new delhi some teachers at st stephens college are raising questions about the colleges policy of interviewing just four candidates per seat they point out that nearly all st stephens candidateslike for the rest of delhi universityapply for more than one subject a science stream student is likely to apply for all the sciences and an arts student for the arts and social sciences and with every interview they say the number of candidates appearing for the next one shrinks the faculty of management studies for instance also has very few seats but the number of candidates called for interview per seat is much higher says a teacher the fourfive candidates per seat are presented as an injunction by the court but thats not true this year fms called 10 for each of its 226 seats in the fulltime management programme last year theyd called a dozen and thats for one programme in the case of st stephens the same pool of students will be eligible for interviews in multiple programmes much the same set will be eligible for interview for economics english history and ba programme but the time interviews are held for history or ba programme many of the students will have opted out says another teacher the problem is compounded by the nature of the cutoffs arts students apply for all arts subjects science ones for all the sciences if all cutoffs are similar itll be the same set qualifying for all even 1 can make a difference and we can get some new faces in for instance the cutoffs for economics english and history are 975 9775 and 9775 for candidates from the science stream for those coming from commerce classes the cutoffs for the same subjects are 985 99 and 98 another teacher points out that in the past the number of candidates being called per subject was not just higher it also varied with subject stephens principal valson thampu however wrote an open letter to all those who have not made it to the interview he offers as consolation his own story i too dreamt of studying in st stephens i too failed to qualify for the interview he writes in my case the issue was not cutoff it was my kerala background there was an assumption in those days that students from my state could not measure up to the standard of st stephens but life did not end there for me i decided to prove myself got enrolled in a junior college in kerala studied like one possessed topped the university and joined st stephens as a graduate student excelled enough to be invited to join the faculty the rest is history he says he hopes the candidates who didnt make it feel challenged and energized as excellence results from lifelong pursuit