Admission to Delhi University 2026: The University of Delhi (DU) has made some modifications to its unique admission process in which 11 affiliated colleges are allowed to offer admission to students based on their marks in Class 12 board exam rather than CUET-UG marks for certain courses.
This decision has been made after various attempts made in the Common University Entrance Test (CUET-UG) and the Common Seat Allocation System (CSAS) failed to fill up vacant seats in a few courses.
11 DU Colleges Allowed Class 12-Based Admissions
In the latest available data, some of the colleges allowed to conduct merit admission are Kalindi College, Lakshmibai College, Shyam Lal College, Bhagini Nivedita College, Aditi Mahavidyalaya, Rajdhani College and Zakir Husain Delhi College (Evening). These colleges will admit students to specific courses only if there are vacancies for those courses.
Some of the courses are from the Arts, Commerce and Science subjects which include BA (Honours), BA Programme, BCom, BCom (Honours), BSc and many more.
DU Admission 2026: No CUET Score Required for These Seats
Under the conventional DU UG admission process, all applicants must qualify in CUET-UG, after which admissions take place through CSAS of the concerned university. But the new process offers a few exemptions in case of certain vacant seats.
Candidates applying for admissions through this process would be considered based on their Class 12 scores, provided they meet the requirements as stated for that particular course.
The university has made it clear that this process can only be used for filling vacant seats for selected courses and is not an alternative to CUET for DU UG admission process.
Why Has DU Taken This Step?
This move follows worries about empty seats in some DU colleges in spite of repeated admissions processes based on CUET scores.
A few days ago, Aditi Mahavidyalaya and Bhagini Nivedita College were allowed to take admissions using Class 12 results due to vacancies that persisted even after normal admission procedures. Soon after, Shyam Lal College, Rajdhani College, and Zakir Husain Delhi College (Evening) were also granted permission for the same purpose. This latest notification has increased the number of colleges to 11 in total.
Opportunity for Students Who Could Not Secure DU Admission Through CUET
This move will definitely give a sigh of relief to those students who either could not get admission through the CUET admission process or could not find any allocation in their favorite program offered by the DU.
Those students who have good performance in their class 12th exams can apply for the programs which are listed under this admission process. However, they need to keep in mind that not all DU programs and colleges fall into this category.
Class 12 Marks vs CUET: What Students Should Know
This latest ruling is thus a major temporary deviation from the conventional CUET-based admission system at DU.
In most DU under-graduate programs, CUET-UG will still be the compulsory process through which admission will have to be sought. The marks obtained in Class 12 is only an exception to cater to vacancy situations at specific colleges and courses.
It would thus be wrong for students to think that they can apply for admission to any college of DU on the basis of their Class 12 marks alone.
Admission to Be Conducted for Selected Courses
These colleges will admit candidates to the courses where there are vacant seats.
The programmes consist of various BA, BSc and BCom courses with varied combinations of subjects.
As an example, the list of programmes that is notified under this special arrangement consists of programmes like BA (Hons.) Geography, BA (Hons.) Hindi Journalism, BA (Hons.) Social Work, BCom, BCom (Hons.), BSc Programmes and many more B.A. Programme combinations.
Candidates should see the latest notification issued by the respective college.
DU Admission 2026: A Major Development
However, the expansion of the Class 12-based admission process to 11 universities demonstrates the problem faced by certain DU colleges in getting the sanctioned seats filled through the centrally coordinated CUET-CSAS process.
Even though the new initiative offers students yet another chance to join DU, it has also sparked controversy among certain segments of the teaching faculty regarding the existence of the two admission processes within the same academic year. It was also suggested that the new development suggests any weakness in the CUET-CSAS admission procedure.
However, for those students searching for a DU seat in 2026, the recent initiative can be a crucial one.
