VoiceTAP Careers and Colleges Series – North Campus vs South Campus (Delhi University)

The ‘colleges’ bit of VoiceTAP’s careers and colleges series was kicked off yesterday with the call on DU – North Campus vs South Campus. Experts on call were Natasha Bhan (BA Eco Hons from Miranda House, currently working as an analyst with ICF Consultants), Arpana Chaturvedi (B.Comm. Hons graduate from SRCC), Anita (second year student at Lady Shriram College), and George (second year student at Bhagat Singh). But before starting off with this contentious debate I thought it would be good to give a short guide to Delhi university admissions. This was something which was not covered in the call – well, the expectation was most of the VoiceTAP users tuning in would be Delhi students. Anyway, if you are a Delhi student or from outside, this short primer should help you get started.

Basic Guide to Admission Process in Delhi University

University of Delhi has a rich history behind it. It started in the 1922 and has grown today to a university which has more than two lakh students on its rolls. With so many colleges, filling up forms for each one used to be a big headache earlier. To simply this procedure, Delhi University adopted a common admission form which students can fill up. The catch here is that two colleges – St Stephen’s and Jesus & Mary College. Most other colleges also have their own individual forms, in case you don’t want to use the common application form. Download a specimen Delhi University common application form for undergraduate applications here (PDF, ~1.3 MB). This is an OMR form so in case you are not familiar with filling these up you can practice with this dummy copy. The list of colleges and courses on the second page of this form is also a handy quick reference to information regarding which college has which course.

The next thing that you need to do is to get the common admission form. These will be sold at at all colleges using that form starting from 1st June 2009 till 15th June 2009, which is also the last date to complete the submitted form. You should also go through the prospectus – click here to download complete Delhi University Undergraduate Admission Brochure 2009 (ZIP file approximately 12 MB in size, containing PDFs of the DU information brochure in parts). You can download this from the University website too (that’s where I got it from), but their server is notoriously unreliable; when I was downloading the speed was extremely slow and the download often got disconnected (not due to any in my connection).

Aspirants living in Delhi have the option to get first-hand knowledge from university officials and student volunteers during the open days, which started today. Click here to download Delhi University Open Days 2009 schedule to see which is the college closest to your place holding an open day. Note that this is about college admission in general and not the specific colleges as such, so it’s not held at all colleges. DU has also set up helpline numbers which you can call for any assistance.

Admission is done on the basis of Board marks. Students of Boards outside Delhi / ICSE are also accepted, but your percentage may be scaled up or down (depending on whether the board you gave you exam in generally give inflated scores or lower scores) to make it equivalent to CBSE. This done on the basis of an equivalence table that a university has. Apart from that, many colleges also admit students through their extra-curricular quota and sports quota. A small fraction of seats are reserved for these two, and each university which offers these hold their own tryouts to see how good candidates are. So if you haven’t got that good a score but are good at some extra-curricular activity (most colleges only consider debating or dramatics) or at some sport then you still have a chance of making it into a top college. Do note that competition is fierce in the tryouts. St Stephen’s and JMC have their own form, so criteria for admission at those places is different; Stephen’s for instance has interviews too. For some courses such as BA English (Hons), an entrance exam is going to be held from this year onwards. More details for this will be available from the college you want to join.

When people use the term ‘Delhi University colleges’, they are generally referring to colleges in North Campus and South Campus. West Campus (which consists of DU Faculty of Technology colleges DCE and NSIT) and East Campus (which has University College of Medical Sciences) are considered ‘separate’ because admission to these is on the basis of their own entrance exam. I’ll stick to North and South over here. Here’s some basic information on them.

North Campus

North Campus is the ‘original’ location where Delhi University started functioning. North Campus is a dense cluster of colleges with practically all colleges right next to each other. The list of colleges (with link to their official website) is as follows: St Stephen’s, SRCC, College of Business Studies, Hindu, Hansraj, Delhi School of Economics, Kirori Mal, Daulat Ram, Miranda House, Ramjas, Indraprastha College for Women, Rajdhani, Shivaji, Satyawati, SGTB Khalsa, Lady Irwin, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. Pardon me if I’ve missed out any.

