CHENNAI: Getting to the top of your MBBS/BDS merit rank list sure is a tough job this year. For, even if you have scored 100 per cent in all three medical subjects, you might still find yourself standing below 100 candidates on the merit list.
The provisional merit rank list released for MBBS/BDS seats on Saturday had as many as 132 candidates with 200 on 200 marks, i.e 132 students with full marks in physics, chemistry and biology in their Class XII examinations.
This is against a mere seven candidates scoring 200 on 200 marks in last year’s MBBS ranking.
Even after further segregating the students with 200 marks based on their fourth optional subject and then based on their date of birth, there were 13 students at the same position.
These 13 with full marks and with same marks in the optional subject and same date of birth were ranked through random numbers.
“This time the number of students who were on the top of the list was very high because of the large number of centums in the medical subjects. There were 61 random numbers used in the entire ranking, 13 of them for the top-200,” said the secretary of the Selection Committee for Medical Education, R G Sukumar.
K Sundar Natesh K, who topped the rank list, said even though he scored centum in all the medical subjects, he did not expect the rank.
“Since there were so many centums this year, I was not expecting a rank. It came as surprise to me when the list came out,” he said. He hails from Chennai and is aspiring to be a cardiologist. “My first preference is the Madras Medical College,” he said.
Sukumar pointed out that the number of MBBS seats for counseling will remain the same as last year at 2,175 medical and 85 dental seats in the State quota.
Cut-offs will be decided according to the number of candidates taking to the counseling and their preferences. The counseling process will go on from June 18 to 25 for the general category while in special categories, including those with disabilities or those belonging to the sports, freedom fighters and army personnel quota, will have counseling on June 17.