Bhubaneswar, June 13: The first selection list for admission to junior colleges of the state was published today with rural colleges making a mark.

In the arts stream, smaller colleges have put up higher cut-off percentages as compared to the popular ones with cut-off of 79.19 per cent being posted by Narasinghpur Junior College at Narasinghpur followed by Mohan Subudhi Junior College in Baramba with 78.67 per cent, both in Cuttack district.

The highest cut-off of 80 per cent in arts has been announced by Patita Paban College in Sainkula of Keonjhar.

Balasore district's Krushna Chandra Pipili College at Jagai, which has been putting up the highest cut-off in the stream in the last two years, has this year posted the cut-off at 78.83 per cent.

As many as six colleges of Balasore district have sought above 75 per cent cut-off. Also, the cut-off at BJB Junior College stands at 75.33 per cent while that of Ravenshaw Junior College is 73.67 per cent.

Ravenshaw Junior College has this year emerged the most sought-after college with the highest cut-off percentage of 93.17 per cent in science.

BJB Junior College in Bhubaneswar posted the second highest cut-off of 92.67 per cent, the cut-off of Berhampur-based Saraswati Junior Vidya Mandir (Neelakanthanagar) was 91.20 per cent and in case of Basic Sciences and Humanities College, the cut-off is 90 per cent.

Other colleges asking for high cut-offs in science are Fakir Mohan College, Balasore (87.17 per cent), Khallikote College, Ganjam (87.67 per cent) and Ramadevi College, Bhubaneswar (85.50 per cent).

In commerce, BJB Junior College has maintained its dominance over other colleges with a cut-off of 83.6 per cent while Ravenshaw comes second with 80.67 per cent.

The minimum percentage for admission into the stream in Bhubaneswar's Jupiter Science and Commerce Higher Secondary School is 77.50 per cent, Maharshi College of Natural Law 72 per cent, followed by Rama Devi at 71.33 per cent.

The cut-off marks have been uploaded on www.dheodisha.gov.in. The higher education department on Tuesday announced the first merit list for admission to 1,578 junior colleges having students' strength of 4,19,641..

"In the first selection, intimation letters have been sent to 3,22,167 candidates. Students can check the status of their application through SMS, e-mail or they can also call up the helpline number," said Mihir Das, officer in charge of the performance tracking cell of higher education department.

The second and third phase cut-off marks will be announced on June 22 and July 3, respectively.