South Campus

South Campus was set up by DU in 1973 to cope up with the high demand for seats. Colleges falling under South Campus are lesser in number and spread out over a wider geographical area than North Campus. The list of colleges falling in South Campus (with link to official site) is as follows: Sri Venkateswara, Lady Shri Ram, Jesus & Mary, Kamala Nehru, Gargi, Maitreyi, Delhi College of Arts & Commerce, College of Vocational Studies, Acharya Narendera Dev, Motilal Nehru, Ram Lal Anand, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Dyal Singh, Deshbandhu, Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma. I hope this list is complete, pardon me if I’m wrong.

North Campus vs South Campus

The debate on whether North Campus or South Campus is better has raged for a long time. On both sides we have alumni and current students of both who forward in support of their side. VoiceTAP decided to lay down some basic facts by speaking to the students themselves. I would have given a comparison table, but the the topic is just to broad to compare in a tabular fashion. Having said that, colleges in North Campus are considered to be ‘more prestigious’ by many people; South Campus does have a colleges which are also considered prestigious such as Sri Venkateswara, LSR, JMC, Kamala Nehru, etc. Many say that the fact that North Campus colleges are so close together also helps in inter-college bonding between students – more of a ‘university’ atmosphere so to say. At both campuses you’ll find enough places to hang out.

Traditionally, South Campus has been considered to be better in this aspect but Delhi Metro’s extensive network in north / west / east Delhi has meant that a lot of commercial development has taken place in those areas too. You know have lots of malls, shopping complexes, and cineplexes – all within easy reach because of the Delhi Metro – in the North Campus. In South Campus there has already been such commercial development since a long time, but with the Delhi Metro starting by next year in South Delhi too, I guess this distinction between hangout joints will be blurred further. Prices are also slightly cheaper in North Campus because of the multitudes of eating joints / shops catering to the college-going crowd.

Certain courses like journalism are only available in South Campus colleges – this is the case mostly with girls-only colleges. Otherwise the list of courses available and their contents are standard across all colleges, since they are all under University of Delhi. The difference lies in faculty, your college batchmates – and for later on when you near graduation, how good the college placement cell is at its job. An important piece of advice given in the VoiceTAP call was that if you are sure about which course you want to go for, then go for whichever college you’re getting the course in. However, if you’re not sure of which course you want to take up then it might be a better idea to join a better college. The latter is also true for cases where a student might want to do a degree like an MBA after graduation where the bachelor’s degree won’t matter, so in that case too choosing college over course would be a better idea. (I’m sure I’ll repent typing this out in my blog post because I’m certain that a lot of students will convince themselves that they are not convinced about which course to take up – when they actually do have an idea and got swayed by a college brand name.)

Accommodation within a college is available in hardly any colleges. The best way to go about whether college accommodation is available is to go through the details of a college as listed in this complete list of DU colleges and then look up within that – scroll to the bottom of the page for each college profile. College accommodation is harder to find for boys than girls because demand is much more. ‘Paying guest’ accommodation is available near almost each and every college so this is probably where most students seeking accommodation will end up in. Staying alone in PG is a costly proposition; it makes sense to find some room-mates to split the cost of rent, bills, etc. When you go to buy your college forms you’ll find lots of PG accommodation hostel people handing out pamphlets with details, so that could be your starting point for a search. You should also get in touch with student union volunteers for guidance regarding this matter.

Infrastructure for sports – and for everything else in general – is considered by most to be better in North Campus. Stephen’s and Hindu have strong sporting traditions. As for other extra-curricular activities, again, North Campus is considered to be better and also performs better. To be fair, the fact that there are so many colleges close to each other a) makes it easier for students to participate in events b) promotes a strong sense of competition between those colleges. Stephen’s for debating / quizzing, Miranda / Kirori Mal for dramatics, LSR for choreography etc are well known in their fields. Having said that, competition to get into South Campus clubs can be intense too, and South Campus is certainly not lacking in talent. It’s just that the level of energy isn’t the same because of the spread-out campus.

For those who were unfortunate not to make in to the college of their choice, transfers between colleges can take place after the first year is over. Of course, a certain minimum percentage is required – and not all colleges accept transfer students. Details regarding this can be obtained from the DU helpline or at volunteer help counters when you go to buy forms from a college.

