[abhisays]

The mantra of the month - 'cut offs' can be quite a cut off from reality! Colleges look at marks in the 4 core subjects, minus English and the second language. At M.O.P Vaishnav College, it's 98.5 % for BCom (Accounting & Finance) for the open category and 97% for candidates claiming reservation. It is marginally less for the other Commerce courses - between 95% and 96.5%. Mercifully, this college is not entirely marks-ist'; having thrown in an aptitude test for BCom Honours. Dr. Lalitha Balakrishnan, Vice Principal of the college, who incidentally hails from the Commerce stream is hardly surprised "This year, we had about 9 students who scored 799 out of 800 from the State Board. For those who got 790 or a little less, we are helpless. In the CBSE too, there are those who have got 390 plus out of 400 in their core subjects.Its hard to turn students away but we have no choice." You need to score about 95% if you belong to the forward community and want to stand a chance in Stella Maris. Run by the Franciscan nuns, the college takes in Christian students for BCom, who score between 85% and 90%. At Madras Christian College, the cut off for B Com is between 95% to 99%. Despite the high demand, you may not find those serpentine queues at the admission counters here. "We are perhaps the first Arts & Science college in Chennai to have made admissions 100% online" reveals Prince Annadurai, the officer in charge of admissions.