THANE: Unlike the first merit list for the First Year Junior College ( FYJC ) was much delayed and announced almost midnight, the second merit list was announced way ahead of its schedule on Thursday morning.The list saw a marginal drop in the cut-off percentages in city's top colleges.The cut-off percentage has dropped from around 1% to around 6% in the second list in city's top colleges such as MH High School and Junior College, Bandodkar/Joshi Bedekar and Saraswati junior college. The fall in commerce and arts stream was comparatively more.The highest drop in the cut off percentage was seen in the city-based IIT Pace junior science college which showed a drop of 10.5% in the second list. The officials feel that this fall is due to the Board's new system and regulations.Dr Ekta Harshvardhan, Principal, IIT PACE junior science college (Thane), said, "The board this year has granted permission to our junior college to start on a self-financed basis. As per the board's decision, we have introduced two divisions and have two cut off percentages, both of which have fallen drastically this time. Which we feel is due to the new rules and systems. There seems to be no clarity amongst students as to where to apply. I have observed that this year we have got more number of average scorers, which is good news."Principal of MH College, RJ Rajput said, "We have a lot of students from Thane applying to the commerce and science streams, but as far as the arts stream is concerned most of them opt for the colleges in Mumbai. Hence our cut off for arts stream has dropped."Students have been allotted a period of three days to complete the admission procedure and claim their seats. The third merit list will be declared on Saturday, July 29 by 5pm.

Stay updated with all the Latest Thane headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.