The local government medical college and Ludhiana’s Dayanand Medical College (DMC) were most sought-after for MBBS among top rankers on the first allotment list that Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) uploaded on Friday.
The Patiala college has 92 general-category seats. Its last-admitted candidate is ranked 172, while the 93-rank student was the last to get a general category seat at the DMC.
Among the government medical colleges, including those at Amritsar and Faridkot, the last allotment in the general category was to rank 280, while the general ranking among the government-quota seats in private colleges has gone up to 451. After the DMC, Sri Guru Ravi Das Medical College, Amritsar, is next favourite, while the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Jalandhar, is last on the students’ preference list.
Experts hope for a significant improvement in the cut-off ranking in the second round of counselling that will start with fresh choices on September 21. The major factor in favour of middle rankers is that many of those allotted seats on Friday have joined other colleges already based on their NEET (National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test) ranking.
For instance, candidate Ritwik Garg, ranked 30 in the PMET and allotted seat at the DMC, has already joined Vardhman Mahavir Medical College, New Delhi. Candidate Dhruv Sood, also allotted seat at the DMC on Friday, has joined Vardhman-Delhi. Students Samanyu Handa (ranked 20) and Simranjit Singh Gill (ranked 52) have joined Chandigarh Medical College.
“Last year, the last allotment in the government colleges was to a candidate ranked 480. So there is hope for improvement in the second list,” said an expert.
Second helpful factor is the likely conversion of vacant NRI seats in government colleges to the general pool. They have 41 seats to transfer but the only hitch is the petition pending in the Punjab and Haryana high court. The hearing is on September 19, before the second counselling, and there is no relief, so far, to the petitioner who has challenged the state government’s filling NRI quota seats through an entrance test, because of which, not many NRI students could qualify.
All students allotted seats on Friday are required to report the college concerned by September 20
