Chemistry and English have bagged top honours in this year’s undergraduate science and arts admissions, with some colleges receiving up to 80 per cent more applications than last season.

The average increase in the number of applicants for B.Sc with honours in chemistry or BA in English has been about 50 per cent.

The pro vice-chancellor of academic affairs at Calcutta University, Dhrubojyoti Chattopadhyay, said there were more career opportunities now for chemistry students than ever before. “It has always been a popular subject, but students with high marks are now opting to graduate in it because of the job options that are available.”

The sectors include agro industries, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, polymer science and biotechnology.

The same is true of English. Manimala Das, the principal of Bethune College, said the chemistry between arts students and English had increased because of more career options in print, audio and visual media, content writing and advertising.

She said the demand for chemistry and English honours in her institution had increased by 50 per cent.

Scottish Church College has received nearly 3,000 applications for chemistry and as many for English. The number of applicants last year was 1,400 in chemistry and 1,600 in English.

Presidency College has received 2,394 applications for honours in chemistry and nearly 1,700 for English. Principal Sanjib Ghosh said the count was almost 50 per cent more than last year’s.

For science students seeking admission in Presidency, mathematics is the second choice and physics a close third. The college has received 2,133 applications for honours in mathematics and 2,081 for physics.

The subject least in demand at Presidency and other colleges is philosophy.

Ria Ghosal (name changed), who has applied for chemistry honours at Scottish Church, Ashutosh and some other colleges, said her choice was clear. “I want to do B.Tech in food technology at Jadavpur University after graduating in chemistry so that I can join my father’s confectionery business.”

Kuheli Khan (not her real name) wants to major in English from a reputed college. “Studying English honours in a good college like Presidency or Bethune has been my aspiration since childhood. But I think I will have to take a seat in a lesser college because of the huge rush in most of the good colleges.”

This is despite the fact that Kuheli has scored more than 80 per cent in English and aggregated 85 per cent in the ISC examination.

Several colleges affiliated to Calcutta University have requested the authorities to allow them to increase the number of seats in the two subjects. But Chattopadhyay said the university would not permit any institution to do so without upgrading infrastructure and staff strength.