Medical seat competition set to intensify as 1.3L candidates pass NEET

Brijesh Sutaria, a parent, expressed that this year would witness fierce competition for securing medical seats due to a substantial increase in the number of students who successfully qualified NEET.

The competition for securing admission to medical colleges is set to become more challenging this year due to a higher number of students qualifying the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). The NEET results, which were announced late Tuesday night, revealed a significant increase in qualified candidates, but the availability of medical seats remains unchanged from last year.

“In Maharashtra, a total of 131,008 students have successfully cleared the national entrance test, surpassing the 79,974 qualifiers from the previous year. Maharashtra stands as the second state with the highest number of qualified students, trailing behind Uttar Pradesh, which has the highest number of NEET qualifiers at 139,961.”

Brijesh Sutaria, a parent, acknowledged that the surge in qualified NEET candidates this year would lead to intense competition for medical seats. Sudha Shenoy, another parent, highlighted that there is a minimal discrepancy in percentile scores among various ranks.

Consequently, many students are attaining lower ranks due to a larger pool of high-scoring candidates, indicating the possibility of higher cut-off marks for college admissions. However, despite the significant increase in NEET qualifiers, there are unlikely to be substantial changes in the number of available medical seats this year. Last year, Maharashtra had a total of 10,345 seats for MBBS and dentistry programs across government and private colleges.

Sutaria mentioned that “the government had announced the establishment of medical colleges at 14 different locations.” Inspections by the National Medical Commission (NMC) have already been conducted for colleges in Ratnagiri and Parbhani, with applications currently being processed. In the midst of these developments, the NMC has issued a revised notification regarding a change in the lower-age criteria for candidates.

In the previously declared graduate medical education regulations for 2023, it was stated that candidates should have completed the age of 17 years on or before January 31 of the year in which they appear for the NEET-UG examination. However, in response to multiple candidates flagging the error in the date, the lower-age criterion has been amended to consider December 31 instead.