Getting a BCom seat in Chennai likely to get harder; computer courses may be the next option

Chennai: Getting admission to commerce and computer-related courses in the city may get tough as colleges have received a high number of applications for BCom, BCA and BSc computer science this year -- about 30 applications for one commerce seat, and 10 applications for a BCA seat. Experts said the expectations for a high cut-off mark for BCom courses might result in a surge for computer-related applications."We expect a cut-off of 400 out of 400 marks for BCom and BCom (accounting and finance) this year. For 70 seats in BCom (aided), we got more than 2,500 applications within three days. We're expecting more after the CBSE Class XII results," said S Uma Gowrie, principal of Ethiraj College for Women. The college got 1,077 applications for BCA, and the new course BSc cyber security has received more than 350 applications in the first few days.Madras Christian College has received nearly 4,000 applications for BCom (aided) and 3,100 for BCom (accounting and finance). For BCA and BBA too, more than 2,000 applications have come in so far. "We are seeing a revival of interest for courses such as BA political science and BA economics," said Paul Wilson, principal of the college.In Loyola College, BCom courses and computer science programmes have received more than 5,000 applications so far. "BSc visual communication is the next most popular course, with 1,300 applications in the first week," said A Louis Arockiaraj S J, principal of Loyola College.Colleges such as Stella Maris College, DG Vaishnav College and Guru Nanak College said they received more applications for courses such as BCom accounting and finance than BCom general course this year. "We got 3,500 applications for BCom accounting and finance this year. BSc computer science with AI has received more applications than the computer science programme," said S Santhosh Baboo, principal of DG Vaishnav College. Women's Christian College said it received more applications for psychology and English literature, besides the commerce course.Applications are yet to pick up for basic science programmes in many colleges.In the first 11 days, 1.3 lakh students registered for engineering counselling. Last year, 2.2 lakh candidates participated in the engineering counselling. The early trend shows that more students will opt for engineering counselling this year too."Considering the high cut-off for BCom courses, students also show interest in computer-related courses in arts and science colleges. In engineering admissions, we can expect higher admissions in core engineering courses compared to last year, as more students are open to courses such as electrical engineering," said Jayaprakash Gandhi, a career consultant.