Vile Parle’s Mithibai ‘most preferred’ college for FYJC 2016

A few decades ago, South Mumbai colleges ruled the roster with a majority of first year junior college aspirants flocking to them, irrespective of their streams.

Circa 2016, the student’s preferences seem to have undergone a slight change. Not that South Mumbai colleges aren’t popular among students anymore, but they are being outnumbered in terms of applications by their suburban and central counterparts.

Commerce, which has always been the most preferred stream among FJYC aspirants, has always received the maximum number of applications. But leaving behind SoBo favorites like Jai Hind and HR behind this year, is Vile Parle’s Mithibai college.

According to the data available with the Maharashtra Government’s school education department, Mithibai college has received approximately 38,000 applications for the commerce stream, more than any other college in the city.

Following Mithibai are Matunga’s R.A Podar college with approximately 35,000 applications and Andheri’s Bhavans College with almost 34,000 applications. In comparison, Jai Hind, which is still the most preferred option in South Bombay for Commerce, has received around 30,000 applications.

According to Rajpal Hande, principal of Mithibai College, the college has received maximum applications because of a mix of good NAAC rating, envious infrastructure like AC classrooms and strict attendance, which is preferred by parents universally.

For Science too, the maximum number of applications were received by a college in central Mumbai – Matunga’s Ruia College with around 30,000 applications. The second most preferred option was Vidyavihar’s KJ Somaiya college with almost 29,000 applications.

In case of Arts stream, however, South Bombay’s Xavier’s College remains the undisputed champ with almost 8,000 applications. In comparison, most other preferred Arts colleges have received anywhere between 3000 to 6000 applications.

When asked about the increasing popularity of Suburban colleges, Pritam Manek, whose daughter secured admission in Mithibai this year, said, “Things were different during our times. Back in the 60s and 70s most of the good colleges were in South Bombay. So we had no option. That is not the case now. My daughter was lucky enough to have the option of choosing the college of her choice and she chose Mithibai because of the positive reviews from her seniors and their infrastructure.”

Another parent, whose son secured admission in Matunga’s R.A Podar college said, “There is no reason for someone to travel all the way to South Mumbai if there are better colleges nearby. Podar is among the best Commerce colleges in the city and closer to our residence. Earlier, a majority of population was concentrated in South Mumbai, so those colleges were more popular. Now that most people have shifted to the suburbs, colleges here are gaining more popularity.”

Rehan Shah, whose daughter secured admission in Jai Hind also shared an interesting viewpoint, “I don’t think the popularity of South Bombay colleges has come down. But, I can understand why the number of applications might have. Most students usually don’t end up applying for SoBo colleges because they either think they won’t get in or it is too far. In comparison, even those students who are not sure of securing admission in a good suburb college opt for them in case they get ‘lucky’, which increases their total application count.”