Medical Admissions

Medical admission more competitive as scores & cut-off rise

Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:

If admission to government medical colleges was competitive, entry to general category MBBS seats at expensive deemed universities was equally tough this academic year.

The allotment list released by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) after the mop-up round shows that the lowest score of a candidate entering a deemed university is 165 marks in NEET 2018 – 69 marks over the qualifying score — after emptying nearly all seats in the general category.

Last year, students with just-pass score of 107 managed to get general category seats in such universities. “Many factors played a role. While students performed better this year, new rules introduced by the DGHS prevented students from needlessly blocking seats,” said Sri Ramachandra University dean Dr S Anandan.

In some colleges like Varanasi-based Institute of Medical Science the cut-off was 603 and at least six colleges in the country had a cut-off of above 450 marks. The lowest score of 165 was recorded at Sri Lakshmi Narayana Institute of Medical Sciences in Puducherry. With 1,350 seats in eight universities, Tamil Nadu’s lowest entry score was 180 at Sree Balaji Medical College, Chennai and VMKV Medical College, Salem. The DGHS may return 145 NRI seats to the colleges, which may be converted into general category seats and filled.

Education counsellors said that in more than 50% of the 41 colleges the cut-off increased in the second and mop-up rounds. At least 21 colleges, including four in the state, recorded their lowest cut-off during the first round. In the mop-up round, barring three colleges, almost all the universities recorded a higher cut-off compared to round 2.

“After the DGHS tweaked rules, students who were unsure of getting seats in state quota or private colleges picked up seats in round 1. If students drop out too there was no problem. So students with a cut-off as low as 187 were allotted seats in the first round,” said S Chandrasekar, a counsellor at a private coaching centre.

But students were asked to take a “calculated decision” about continuing with round 2. If they register afresh or continue with round 2, they would have to take the seats allotted or forfeit a ₹2 lakh fee. They would have to register afresh and again pay the fee for the mop-up round for deemed universities. If candidates refuse seats at the mop-up round, they would lose the money and chances of joining other counselling. “The fear of losing ₹2 lakh allowed only serious students into the counselling arena,” said dean of VMKV Medical College, Salem, Dr K Prakasam.