More applications for medical seats

After the process of weeding out duplicates and invalid forms, the Selection Committee of the Directorate of Medical Education has come up with a total of 14,318 applications for MBBS/BDS courses this year.

It is at least 2,000 more applications than that last year, sources say.

This year it is clear that more students are likely to participate in the government counselling, experts say. This is probably the direct fallout of recession, with many middle and upper middle class families being unable to offer the high fees and capitation demanded by many private medical colleges, says Jayaprakash Gandhi, education and career counsellor.

While usually, a number of students do not even bother to go in for the government application forms, with the belief that they will be able to muster the huge sums required for an entry into private medical colleges. “This is what has changed this year,” Mr. Gandhi says, adding “fewer people think they can afford to get into the private colleges. So all of them are going to battle for the government pie.”

On the other hand, there are people who believe that perhaps some restoration of glamour for an MBBS course has happened after all. C. Ramchandran, dean, SRM’s Medical College, Tiruchi, says, “I strongly believe that people are now thinking that the duration of the course does not matter.” The temporary disenchantment with the IT sector, thanks to a recession year, might have also contributed to this.

Dr. Ramachandran adds that even if the applications have increased for government seats, since the cut-off marks are not going to drop, it will be the same pitched battle for a limited number of seats.

With the MCI rejecting the application for recognition from Dharmapuri Medical College, a further 85 seats (with 15 seats being allocated to the all-India quota) may be out of the reckoning. However, Selection Committee chairperson Sheela Grace says she is confident that the recognition will come through.

“Even if students want to take up government seats and not payment seats, they might not have that option, given that the cut-off is not going to drop. Students with lower cut-off marks will still have to go to private colleges. However, I feel that this year we will have more applications for dental seats,” says Dr. Ramachandran.

With the Selection Committee allotting the random numbers for students on Friday, we are one step closer to the admission process.

The next step is releasing the rank list (on June 28) by which time, the possibility of getting a seat within the government quota will be predictable, experts say. Counselling begins on July 6 and this time will be held at the Kilpauk Medical College auditorium.

RAMYA KANNAN

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