-Dipta Joshi

The admissions process to first year junior college (FYJC) aka class XI in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Area (Mumbai division) is likely to extend beyond the first week of September as the admissions of 1.38 lakh students remain pending. Three rounds of the centralised admission process (CAP) FYJC admissions have already taken place and a special round for online admissions began yesterday (August 25).

New students, students who were not allotted colleges in the earlier three centralised rounds as well as students who had declined their admissions despite being allotted a seat are being allowed to register in the special round (August 25-27).  

The office of the deputy director of education (DyDE) will display the junior college allotment list for the special round online on August 30. Students will be given time to confirm their admission to the allotted colleges until September 2. The DyDE will announce the list of remaining vacant seats on September 3.

This year recorded huge vacancies despite a large number of students being allotted colleges of their preference. About 1,28,827 vacancies in the general category and another 85,175 vacancies in the quota categories remained even after the third list of successful students was out on Monday, August 22. A total of 50,769 students were allotted seats in the third round and were given time until yesterday (August 24) to confirm their seats.

“Students should not consider cancelling admissions at this stage because after so many rounds there are fewer seats left in the most sought-after colleges. Students are advised to check the number of vacant seats in their preferred college while registering for the special rounds. They should also check if their personal percentage is close to the said college’s cut-off. Ideally the student needs to balance his form with the first five colleges mentioned in the form being colleges of his preferred choice and the next five being those that fit with his or her personal score,” says a former college vice-principal well versed with the admission process.

The 1015 colleges in Mumbai division have an intake capacity of 3,71,275 and can easily accommodate the 2,75,565 number of students seeking admissions to FYJC. However, students vying for seats in the city’s top 10 colleges remain in the admissions process until the last rounds in the hope of securing admission to the college of their choice.

 According to the CAP system, students who decline to get admitted despite getting allotted their preferred college during their first round are left out of the next second admissions round and can only register again during the third round. However by the third round of admissions, a fewer number of seats remain at the most sought-after colleges. The continued demand for seats (in these popular colleges) not only stretches the admission process but also leads to higher cut-offs.

This year the admission cut-offs for the third merit list witnessed a three percent increase as compared to the cut-off score for the second merit list. The cut-off score for St. Xavier’s College art stream was 95.6 percent in the third list as compared to the 93.4 percent in its second list. At D G Ruparel College, the third round cut-off for science stream was 92.2 percent whereas the cut-off for the second round was 89 percent. Colleges like H R College and N M College which are popular amongst students opting for the commerce stream showed a significant jump too in their third merit list at closing admissions at 96.8 percent and 95.4 percent respectively. Earlier admissions to H R College’s second list had closed at 92.6 percent while N M College had closed at 92.2 percent.    

Each year, the admissions process to FYJC colleges begins no sooner than class X results of state board schools are announced in June. This year however, the process began only after class X results of other educational boards including the CBSE and the ICSE were announced in the last week of July. The first merit list was announced August 3.  

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