First post in VoiceTAP (what’s VoiceTAP?) line-up college vs college comparison of Delhi University colleges begins today – Hansraj College vs Sri Venkateswara College. On the discussion were Diplav Srivastava (third year BSc student at Hansraj, University topper), Hitesh (Eco student at Hansraj), Varun Gupta (third year BSc student at Sri Venkateswara) and Arita Sarkar (third year English student at Sri Venkateswara). The way the following post is going to be structured is that an aspect of college life would be taken up, with info on each of the two colleges listed under that.
Listen to VoiceTAP Hans Raj vs Venky call by clicking here
Basic Information
Hans Raj College offers the the highest number of courses in Delhi University, but it is best known for arts and commerce-related courses. (For full-list of courses offered at Hansraj along with fees click here.) A total of 850 seats are available across all courses. Demographic break-up is almost 50-50 between Delhi and outstation category students. Official college site is hansrajcollege.edu.in. Contact phone numbers are 011-27667747, 27667458. Directions to Hans Raj College can be found here.
Sri Venkateshwara College is best known for its science courses but of late it has is becoming popular for arts-related courses too. A total of 675 seats are available across all courses. Download Sri Venkateswara College prospectus by clicking here. Official college site is svcollege.net. Contact phone numbers are 011-24112196, 24118590. Directions to Sri Venkateswara College can be found here.
Entry Requirements
Hansraj College: First cut-offs for more popular subjects for the year 2009 range from 80-95%. Note that these are first cutoffs only.
Sri Venkateshwara College: First cut-offs for more popular subjects for the year 2009 range from 85-95%. See year 2008 minimum cutoffs for Venky.
For specific information, download Delhi University 2009 first cut-off for college admission. Expect the cut-off to lower by a few percentages in subsequent lists, but this should give you an idea. A major drop in percentage between lists is rare.
Cultural Activities / Societies
Both colleges have individual societies for each department in the college, and further extracurricular activities societies. Hans Raj College‘s fest is called Confluence (doesn’t have a major online presence or even reportage), but is supposedly quite big because of the fact that so many North Campus colleges are close-by, the ‘Hans Raj brand’, et al.
Sri Venkateswara College‘s fest is called Nexus. Inter-college competitions are held on days 1 and 2 of this three-day event, with the third day reserved for rock concerts – which in the past have seen performances by Euphoria, Indian Ocean, Advaita and others. A review of Nexus is available here.
College Politics
Hans Raj College has hardcore college politics, with lots of campaigning especially during the DUSU elections. College politics is comparatively tamer at Sri Venkateswara College.
Hostel Facilities
Hostel facilities are available in Hansraj College for male students. Preference is given to outstation students. Seats are limited, so girls and those who don’t get college accommodation can go for PG accommodation available in North Campus.
Sri Venkateswara College did not have hostel facilities until very recently but now it does. There are 75 spots for boys and girls each in its newly constructed hostel (total of 150 places). South Indian students have quotas for college hostel accommodation. Those who don’t get college hostel can settle for PG accommodation nearby the college.
Sports
Hans Raj College is best known for basketball. Other sports like cricket, badminton and table tennis are also encouraged.
Sri Venkateswara College has clay tennis courts, basketball courts, football ground et al.
Sports / ECA Quota
Trials are held for admission through sports / extra-curricular activities quota. Sri Venkateswara College gives students admitted through this quota 17% relaxation in admission cutoff percentage.
Attendance Requirements
Hans Raj College: Minimum 65% attendance is required. Failing this, a letter is sent to student’s parents / guardian(s) who then need to speak to senior management about it.
Sri Venkateswara College: Venky is quite serious about discipline. Minimum 60% attendance is required, failing which parents have to sign a bond assuring that their child won’t miss attendance targets for following years. Percentage attendance required for subsequent years is reduced for all students, whether on bond or not. ECA / sports quota students have 17% attendance added over and above the time they get excused from by the college for attending events / practising.
Famous Alumni
Hans Raj College has many famous alumni to boast about. To name a few: Shahrukh Khan, Palash Sen (lead singer of Euphoria), Naveen Jindal (Member of Parliament), Vinod Dua (journalist), Anurag Kashyap (director – read an interview with him about Hansraj college life).
Unfortunately, Sri Venkateswara College doesn’t have any famous alumni to speak about as such. Partly that’s because South Campus was set up much later. Venky is still a happening place; of late it has been producing many university toppers, there’s Satya Niketan near-by (a great place to hang out), South Delhi areas are much more easily accessible, et al.
Further Reading
- Advaita: A band whose main members studied at Venky.
- Illuminati: Hansraj College’s quizzing society.