Further Reading

• List of all Delhi University colleges: This listing links to colleges profile which gives a quick reference to basic details about each college – address, courses available, contact numbers, accommodation available or not, link to official websites, etc. In many cases though, the data is outdated. Don’t bother emailing. Nobody answers. Go to a college to get your doubts cleared.
• Delhi University undergraduate admission FAQs: Answers to frequently asked questions regarding admission to Delhi University. Answers to more general FAQs can be found here.
• Delhi University admission cutoffs 2008: DU releases multiple cut-off lists for admission to colleges. The list on this page is in reverse order – you need to scroll till the end of the page to get the link to first cutoff, then work your way up to later cut-offs. Now this is a fine balance that you have to walk. Should you take admission in the first cutoff of some college you don’t want, or wait for the second/third cutoffs to land your preferred college? These are tough decisions, but can be made easier by looking at how last year’s cut-offs in DU progressed. Cutoffs change each year, so take this as a ballpark figure. Sometimes, waiting pays off – first list cutoffs for popular colleges go higher since almost everybody applies to those even when they know they’ve a marginal chance of getting through.
• Yahoo! India Maps: You are advised that when you go to buy the common DU pre-admission form that you get it from the college you want to join. This gives you an opportunity to the check out the college. Finding your way to the colleges can be tough task – for both Delhiites and non-Delhiiites. Yahoo! India Maps is the best mapping / routing service for this purpose because it provides direction for driving by car, bike, walking directions – and even using buses! Once you get narrow down on the type of directions you want you can take a print-out, or have it SMSd to you for free. Just keep one thing in mind – try to enter college / source / destination name as accurately as possible. For instance, use ‘Shri Ram College of Commerce’ insted of ‘SRCC’; in general, avoid short forms. It’s not that short forms don’t work – because Y! India Maps also pulls from user-generated databases – but using full names ensures that you get the location. Yahoo! India Maps will also estimate travel time, distance, autorickshaw fare / bus fare etc for you. And in case in a false fit of bravado you walked off without getting directions beforehand from Y! Maps, install Google Maps for Mobile.
• DU Beat: Unofficial student newspaper on life in Delhi University. Read the articles here to get a feel of how student life is DU and in specific colleges.
• JAM Magazine: Somewhat cluttered-looking website, but content is top-notch. JAM is always buzzing with activity and good quality content – thanks to dedicated writers such as Rashmi Bansal who’s the driving force behind this venture. Rashmi has often spoken out against college rankings like those brought out by India today, but for the DU college rankings JAM agrees with ‘mainstream’ lists. There some quite interesting sections worth checking out on JAM Magazine, such as Campus Buzz (new about happening in college campuses), Fest Zone (details and reviews of college fests), Unofficial Prospectus (tongue-in-cheek take on various colleges; use the dropdown box somewhere down the left sidebar to switch between colleges), and U Know U Are In (along the lines of Facebook memes on te traits of different colleges).
• NDTV / CNN-IBN features on DU admissions: CNN-IBN DU Admission microsite and NDTV Mission Admission provide videos, news stories, advise, and important links on University of Delhi admission process.
• Education Times / HT Next: Special supplements from Times of India and Hindustan Times respectively focussing on youth issues.
• India Today ‘How to choose between a course and a college’ by the principal of Miranda House, Delhi University.

Bottom Line

North Campus or South Campus – whichever one you opt for or end up in (depending on your way of looking at it) – both offer exciting academic, extra-curricular, and ‘other stuff’ opportunities. What you do with that is up to you. You’ll be studying the same things whichever college you join, extra-curriculars is something you can take the initiative for (if it’s not strong in the college you join) – and the best thing is that with Delhi Metro coming to South Delhi by next year, geographical barriers between the two will be effectively reduced. Best of luck with your admissions!

PS – Want to share the link to this page with you friends? Use this short URL for remembering easily – http://tr.im/northvssouth!

PPS – Do check out VoiceTAP website for college vs college comparison calls that have just started. These will have more in-depth discussions done on two colleges at a time. It’s a free service!

PPPS – If you have any interesting link which you feel would be beneficial to DU aspirants, please leave them in the comments below! These could be forums, blogs, websites giving comparison, information on accommodation..anything at all that could be helpful to others.