CHENNAI: More than 2,200 students who secured a cut-off of 190 marks and above out of 200 did not receive seat allotments in the first round of Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) 2026 counselling, marking a sharp increase from around 1,450 last year.
As per TNEA data, only 4,409 of the 6,627 candidates with a cut-off of 190 and above secured allotments in the first round. Among the 52 students who obtained a perfect 200/200 cut-off, only 38 were allotted seats. Similarly, only 1,506 of the 2,151 candidates with a cut-off of 195 and above received allotments.
Experts attributed the increase to several factors, including top scorers opting for medical courses, IITs, NITs and deemed universities.
“Every year, around 1,200 to 1,400 students above the 190 cut-off fail to secure a seat, but this year the number has risen to 2,218,” said career guidance expert Jayaprakash Gandhi, who has analysed TNEA data for over a decade. Gandhi also pointed to the growing concentration of demand in a handful of institutions.
“Out of 422 engineering colleges, only 23 have filled more than 60% of their seats, while 294 colleges recorded single-digit admissions in the first round. This indicates that students are unwilling to compromise on college preference and are instead waiting for the subsequent rounds,” he said.
Career counsellor R Ashwin said some high-scoring students, particularly from rural areas, may have missed out due to errors during online choice filling.
“Many rural students still face difficulties in the online choice-filling process. Some may have entered incorrect preferences or listed too few college options, resulting in no allotment despite having high cut-off marks,” he said.
The first round saw 24,674 students securing seats out of 37,976 eligible candidates. Of the 1,81,436 seats available under academic counselling across 422 engineering colleges, only 13.6% have been filled, leaving 1,56,762 seats for the remaining rounds. More than 1.96 lakh students are expected to participate in the second and third rounds, while over 40,000 seats are projected to remain vacant after counselling.
The analysis also showed that Computer Science Engineering (CSE) and Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) remained the most sought-after branches. Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) and Mechanical Engineering recorded a marginal improvement in demand, while Civil, Chemical, Aeronautical, Biotechnology, Textile Technology and Leather Technology continued to attract fewer students.
As many as 146 colleges failed to secure even a single allotment.
