CHENNAI: It's not just forms bought that were absymally low this year, even the number of filled-in applications submitted declined by nearly 1700, compared to 2013. As the curtains came down on the receipt of filled in forms for MBBS admission under the single-window counselling system prevalant in Tamil Nadu, 27,876 forms were received in all. When compared to the number of applications accepted in 2012, the number has gone down by nearly 17%.
And yet, no one at the med ed department seems worried, "This is not alarming at all, but clearly there is a reason why there is a dip in the number of forms received, especially when it had been increasing year-on-year till 2012," said an official with the Directorate of Medical Education. In fact, the common notion is that fewer applications have come in, because the cut-off is likely to be considerably higher this year.
And there was a mild rush to submit forms on Monday, as 5254 applicants sweated it out at all Government Medical Colleges to ensure that their forms were accepted before the deadline. As reported, only 30,380 forms were sold this year.