Mumbai: Mumbai’s leading colleges, including St. Xavier’s College, R. A. Podar College, KPB Hinduja College, Mulund College of Commerce, Ramnarain Ruia Autonomous College, and Jai Hind College, released their second merit lists for undergraduate admissions on Saturday.
The cut-offs remained high for some sought-after courses, while a marginal dip was observed across many traditional and self-financed programmes, offering slight relief to aspirants.
At St. Xavier’s College, the BA programme saw a slight drop in the open category cut-off, going from 98.42% in the first list to 97.60% in the second. The BCom cut-off fell from 94.60% to 93.17%, while BMS dropped marginally to 95.87%.
The BSc programme also saw a minor fall in cut-off, now at 90.60%. All minority category cut-offs also dipped slightly, with the BA cut-off at 91.80%, BCom at 90%, and BMS at 87.31% in the second list.
At R.A. Podar College, a coveted destination for commerce and finance aspirants, the second cutoff percentages for undergraduate programmes reflect a slight easing of competition from the first round. The First Year Bachelor of Accounting and Finance (FYBAF) programme saw its cutoff drop from 95.60% in the first merit list to 94.17%, a dip of 1.43 percentage points, while the First Year Bachelor of Commerce (FYBCOM) fell from 94.33% to 92.83%, a decline of 1.50 percentage points.
More significant drops were observed in specialised courses, with the First Year Bachelor of Arts in Statistics (FYBAS) decreasing from 86.83% to 82.33%, a 4.50 percentage point reduction, and the First Year Bachelor of Science in Data Science (FYBSc Data Science) plummeting from 81.00% to 74.17%, a notable 6.83 percentage point decrease. These larger declines suggest that specialised programmes may have seen fewer takers initially, possibly due to their niche appeal in a competitive market.
Meanwhile, K.P.B. Hinduja College of Commerce, known for its diverse offerings in commerce and media, presented a mixed picture with its second cutoff percentages. The FYBCOM programme saw a sharp drop from 71% in the first merit list to 60.00%, a steep 11 percentage point decline, raising questions about seat availability or waning interest in the course.
The FYBAF programme at Hinduja decreased more modestly, from 90% to 87.33%, a 2.67 percentage point drop, while the First Year Bachelor of Banking and Insurance (FYBBI) fell from 79% to 71.67%, a 7.33 percentage point reduction.
The First Year Bachelor of Financial Markets (FYBFM) also saw a decline, from 90% to 87.60%, a 2.40 percentage point drop. Interestingly, the First Year Bachelor of Arts in Multimedia and Mass Communication (FYBAMMC) showed varied trends across streams: the Commerce stream dropped from 82% to 78.60%, a 3.40 percentage point decrease, the Arts stream saw a slight decline from 73% to 72.00%, a 1.00 percentage point dip, but the Science stream rose from 50.67% to 60.50%, a 9.83 percentage point increase, hinting at shifting student preferences towards media-related fields.
Reflecting on these trends, Dr. Minu Madlani, Academic Advisor at K.P.B. Hinduja College of Commerce, noted that the sharp rise in second merit list cutoff percentages across their flagship programmes reflects the increasing trust students place in the institution. She highlighted that courses like BAF, BBI, and BMM have seen a remarkable surge in demand, with cutoffs rising by over 15% to 20% in some streams, underscoring a decisive shift among students towards career-focused specialisations in digital media and accounting, a trend that mirrors broader industry growth in sectors such as fintech, financial advisory, and content-led marketing, where demand for skilled graduates continues to rise.
At Ramnarain Ruia Autonomous College, the open category cut-off for the FYBA dropped to 87% for most majors/minors, while Psychology Major continued to hold at 95%. In the FYBCom programme, the open category cut-off stood at 86%, down from 90% in the first list.
The FYBSc open cut-off dropped from 60% to 50%. Among self-financed courses, the FYBMS programme had cut-offs of 85.59% (Arts), 75.84% (Science), and 87.60% (Commerce), while FYBAF, FYBBI, and FYBFM saw open category cut-offs of 90.80%, 88.00%, and 91.66%, respectively.
Jai Hind College also published its second merit list, with the FYBCom open category cut-off declining from 92.33% to 89.67%. For the FYBA, the cut-off dropped to 86.67% from 89.17%, while FYBSc (Biotech)decreased slightly from 87.83% to 85.17%. The BAMMC course saw a marginal dip from 92.17% to 91.50%. In the BMS programme, the cut-off moved from 93.33% to 92.17%.
Mulund College of Commerce reported a revised second merit list for FYBCom, with the open category cut-off at 83.00%. The cut-offs for other categories included 68.00% for OBC, 54.00% for SC, and 70.00% for Ex-Servicemen/Sports/Govt./Cultural/Defence quota. There were no cut-offs listed for ST, NT-B/C/D, SBC, PH/LD, or EWS categories in this round.
K.J. Somaiya College of Arts and Commerce published the second merit list for external students, with FYBCom open and reserved category cut-offs ranging between 82.83% and 60.00%, and Govt. Others category at 56.17% & above. For the FYBA programme, open and reserved category cut-offs ranged between 79.67% and 40.67%, and the Govt. Others category was 64.60% & above.
