Stiff competition for coveted seats as PU cut-offs expected to soar

Cut-off marks in some of the most sought after pre-university colleges are set to increase for the academic year 2017-18. Despite the SSLC pass percentage declining this year, college managements who have already received applications state that more students have secured higher ranks this year. M. Prakash, Director of Studies, Seshadripuram Group of Institutions, said that the cut-off marks are likely to increase by one or two percent for admissions in the 2017-2018 academic year. “We have given out nearly 700 applications for PU colleges and many of these students who have bought the forms have bagged above 90%,” he said, adding that the first lists across science and commerce will stop between 92% and 93% per cent. “However, students need not worry as even those with around 88% in commerce and 86% may get seats later,” he said. Last year, however, the same college had an 87% cut off for commerce and 85% for science. A.V. Chandrashekar, principal, PES PU College said that he expects science cut-offs to increase by 2% while that of commerce may go up by as much as 5%. But this trend is likely to play out only in top colleges. Those are not in demand among students may see the entry cut-offs drop. K.R. Manjunath general secretary, Karnataka State PU College Principals' Association said that students should not get disheartened if they don’t get into the college of their choice, and should instead focus on the combination of subjects they prefer. Many tier-II colleges may admit students on a first-come first-serve basis and publish merit lists. “These colleges will look at the number of seats they have to fill and set a benchmark. Students who have more marks than a particular cut off will get direct admission,” he said. However, C. Shikha, Director of the Department of Pre-University Education, said that it was mandatory for all colleges to admit students only after publishing a merit list. Many of the pre-university colleges particularly those that also offer coaching for CET and NEET have already filled their management quota seats before the SSLC results were announced.