In the past few years, several courses at the Delhi University (DU), including Psychology (Hons), Journalism (Hons) and BA (Prog) have gained extreme popularity among aspirants. This, in turn, has led to an 'unprecedented' rise in their cut-off percentage as compared to other courses. In a bid to understand the reasons behind their sudden shot to fame, DNA talked to aspirants who choose these newly popular courses over others.
For instance, as many as 80,000 applications were received for the available 229 seats in the Journalism (Hons) course offered at only six colleges of the university. To put it simply, there were 348 contenders for one seat, making it one of the 10 most sought-after courses with the cut-off touching 98.5 per cent.
"There is a passion attached to this course. You don't have to learn the books by rote, and there is a lot of fieldwork required. Above all, it's one of the few professional undergraduate courses at DU that gives a sense of job security," said Shreya Singh, 18, who has taken admission in the course at Delhi College of Arts and Commerce (DCAC).
Echoing the sentiment, Dr Manasvini Yogi, head of Delhi School of Journalism, said, "Mass Media and Journalism are flourishing fields, and that is why students are keen on joining these courses. Due to the high demand of the course, we have started a five-year integrated course in Mass Media and Journalism at the university last year."
The competition is as fierce in Psychology (Hons) wherein more than 75,000 students applied for the available 475 seat at 11 colleges. The admissions to the course were closed in four colleges right after the first cut-off which was as high as 98.5 per cent.
Experts say that the course has gained traction over the past few years. "The subject has something for everyone. It helps students understand the day-to-day personal and emotional issues of human lives. In this post-millennial era, people have become very individualistic. They are interested to understand the behavioural aspects of individuals, and the subject helps them to do so. However, it is yet to gain popularity among the rural youth as most of our students are from urban or semi-urban background," said Dr Anand Prakash, Head of Delhi University's Department of Psychology.
Lastly, BA (Prog), which was earlier considered the last resort for students who didn't manage a Honours seat, has emerged as the course demanding one of the highest cut-off percentages at 98.75 this time around. As many as 1.3 lakh students have applied for the available 10,340 BA (Prog) seats in 52 colleges.
This course is extremely popular among civil service aspirants. "We get to study more than one subject under the course. It gives us options while choosing our Major in civil services examinations. I have taken admission in the course keeping in mind this one aspect," said Shivani Srivastava, 18, who has taken admission at Kamala Nehru College.
However, some students said that the 'interdisciplinary' nature of the course makes it more desirable. "The course has a unique structure. It helps us explore different disciplines in the span of three years which isn't possible in any Honours course. I want to do research on the diversity of subjects. And, this course will help me in the long run," said Shashank Singh, 17, who has enrolled in the course at Hindu College.
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