College admissions’ merit likely to rise

LAHORE: The merit criteria for first year admissions at various colleges is likely to rise because of the improved performance of high-achieving students in the BISE Secondary School Certificate exams, college officials told The Express Tribune.

The top student in this year’s results got 1,019 marks out of 1,050, while 12,029 students got grades of A+, meaning more than 840 marks. The two toppers of last year’s exams got 1,013 marks.

“Looking at these numbers, the merit will obviously increase,” said an FC College University official.

FC College and Government College University have the most competitive admissions, with these two universities usually taking most of the top position-holders. A GCU spokesman said it was too early to say how the merit criteria would be affected in first year admissions to 1,200 available seats.

Last year the minimum merit for admission to Intermediate was 972 marks for pre-engineering, 962 for pre-medical, 905 for computer sciences, 867 for general sciences and 792 for arts.

A teacher wishing to remain anonymous said that Government MAO College and Government Islamia College, Civil Lines, were likely to make first year admissions requirements more stringent after getting autonomy status.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2010.