Admissions to medical colleges get tougher

http://m.timesofindia.com/PDATOI/articleshow/4549274.cms

The application form for the undergraduate medical programme will be issued from June 3, officials at the Directorate of Medical Education confirmed here on Monday. While the officials, after a quick market survey, have printed an additional 2,000 copies of the form and also made it available online, educational analysts say getting into medical schools would be tougher this year as cut off marks are likely to go up by 0.25-0.5.

"Many students have got better scores when compared to last year so we expect competition to get tougher. Moreover, some parents don't want to send their children to engineering schools as most of them have not seen good campus placement this year due to recession. So, we are likely to see an increase in applicants for medical colleges," says director of medical education Dr S Vinayagam.

The selection committee will offer 1,483 seats in the 15 medical colleges for the counselling, after offering 262 seats to the all India quota. Besides this, there will be 251 government quota seats from the four private medical colleges affiliated to the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University.

"We have printed 18,000 forms this year after analysing the market trend. There has been no increase in the number of seats from last year and this could make entry tougher," said selection commission secretary Sheela Grace.

Career consultants and analysts can't agree less with the directorate of medical education. "Last year 121 students joined engineering even after they got their medical seats in the counselling. This year, we know of first year engineering students in the Anna University who want to apply for medicine not minding a year's loss. This will add up to the number of applicants and make competition tougher," said career consultant and educational analyst Jayaprakash Gandhi.

They forecast an increase between 0.25 and 0.5 in the cut offs marks when compared to 2008. In 2008, the cut off stood at 197 for Open Catergory, 194.5 for Backward Classes, 193 for backward class Muslim, 191 for most backward classes, 186 for scheduled classes and 171.25 for the undergraduate medical seats. "The reason for the increase in cut-off this year is the increase in the number of students who have secured greater marks in science subjects," he said.

The number of students who scored 200/200 has gone up from eight last year to nine this time. Between 199 and 200, there were 135 students in 2008. This year, there are 162 students. "This will add to the competition in not only medical admissions, but dental admissions too," a senior analyst said.

There are 18 private dental colleges offering 866 government quota seats and just one government college with 85 seats in the state. "It will be a tough fight for the 85 seats in the lone Government Dental College in Chennai. Unlike last year, the 866 government quota seats in private dental colleges would also be taken up fast," he said. "Even this would be tough as the Dental Council of India has reduced the eligibility for the open category from 60 per cent to 50 per cent, as there were not many takers for private seats last year" he added.