Former journalist Pooja Gupta, a career counsellor, was shocked when the dummy admission form she submitted online to SVKM’s Mithibai College in Vile Parle was not only accepted but also made it to the college’s merit list. Interestingly, all the information in the form was fake and the name mentioned was a random combination of alphabets.

Gupta, who runs a vlog and a YouTube channel Media Mentor, has alleged that either forms submitted by the students are not being verified before the merit list is prepared or the college’s admission section has goofed up. According to Gupta, in the past three years, she has been guiding and counselling students and she fills up and submits admission forms herself to understand the issues and difficulties faced by students first-hand.

This is the first time that her dummy form was shortlisted and even made it to the merit list.

The college’s merit list

The gibberish typed by Gupta, DECGBYHNSKM TFUGYHUJNKM SETRDYFTUGY, made it to the ninth spot in the first merit list for Bachelor of Arts in Multimedia and Mass Communication (BA-MMC). Not just the applicant`s name, even the address was random. 

The merit list was announced on July 21. Once the merit list is out, colleges provide a window, during which aspirants have to submit educational and other documents needed for admission. Once verified, the students can pay fees and secure admission.

The admission email submitted by the counsellor

“I have been helping and counselling thousands of students seeking admission to city colleges and other educational issues through my vlogs on social media. As usual, we attempted to fill up and submit the admission form to NM and Mithibai Colleges. We do this so I can guide the aspirants on how to go about the admissions process in various colleges in the city. It helps me to share first-hand information with them if there are any glitches and help in case they are confused,” Gupta said. 

In Mumbai, NM and Mithibai College and Somaiya Vidyavihar University have decided to consider Common University Entrance Test (CUET) scores for admissions.

Pooja Gupta, career counsellor and vlogger

She added, “In Mithibai, We filled in dummy information and marks of CUET and HSC scores. We didn’t even pay the mandatory application fees. To my shock, we received an email from the college’s admission team confirming that my application was selected and that I must get my documents verified and confirm my admission. This is so unfair to so many who couldn`t get admission. The college management needs to clarify how they screen and shortlist applications for the merit list. I understand verification of documents will be done during admission, but how is the merit list prepared?”

The principal of the college, however, said there was no goof-up and that the management would sue Gupta for submitting “false information”.

Professor Krutika Desai, principal SVKM’s Mithibai College, told mid-day that the process is automated and forms are selected according to marks keyed in by candidates. “If I mention 99 per cent, or a percentage higher than the college`s cut-off for a certain faculty, I will obviously make it to the merit list,” she said.

She added, “The forms are selected automatically, and candidates are informed accordingly. Once they come for admission, their documents are screened and matched with the information submitted by the applicant in their application. The application is not confirmed for admission if information in the application and documents mismatch.”

Desai refuted allegations made by Gupta, saying, “There is an undertaking that students agree to in the application process which states that all information they are submitting in the application is true. We can sue Gupta for defaming the college and submitting false information in the admission form. That is what we are going to do.”

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