FYJC admission cut-offs unlikely to fall this year?

Mumbai: With all school boards’ Class 10 results being declared, the first year junior college (FYJC) admissions season is all set to begin. College principals in the city suggest that the students should refer to the past cut-off percentages before selecting colleges as the cut-off percentages in top and popular colleges are unlikely to drop this year as a large number of students have scored above 90 per cent.

The registration procedure for FYJC admissions has already begun, but the second part of process will begin by next week. In this procedure, the students need to choose 10 ‘preferred colleges’ according to their preference, location and merit (marks scored) in the online admission form.

The ‘FYJC Admission booklet’ the students have been provided by their respective schools, also mention the number of seats each colleges have. Students have been asked to refer to all these details before filling the online admission form. If not the booklet, students can also directly check the college websites to find out the past cut-off percentages and seat vacancies, which will be shortly uploaded.

This year, more than 25 to 30 per cent students in all the boards — Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Indian Certificate Secondary Education (ICSE), Secondary School Certificate (SSC) — managed to score more than 85 to 90 per cent. The highest marks in all the aforesaid boards are 499/500, 497/500 and 500/500, respectively.

Principals are worried that it will be a tough competition for ‘average scorers’ to get admission, especially in popular colleges in the city, which are in demand.

“The cut-off percentage is unlikely to drop, which will become a huge task for students who have scored average marks (below 70 per cent). Moreover, students tend to prefer big colleges, which will have a high cut-off percentage, looking at the percentage Class 10 students have scored,” said a principal of a Matunga-based college.

He further suggested that students choose colleges that are semi-popular along with the popular ones while filling forms. “Students tend to mention only south Bombay colleges even when their merit marks are lower than the cut-off percentage. I would suggest the students to choose semi-popular colleges in the city (colleges in the suburbs, west Mumbai and Central Mumbai).”