New Delhi: Delhi University will begin the first round of seat allocation for undergraduate courses under the extracurricular activities (ECA), sports, and ward quotas on Friday. This marks the start of admissions in these special categories after weeks of trials and evaluations.Students who are allotted seats in this round must confirm their admission by Aug 17. Colleges will then have until Aug 18 to verify documents and approve applications. Once the admission is approved, candidates can pay their fees by 5 pm on Aug 19. Students will also have the choice to freeze their allotted seat or opt for an upgrade in subsequent rounds.This year, competition remains fierce with over 9,000 registrations contending for just 1,374 ECA seats. The selection is based on a merit list that combines trial performance, certificates, and CUET scores. ECA admissions follow a composite evaluation system, giving 75% weightage to ECA performance (including certificates and trials) and 25% to CUET scores.The university received 13,000 ECA applications this year, a 14% rise from 2024, with debating (English) emerging as the most sought-after category. A total of 1,347 ECA seats are being offered across 14 categories, including creative writing (Hindi and English), debate (Hindi and English), digital media (photography, filmmaking, animation), divinity, fine arts (sketching, painting, sculpture), music (vocal and instrumental, Indian and western), dance (Indian classical, folk, western, choreography), theatre, quiz, and yoga.Dance has the largest number of seats (275), followed by theatre (122), yoga (42), and quiz (25).