The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Scramble for arts, science courses in city colleges

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 10, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Scramble for arts, science courses in city colleges

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, JUNE 9. This year, many students have learnt their most important lesson after their Plus-Two examination: that for arts and science courses, a candidate in the open competition category needs a 95 per cent aggregate for admission to a top city college.

At Loyola College, there are around five candidates for each seat. At leading women's institutions such as Stella Maris College and MOP Vaishnav College, the odds are higher with each candidate pitted against nine others.

And for those who want admission into the most sought-after courses this year — commerce, communications or any of the bio-sciences — it is an even tougher contest.

Consider this:

Over 4,000 students applied for Commerce in Loyola College. Only one out of 10 will get a seat -- Incidentally, 25,000 students applied for various courses with about 2,500 seats. Queues get longer as students await the `lists.'

In Madras Christian College, a student stands a one-in-45 chance of getting admission into the B. Com course. "Commerce continues to be the craze," says Alexander Mantramurti, principal. But only those who have more than 1,130 out of 1,200 stand a chance. Physics and Maths are also popular with 800 applicants in line for about 40 seats each.

In the M.O.P. Vaishnav College, there were 5,000 applicants for 210 Commerce seats. The college has already completed admissions for the year, except for B.A. Journalism, B.Sc. Maths, M.A. Public Relations, M.Sc. Information Technology and M.A. Communications. For Communications, there were 425 applicants for just 40 seats.

D.G. Vaishnav College has a similar story. Some 4,500 students have applied for 460 seats available under both Day and Evening colleges. The communications course, started three years ago, now has over 400 applicants competing for 50 seats.

Stella Maris College has over 10 students competing for each seat. And the cut-off for a Commerce seat is 95 per cent under open competition. The demand for Bio-Sciences courses has increased, the principal, Annamma Philip, says. "We have also introduced B.A. in Social Work. We initiated discussions for the introduction of the course with the University. Admissions will start soon."

Guru Nanak College received about 2,000 applications for 120 Commerce seats. According to the principal, John Morais, the cut-off for Commerce under open competition is 95 per cent.

Given the odds, many students who want Commerce seats will now begin settling for second and third choices. Some may secure seats in evening college Commerce courses. For others, the scramble for Economics, Corporate Secretaryship, Business Administration, Statistics and other related subjects will begin soon.

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