It’s a waste, say angry students

By Saturday afternoon colleges would have accepted the last of the admission forms for graduate courses. Over the last couple of days, thousands of harried students have been lining up at colleges hoping to land their preferred courses. Speak Up asks them to list their seven biggest gripes

Colleges don't value our time
I have applied for the BMM course in many reputed city colleges. But one thing is common to all of them. There is just one queue for the submission of forms and it is really long. Why don't these colleges value our time? And we have to rush from one college to another within three hours to submit forms. At one of the colleges, I waited for an hour in an unending queue.
—Ishita Shah

Chaotic admission procedure
I am from Kota and I came to Mumbai for graduation. Mumbai has good colleges but the admission procedure is disorganised. Every college should have a notice board where confused students can find information about the procedure. College authorities don't answer our queries properly.  End of the day I find myself really frustrated with the whole experience.
—Tarun Kataria

There is no shelter in the rain
I have just given my HSC exams and now I want to pursue BMM because I want to opt for advertising. I have been running from one college to another over the last two days. The rains are an annual event but colleges don't seem to find it necessary to provide some kind of shelter for the waiting students. In one college, we were told to make a new queue as it started raining heavily. There was even more chaos then.
—Sneha Dhingra

Seats are very limited
I have got the marks I needed in HSC to pursue Bachelor of Accountancy and Finance (BAF). But the problem is that seats are limited and then you have deal with the quota issue. Even a deserving student like me is not going to get a seat in a college of her choice. Where is the point in having worked so hard if I have to settle for whatever course I land up with?
—Parita Dodia

There are very few good colleges
I want to do a BBI (Bachelors in Banking and Insurance) from a good Mumbai college. For one, not many colleges in the city offer this course at the moment. Then many of those who do, don't really have that great a reputation. I might have to pursue some other course and I am not prepared to settle for the second best. I am not really ready to consider another alternative to BBI.
—Neeraj Gahlawat   

Why such a short time window?
I am really disappointed. My son and I travelled from Borivali for hours through terrible traffic to get to the city colleges. We were denied a form because the counter shuts at 1pm sharp. We didn't have this information. There is no forum where students can get this kind of information and share it. How do colleges expect students to collect forms from across the city within three hours? Shouldn't the time be extended till at least 4pm?  
—Lata Bajaj. Parent

There is no organisation
I've come from Udaipur to secure admission for my child. I am a parent and I find the whole process of queuing up really tedious. We've jumped from college to college and most of the time has been spent standing in never-ending queues. It would be much better if we could have a centralised system or an online system for applying. This way, students can use their time in a more organised fashion.
—Aruna Bhandari. Parent

We'll be online next year
This year we have separate counters for counselling students. We have a space crunch but we are doing our best to guide students. Our third year students have volunteered to help with admission seekers. The rains have led to a lot of chaos around but over the next two days the sale and submission of forms is going to pick up. We will only be able to tell if the students-to-seats ratio is skewed after all the applications come in. A centralised admission process is a good idea in Mumbai. But it will need six months of planning before it can be implemented. We are planning to introduce computerised admissions next year onwards. We are doing the dry runs just now. 
—Kirti Narain. Principal, Jai Hind College  

We have opened a help desk
We have opened up more counters for distributing and collecting forms in order to ease the pressure this year. We have a help desk to guide students who have queries concerning admissions. I admit that it was chaotic over the weekend because we also had students who came to collect their results. The rains added to the confusion. As far as centralisation of admissions to Mumbai colleges is concerned, I am not sure how well it will work. We need to first centralise the distribution of forms and then think of centralising the entire admission process. And all colleges need to agree to abide by the rules.
—Manju Nichani. Principal, KC College

I had it easy
Everyone wants to get in the best college and pursue the course of their choice. Unfortunately, it's not really possible. I wanted to become a journalist, and decided that I needed a degree in English literature. I got admission in Miranda House in Delhi. The admission procedure in Delhi is centralised and makes things easy for applicants. But once I started modelling I realised that none of it would add up to much and I would land up in Mumbai, in films.  
—Minissha Lamba. Actor

I was denied admission
I was an in-house student of Mithibai College. As per rules in-house students were guaranteed admission if they meet the specifications of the cut-off list. Even after clearing it I wasn’t admitted due to limited seats. I asked for help and even went on a hunger strike. Finally I got a NOC from the University. After college I wanted to go into diamond sorting and even did a course. While in college, I did commercials. I didn’t plan for acting but here I am.  
—Jay Soni. Actor

I cracked all entrances
I grew up in Kolkata and aspired for a BMM degree in Mumbai to be a news reporter. I had to clear a few entrances. More than 300 students had appeared for the test . I cracked all the three tests but opted for Ruia College. I completed my first year and then found roles in serials like Kasautii and Annu Ki Ho Gayi Wah Bhai Wah. The busy shooting schedules meant low attendance. I had to opt out of the course and now I plan to do a correspondence course.
—Srijita De. Actor

We need an integrated approach 
We need to create some long-term strategies to handle the mismatch between demand and supply for seats. We have yet to devise a holistic approach to education. Ministers get reshuffled, policies change suddenly, the quota system is revised every year... most students haven't a clue about which way they are heading.
With students facing problems year after year it is obvious that we need to increase the number of seats in colleges and universities. But this needs to be decided at the ministerial level. The solution that universities come up with is to encourage distance education. In India, distance education is not viewed with seriousness.
Today, even students who score high marks do not get the courses they desire. So they end up taking a subject they never really cared for. Then you hear of students committing suicide because they didn't get what they aimed for. We get many calls during admissions from panic-stricken students. There is immense insecurity among them about their future.
—Swati Salunke. Managing Director, Growth Center—Career counselling center

Online admission is a great idea
Getting admission forms, and then admission to a college and a desired course often seems to be more difficult than passing HSC/SSC examinations. For parents, too, college admission means immense stress. The problem arises mainly because students seek admission to certain select colleges. They would rather travel to the other end of the city to a chosen college, usually in south Mumbai, than find something suitable, closer home. Good teachers and academicians maintain that it is important for a student to find a course that he/she is interested in. This is as important as finding a college with good staff and infrastructure. Issuance of admission forms and prospectus is big business for most educational institutions. This is why there is so little backing for online admissions. Online admissions would also ensure greater transparency. Another option would be to have a combined pool for admission done online. Students should be allowed to give three choices for colleges. After the last date for filling up of the forms, the list would be organised by good data-based software.
—Abhay Mokashi. Senior Journalist and Director AMRAS