% to 90% or 91% is not going to help much,” said principal Parag Thakkar.

Take last year. Three selection lists for BAF at HR College closed at 96%, 95.8% and 95.08%, for instance. In case of BMS, cutoffs fell from 95.33% to 94.46% to 93.69%. “With that kind of marginal dip in every merit list, we could accommodate very few state board students. This year, too, popular colleges and courses are going to witness a lot of competition,” added Thakkar.

K C College principal Hemlata Bagla said Mumbai students concentrate on competitive exams, reflecting the fact that HSC some times takes a back seat.

 

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com