Tuesday, Jun 22, 2010
Coimbatore: With the first phase counselling for undergraduate courses coming to an end at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University on June 20, the response has yet again proved that agriculture ranked one of the most favoured on a par with engineering and medicine.

“This year saw 7,181 candidates apply for the 12 undergraduate courses offered by the university and its constituent colleges. This was 2,000 more than that of last year. As many as 1,561 candidates were shortlisted and called for counselling under the single window system to fill 924 seats. Candidates with cut-off marks as high as 198.25 had applied,” V. Jayabal, Dean (Agriculture), told The Hindu.

Those with cut-off marks from 198.25 to 185.50 (out of 200) were called for the counselling on the first day. The three toppers: S. Vanji Nathan (198.25) from Dharmapuri chose B.Sc. Agriculture. R. Monica (198.25) from Coimbatore chose Biotechnology, and B. Nithyapriya (198) from Mettupalayam chose B.Tech. Agriculture Engineering.

The most favoured course this year round seemed to be the conventional B.Sc. Agriculture. He attributes this to the influx of agriculture graduates in various sectors and also the increase in opportunities for them. The university admitted 696 students in the first phase counselling.

The second phase for the reserved quota would be held on July 7 to fill in the remaining seats. Those who had been selected in the first phase had been asked to submit the original documents on June 30 to confirm their admission.