ECA trials: Gird up for battle

NEW DELHI: Getting admission through the ECA category is set to get tougher this year with popular DU colleges, such as Hindu and Hansraj, receiving over a 1,000 applications for some 10-12 seats. The ECA trials are going to start from June 29, 2012, across DU colleges.
Colleges say there has been a 15%-20% increase in the number of applicants for ECA trials this year, which even includes high scorers.While Hindu College has received more than 1,000 applications for 15-20 seats, Hansraj College received 1,200 applications for around 10-12 seats. Kirori Mal College, too, has received over 1,000 applications for just 23 seats.
Anita Vishen, convenor of ECA at Hindu said: "We have received a little more than 1,000 applications for ECA seats. Total seats for ECA/sports are 37, which means we will have around 15-20 seats for ECA admissions."
In the past, ECA admissions have often come under the scanner with allegations of bias in selections. But with the DU admission committee making it mandatory for an ECA admission committee to have one external evaluator, the process is expected to be more transparent and fair. While many colleges are going to implement this rule from this year, there are colleges like Kirori Mal which say that this will make no difference to their trials as they already follow an open-door selection process.
"In the open-door selection process, the parents and candidates are allowed to witness the trials and they themselves can differentiate between performers and non-performers. This procedure makes selection more transparent than presence of experts from outside the college, and so far we had no trouble," says Kewal Arora, one of the ECA convenors of KMC.
On the other hand, Miranda House has been inviting experts from outside for quite sometime. Miranda House ECA convenor Sudeshna Bhattacharya said: "We have already been inviting experts from outside through the years, so the policy doesn't make much of a difference."
With majority of colleges starting their trials from June 29, experts advise that students prioritize their preferences as there will be date clashes and they might have to miss out on a few trials. "It all depends on how many students turn up on the day of the trials. Last year, the applications were fewer and around 80 turned up for the trials," says Arora.