When the admission season began, the 102-odd colleges in the city had around 85,000 seats. The increase in the admission quotas of some colleges means the likes of Sujata Halder (name changed), who is in the waiting list of the geography department at Jogmaya Devi College, now stand a chance of getting through.

"I scored more than 88 per cent in geography and my Higher Secondary aggregate is 72 per cent. But I was refused admission for geography honours, forcing me to opt for a seat in the general course," Sujata said.

Jogmaya Devi College is one of the institutions that had to reduce the number of seats for geography because the infrastructure there was found to be inadequate. "The college has since informed us that it has purchased additional equipment for its geography laboratories and appointed extra part-time teachers. We will revisit the college soon and grant permission to increase the number of seats if it meets our standards," the pro vice-chancellor said.

Bhawanipur Education Society College, Asutosh College, New Alipore College and Bagbazar Women's College were among the institutions asked to cut down on the number of admissions after the first review.