Chennai: The cut-offs for MBBS/BDS admissions to govt colleges in Tamil Nadu are likely to increase by up to 40 marks for the open category and between 21 and 41 marks for some reserved categories this year. This is because the number of top scorers in NEET 2026 is higher than that of the previous year.Experts say this may not mean that admissions will get tougher now, as the selection committee will allot seats based on the order of merit in the eligibility test and 69% rule of reservation. Counselling for MBBS and BDS will begin on Aug 13. Offline counselling will be held for candidates under special category on the same day.The MBBS/BDS rank list for 2026 admissions, released on Monday by health minister K G Arunraj, had Venkapathi Velayutham V A from Villupuram with 705/720 marks in NEET 2026 as its topper, followed by Srinika V from Pudukkottai with 700 marks. In 2025, the topper score was 665/720 marks. There were 90 students with a score above 700 in 2024, 29 students in 2023, and five in 2022. The number of students above 500 marks in 2026 was more than 6,000 compared to less than 4,000 in 2025. Between 350 and 499, there were 15800 students, fewer than 17431 recorded in 2025.This year, TN has 9,999 MBBS seats. After surrendering seats to the centre under all India quota, the seat matrix will open with 7,157 MBBS seats—4,473 state-quota seats in government medical colleges and 2,684 government-quota seats in self-financing medical colleges. For the first time in five years, the state has 50 MBBS seats each in three existing medical colleges. At least 700 MBBS seats have been added to private medical colleges, taking the additional new MBBS seat tally in the state to 850.But will not reflect in the seat matrix. Four institutions with 800 MBBS seats were removed from the state selection committee list and added to the centre’s list as they were granted deemed university status, minister said. Admission to all seats in deemed universities are done by the central counselling committee. While health minister Arunraj said the new seats will ease competition for students, student counsellors say the loss of seats will also mean higher fee, no quota for meritorious students, no reservation under 60% or for govt school students.“This year too there is no crowding at the top. Students have secured better marks but the middle is crowded,” said student counsellor Manickavel Arumugam. Analysis shows more than 3,800 students are bunched between 500 and 599 marks. Open category seats in govt run medical colleges, which ended at 1,508 rank in 2025, and a cut-off score of 533, will now have a cut-off hovering above 570 marks. The BC cut-off will hover around 535, compared to 506 marks last year, while BCM and MBC will be around 523 and 525 respectively. In the SC/SCA and ST, cut off will be around 465, 435 and 430.Scores of students in the 7.5% quota, where seats were reserved for govt school students, have improved in 2026. Dhinesh M from Nagapattinam topped the list with 599 marks, followed by Dharanish B S from Salem and Rajesh R from Pudukkotai with 595 marks. Top six students under this category had scores hovering between 585 and 599, compared to last year’s topper who had a score of 572 out of 720.For BDS, there are 1,383 seats in total: 213 in government dental colleges and 1,170 government-quota seats in self-financing dental colleges. “Seats have come down in BDS as one college has been derecognised and one has been sent to the central pool after it was granted deemed university status,” Arunraj said. Experts say it is difficult to predict the cut-offs for dental seats,like BDS, as it is no longer the natural choice for students who don’t get into MBBS. Many wait to appear for the next year’s eligibility test instead of taking dental seats this year, they said.Meanwhile, at least five applications submitted so far were found to be fraudulent. “Most of these were nativity certificates. Some students had tampered with NEET mark sheet. For instance, a candidate who had 170 marks in NEET claimed he had 552,” he said. The committee has sent documents of more than 500 NRI candidates to the consulates concerned for verification, and reply is awaited, he said. The selection committee is yet to verify the number of repeaters and rural candidates. “We are aware this is necessary for policies. We will release the data after counselling,” Arunraj said.
