Bhubaneswar: Competition for undergraduate (UG) admissions has intensified in several sought-after courses, with the second merit list pushing cut-offs even higher in humanities and commerce.Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, continued to dominate the charts, recording the highest cut-offs in humanities, physical science, biological science and commerce streams.The second merit list, released by the higher education department on Tuesday, showed the highest cut-off in humanities climbing to 99.67% for Economics at Ravenshaw University from 94.5% in the first list. In commerce too, the highest cut-off rose sharply from 89.17% to 93.67%, both at Ravenshaw.Officials associated with the admission process attributed the rise in cut-offs in some streams to a combination of factors. “This year, many CBSE students saw their marks improve after re-evaluation and verification following concerns over the board’s online evaluation system. Besides, the higher education department introduced the new ‘alter’ option, allowing students who had already secured their first-choice institution to revise their preferences. The department also reopened the choice-filling window before the second selection, giving candidates another opportunity to rearrange their preferences. Together, these factors appear to have pushed cut-offs higher in several popular courses,” a SAMS official said.Cut-offs in a few streams registered marginal declines. The highest cut-off in physical science dipped from 96.5% to 96.17%, while biological science fell from 94.83% to 94.33%. The highest cut-off for the five-year integrated BA LLB programme at Madhusudan Law University, Cuttack, also eased slightly from 89.4% to 88.83%. The highest cut-off for self-financing courses remained unchanged at 92% for Computer Science at BJB Autonomous College.According to the department, 41,578 candidates have been selected in the second merit list, including 17,737 boys, 23,839 girls and two transgender candidates.
