The Saga of the Crazy Cutoffs

The cutoffs are finally out! We know that the value of the dollar against rupee isn’t the only thing that is skyrocketing. The scenario feels very similar to an after-tornado situation with debris strewn all about. There’s that eerie silence after the storm passes. Yes, debris is a metaphor for the aspirations of a lot of students. And confusion is at its superlative.

My initial reaction was one of disbelief. The course I wanted, a humble Bachelor of Journalism and Mass Communication, had an explosively high cut off at 97.5%. I could not believe what I saw… okay let me make this a little more realistic, my first reaction was “AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!” Needless to say, I realized that’s definitely not the course I’ll be doing anytime soon. Here, I faced a dilemma. While I kept harping about course over college, it’s not really possible to focus on a course when only one college offers it. I always had the option of going ahead with BJMC in a rather well known private college. But is it worth it? After all the madness and toil I had done during the boards, I think it was but natural to feel that I deserved some recognition. Unfortunately, that’s harder to find in a private college – or so seems the general perception. Hence, I had to turn to my backup course options. And that’s where I thankfully got lucky. My marks enabled me to get into most North Campus colleges – KMC, Ramjas and even South Campus ones like Venky (Sri Venkateswara) and DCAC (Delhi College of Arts and Commerce). But here’s the catch. I would have to do History. Now, don’t get me wrong - I love history. But I am extremely sick and tired of Indian History, which would be quite a major component of a degree in History in an Indian college! Besides, it would be tough to fit it into my career plan of finally going into Mass Comm and Film.

So what’s the backup? Well, I had two. Political Science and Philosophy. As of now, I’ve decided I’ll go ahead with the latter. I had a few discussions about this, with my parents, my Principal, my school counselor, and of course, my friends. And finally, I decided to join the line at the Hindu. Now expect to see an entire blog about my admissions experience at Hindu. Long story short, I got in.

What about my friends? I got lucky, because I had selected my backups after seeing previous years’ cutoffs. But that’s not the case with many others. The second cut off list was an even bigger shocker. Political Science and Geography – ADMISSIONS CLOSED at Kirori Mal. And I expect the same to happen at Hindu. The lists in commerce are unbelievably high. People with an amazing score like 95% are also in tears. People with an 80% might as well not be included in this discussion. I wonder what will be like four years from now. Anyone without a perfect score would be praying to get in through the third list. “I know 99.5 is very low, but please let me get in!”

Looks like the DU system is really helping the Asian stereotype get reinforced, eh?!