Chandigarh
Countering the general perception that courses in BA are chosen only by average scorers or those not selected in any other courses, students with marks as high as 95 per cent enrolled in BA courses in city colleges.
Among the variety of subjects being offered in BA in city colleges, Psychology, Economics, and Sociology have attracted interests of class XII toppers not only from Arts but also in Commerce and Science stream this time.
At DAV College Sector 10, Prathma Sharma, Mallika Chahal and Asim Bhatti, scoring 95 per cent, 94.2 per cent and 93.6 per cent in class XII, respectively, have all opted Economics. Psychology is also the choice of one them. While Prathma and Asim are from Arts background, Mallika has studies Commerce in class XII. For Mallika, ensuring a seat in BCom would have been easy, however, she preferred BA.
Similarly, at MCM DAV college, Sector 36, Sanjana Prabhakar, scoring 94 per cent in Class XII (Commerce) has now enrolled in BA psychology. Seerat Brar, who scored 92 per cent has also chosen to study Psychology in BA.
“We have witnessed a time when BA was considered as the last resort for students and the choice of students with low or average scores. The trend is now changing. Not only the perceptions of students but also the parents appear to have changed,” said Principal DAV College B C Josan.
It is pertinent to note that the highest number of seats are being offered in BA in all the colleges in the city (above 600). Also, the lowest cut off for BA still goes till 50 or 55 per cent every year.This, however, does not imply that the course is opted only by average scorers, pointed out a college official.
The trend can be seen even in government colleges in the city. In the Post Graduate Government College for Girls, Sector 42, for instance, as many as 19 students with above 85 per cent marks have opted for BA this year. Here too, the preferred subjects are psychology, economics and functional English.
According to the officials, the key reasons for the increased interest of toppers in BA, are the inclination towards the Administrative Services. There are, also, views indicating that students sometimes opt for Commerce and Science in class XII and later realise that their interest lies in Arts.