One-third of medical aspirants are from previous batches

TIMES NEWS NETWORK: 29.06.2018


Nearly one-third of the applicants for MBBS and BDS courses in the state medical colleges have either taken a break to study for NEET or joined bachelor’s degrees, according to the data released by the state selection committee on Thursday.

Of the 25,417 students who applied for single window counselling for government seats, 9,879 students had passed their Class XII examinations in 2017 or earlier. Among applicants to management quota seats, 8,319 students of the 18,915 – two-fifth -- are from previous batches.


Until, 2017, the state has been opposing NEET as the government feared that if the test became the criterion for admission for all medical seats in the state, many students may have to give up on their dreams of getting medical admission for at least five years. “That’s not entirely true because many students are not willing to let go. They take a break to prepare for NEET,” said Lakshmi V, a Class XII biology teacher at a private school in Chennai. At least six of her students, who passed out in 2016 and 2017, have scored more than 400 in NEET this year.

Meritorious students coming from other states claiming nativity in Tamil Nadu has also seen an upsurge. In 2017, the number of students from other states went up from 589 in 2016 to 715, according to Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University data. This year, there are 2,769 applicants, including 1,960 for management quota seats. “We don’t know how many will get a seat. But there is an increase in the number of outstation aspirants,” said selection committee secretary Dr G Selvarajan.

Backward districts such as Ariyalur, Thiruvarur and Ramanathapuram, which have poor health indices and lower doctorpatient ratio, may not be able to send an adequate number of students this year too. Ramanathapuram, which had sent 38 students to medical schools in 2016, had just seven last year, Ariyalur, which had nine in 2016, sent four, and Thiruvarur, which had six, had sent four. This year, 314 applications are from Ariyalur, 204 from Thiruvarur, 211 from Perambalur and 350 from Ramanathapuram.





More students from govt schools

Six students from government schools in the state have made it to the top 3,000 ranks and 16 of them are among those in top 5,000. In 2017, only two seats went to government school students. This year, 409 students from government schools applied for admission to government colleges and 390 qualified.