Mumbai: The first merit list for first-year junior college (FYJC) admissions in the city, released on Friday, reflected a marginal decline of up to 2% in cut-offs across colleges. With the FYJC admission schedule advanced by nearly a month compared to last year, several students may have missed the initial application window, city college principals said. The slight dip in opening cut-offs also comes at a time when the state recorded a seven-year low pass percentage of 90.75% in SSC. In the Mumbai region, of the 2,11,660 registered aspirants, 1,33,323 students were allotted seats in the first admission round. Students have until June 3 to confirm their admissions.An analysis of the first merit list reveals that cut-offs across top city colleges show marginal fluctuations rather than any dramatic shifts. The Science stream emerged largely unchanged, apart from a drop at Xavier’s College, dipping by 2.6% to 90.4%. In contrast, Bhavans College saw its cut-off rise considerably across all three streams. Commerce witnessed a northbound crawl with cut-offs ticking upward across most competitive hubs, barring a few anomalies like KC College. Meanwhile, the Arts stream presented a mixed bag of minimal declines, varying by individual colleges.Broad data indicates that Commerce attracted the maximum share with 65,037 allotments, followed by Science at 52,884, and Arts at 15,402. State board (SSC) students secured 1,18,261 allotments, while ICSE and CBSE accounted for 7,351 and 6,334 seats, respectively, with 67,583 students across Mumbai city managing to land their very first college preference.Sangeeta Kamat, vice principal of N M College, noted that the swift schedule was poorly communicated. “This time, the board simply did not give enough time, and the schedule itself was unclear,” said Kamat, adding the board failed to explicitly clarify the admission process. “I have been hearing from students and parents continuously that admissions were conducted far too soon. The decisions that go into selecting a college and course require careful deliberation, and the board should have extended the timeline. Usually, students relax in May once exams wrap up, but by the time they realise it, the admission season is already upon them. While students think they can start planning post-exams, they actually need to start these discussions well before the board exams even begin,” Kamat added.Savio D’Souza, vice principal at St Xavier’s College, also attributed the marginal drop in percentages to the poor success rate in SSC board exams this year. “With early exams for the last couple of years, students are getting less time to prepare for the boards. This, in turn, is reflecting on the results and therefore, the admission cut-offs. We also believe that many ICSE and CBSE students prefer to continue in their own schools, thereby reducing their numbers in leading colleges,” said D’Souza. He added that the early admissions have also led to a drop in the numbers of applications. “Many parents have approached us to complain about the missed deadline. People are still on vacation. Last year, our cut-offs went up in the second list,” said the vice principal.State-level figures reflect a similar contraction, as a total of 5,74,945 students received seats across all centralised admission process (CAP) rounds statewide, a decline from last year’s 6,32,194 total allotments.Echoing concerns regarding the revised schedule, Anushree Lokur, principal of Ruia College, pointed out how the altered timeline has directly impacted student engagement. “Our cut-offs have dipped slightly this time around, primarily due to two factors,” said Lokur. “First, with the admission cycle and the first merit list being released a month earlier than usual, many families are currently away on vacation and haven’t engaged with the process yet. Secondly, the Class 10 results were visibly tougher this year. While we have seen a lower volume of applications initially, we anticipate a surge in subsequent rounds, which may very well drive the cut-offs back up as the admission season progresses.”
