"People's perception of Presidency changed," says Principal after college receives 95,136 applications for 1,1,06 UG seats

Thanks to the recently released National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), students are making a beeline to get enrolled at the Presidency College this year. The Presidency College was ranked third by NIRF.

The college received a whopping 95,136 applications for just 1,1,06 undergraduate seats. Last year, the college received 53,668 applications.

College officials said usually the institute receives about 30,000 to 35,000 applications, however, the number rose to 53,000 last year as all Class XII students were marked pass by the CBSE and State board.

College principal R Raman said, Chief Minister MK Stalin participated in the convocation on July 5 and showered praises on his alma mater and later on the NIRF ranking was published. Following this, there was a rise in the number of applications. The online application process started on June 20 and concluded on July 27.

"Though Presidency has produced Nobel laureates like CV Raman, but due to some incidents in the past there was a negative notion about the college. However, after seeing the number of applications this year I am confident that people's perception about Presidency has changed," said principal Raman.

Many faculty members said due to the negative reviews, predominantly students from rural areas and disadvantaged backgrounds, who could not get admission to or afford an education at many other institutions, opted for Presidency. However, this year many top scorers have also applied. "In Commerce, students securing between 380 to 400 (95% and above) have been called for first phase counselling on August 5. Our cut-off mark in all other subjects has increased by 2% to 4% this time," said Raman.

The officials are hopeful that the number of girl students will also increase. Out of the total 3,316 undergraduate students in the college, only 873 were girls last year.