CHENNAI: THE three medical colleges in Chennai remained the most preferred choice among the students on the first two days of counselling, which began on Monday. Out of the 543 seat allotted so far, 458 seats were picked up in either of these three colleges – the Madras Medical College (MMC), Stanley Medical College and the Government Kilpauk Medical College.
A total of 193 students opted for MMC. Stanley Medical College was preferred by 174 students and the Kilpauk Medical College opted by 91 aspirants.
The only other college chosen by the students was the Government Madurai Medical College, which was opted by 85 students.
The MMC retained its coveted spot with all the 10 toppers selecting the college, even though none of them hail from Chennai. Two main reasons cited by the students are: the exposure to life in a metro city and super specialisations that these three colleges offer. “MMC is a reputed college in Tamil Nadu and many famous doctors have graduated from here. So it a pride to study there,” said V Aarthi, State topper in Class XII board exam. Having secured the 10th rank in medical counselling, she was one of the few students to whom health minister Dr C Vijaya Baskar personally handed over the allotment orders on Tuesday.
KH Jashwanth, who shared the top rank in the board exams with Aarti, but got pushed to 17th rank in medical admission list, was one of those who opted for MMC without second thoughts. “Due to my age, I was pushed behind in medical ranking. But that doesn’t matter since I have got a seat in MMC,” said a jubilant Jashwanth, adding that he wants to become a cardiologist.
“MMC had always been most preferred because it had produced many experts in the field. Again, it offers speciality and super speciality courses. Students get to see different surgeries, rare diseases and high number of patients with different cases, all these will help students gain expertise in their respective fields”, said Dr G Selvarajan, secretary of the selection committee at the directorate of Medical Education.
Of late, most medical students don’t just stop with speciality courses, but also want to pursue super speciality ones. This is said to be the driving force for preferring medical colleges in Chennai.