Chennai,   In wake of the Covid pandemic, colleges in Tamil Nadu have seen a heavy rush for getting admission to undergraduate psychology courses.

While commerce and computer science are preferred courses graduation, psychology has become a hot subject of late, various college managements told IANS.

Criminology is another subject that has gained momentum as far as admission is concerned in the state's colleges.

With the increase in demand for psychology and criminology on the rise, the cut-off marks for these courses are also likely to show an upward trend.

Sources in Women Christian College told IANS that the department has already received 890 applications for 50 seats in the Psychology stream for Shift I. The college has 50 more seats in Shift II and this would mean a total of around 900 applicants for 100 seats available in the college.

With the increase in number of ailments related to anxiety, stress, and mental illness on the rise, almost all the companies are hiring trained psychologists and most of them prefer graduates in psychology for these posts. This is considered the major reason for the surge in demand for psychology courses.

Educational consultants also said that there is an increase in the number of trained psychologists globally and this is also a reason for the demand for admission to psychology courses.

S. Kothai, Principal of Chennai's prestigious Ethiraj College for Women, told IANS that the number of applications for undergraduate courses in psychology has risen to 800 this year. The college has a postgraduate course in applied psychology and the number of students who passed out of the college was placed in prestigious companies as psychologists.

The DG Vaishnav college has received 300 applications for its 50 undergraduate seats for psychology course. The college also has undergraduate courses in criminology and police administration which are also seeing a high demand.

K. Kasinathan, a senior HR professional in Chennai, told IANS that applied psychology is in high demand across the globe and the demand for undergraduate courses in psychology in the Chennai colleges is for further pursuing post-graduation in this subject and to land up a good job.