The reason candidates should list the highest possible number of programme-college preferences is because if they do not list a particular combination as a preference, they will not be considered for allocations or upgrades to it. (Express file photo by Praveen Khanna)With Phase II of Delhi University’s undergraduate admission process starting Monday, the varsity’s primary word of advice to candidates has been to fill in a “maximum” number of programme-college preferences while registering.
Because of the nature of the registration process this year, this guiding principle is crucial for candidates to ensure the best possible chance of securing a seat at the University, even if it might not be their most coveted choice.
Over the next two weeks, candidates will be expected to select the programmes and in order of preference, list out the programme plus college preferences for which they would like to be considered.
For instance, they might choose BA (Honours) History at St. Stephen’s College as their first preference, BA (Honours) Political Science at Hindu College as their second preference, BA (Honours) Political Science at Miranda House as their third preference, and so on.
After the University releases its CUET score-based merit lists for the various programme groups, candidates will be allotted seats to their highest possible preference programme-college combination according to their place on the merit list. So, if all seats in the first four programme-college preferences listed by a candidate are filled by candidates higher on the merit list than them, they will be allotted a seat in their fifth preference.
The reason candidates should list the highest possible number of programme-college preferences is because if they do not list a particular combination as a preference, they will not be considered for allocations or upgrades to it.
“The order of preferences listed by a candidate will be the deciding factor for where they will be admitted. Our advice is for candidates to apply for all combinations, in all colleges. We have no history of data since this is the first time, so there is no indication of where a candidate may end up. If a candidate leaves out a particular programme in a particular college, we cannot allocate or upgrade them to it even if there’s a vacancy and they are suitably placed on the merit list. This would mean a huge number of combinations but our systems are in place to take 5,000 programme-college combinations,” said Dean Admissions Haneet Gandhi.
Gandhi also advised that candidates start making a list of their preferences. Under the cut-off system, candidates simply had to list the programmes that they wish to apply for admissions. Once the colleges released their cut-off lists, candidates could seek admission in the college of their choice in which they clear the cut-off and could shift to other colleges after subsequent cut-off lists if they wound up clearing the lowered cut-off in a preferred college. The new system however places greater responsibility on candidates to list informed and realistic preferences which will determine their admissions.