For the first time since the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for undergraduate admissions was introduced, the University of Delhi (DU) has released the minimum allocation scores or cutoffs for colleges and courses on its official portal. The cut-off would introduce greater transparency to admissions, with student choices becoming more informed. Old colleges like Hindu College, St. Stephen’s, Lady Shri Ram College (LSR), and Miranda House are now the best options, particularly for popular courses like Psychology and English.

The roll of highlights, Christian faith excepted, had the highest cutoff in the general category in Hindu College for BA (Hons) Political Science at an all-time high of 950.58. Hot on their heels were some of the other popular programmes like the BA Programme, English (Hons), and Psychology (Hons), which also showed high cutoffs in many colleges. Hindu’s BA Programme (History + Political Science), for example, was 936.18, while St. Stephen’s had a cutoff of 926.93 for English (Hons). LSR did not disappoint with its high standard in Psychology at 926.53, and for Political Science (Hons), 925.98.

Miranda House also displayed stunning numbers with 925.97 for Political Science (Hons), which only serves to indicate its ever-growing popularity with candidates. Lady Shri Ram College displayed a marginally lower cutoff for the same course at 915.69, whereas Kirori Mal College displayed 909.69. Interestingly, most interdisciplinary and humanities courses displayed cutoffs at well over 912 marks, which means a stiff competition for higher-seats.

The competition was even stronger in the commerce stream. Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) recorded the highest cutoff in BCom (Hons) at 917.43, followed by Hindu College (912.21), LSR (906.37), and Hansraj College (901.71). The difference between colleges was clearly seen because Zakir Husain Delhi College (Evening) recorded the lowest cutoff at 683.38. More than 20 lakh students had applied for BCom (Hons), which is a very popular programme.

For the BCom Programme, the cut off leader was Kirori Mal College at 883.99, followed by Ramjas College at 877.68. At the other end of the list was Shyam Lal College (Evening) with the lowest cutoff of 611.76. The programme had over 15.26 lakh candidates. In English (Hons.), St. Stephen’s topped with 926.92, followed by Hindu (885.76), Miranda House (863.02), and Hansraj College (851.11). Satyawati College (Evening) had the lowest in English (Hons.) at 593.24, showing the vast range of performance of candidates. English (Hons.) had more than 12.2 lakh applications.

The Political Science (Hons) course had the lowest cutoff at Shyam Lal College (Evening) with 569.73, in the face of almost 10 lakh applications in the discipline. History (Hons) was topped again by St. Stephen’s at 918.71, followed by Hindu College (914.38) and Miranda House (894.63). Lower scores were seen at Satyawati College (Evening) and Zakir Husain College (Evening), at 556.60 and 553.24 respectively.

The science stream also saw steep cutoffs. Highest in Mathematics (Hons) with a grade of 834.08 was awarded by St. Stephen’s. Hindu College recorded highest cut-off in Zoology at 678.44, and highest mark in Physics (Hons) was recorded at St. Stephen’s at 578.76. DU uses various different methods to determine cutoffs for streams. Humanities cutoffs are determined out of 1,000 marks based on best four subjects. Science stream subjects are scored out of 750 marks on the basis of the first three subjects, and Mathematics (Hons) and Computer Science consider four subjects also.

The information revealed is for the year 2025–26. DU has seen approximately 3.1 lakh registrations and about 1.7 crore course-college preference. The university released the first seat allotment list on July 20, opening up 71,642 seats in 79 courses in 69 colleges. Seats were allotted to approximately 93,000 candidates. Till 9:40 p.m. on July 19, more than 72,659 students had accepted seats allotted to them, and admissions were finalized by colleges for 14,939 of them.

Even after the initial allotment, there are likely to be students who will opt for upgradations or change their preferences. The university will come out with a list of vacant seats on July 24. The students can make changes in their course and college preferences up to 4:59 p.m. on July 25. The second allotment of seats will come out on July 28, continuing the dynamic admission process at one of the most competitive universities in India.