7 from Madurai land MBBS seats under 7.5% quota

Time of India

31-07-2025

Madurai: Four girls and three boys from Madurai have secured MBBS seats under the 7.5% quota for govt school students, following the end of first round of counselling for MBBS/BDS admissions on July 30.
All of them are repeaters who relied on private coaching centres, while the parents of six of them are daily wage earners. They are all the first MBBS seat earners in their family.
C Snega cleared NEET in her third attempt. The first time she prepared on her own, and the next two years she prepared with two different private coaching centres, spending Rs5.5 lakh. She has secured a seat in Madurai Medical College. "My parents, both manual labourers, borrowed money from my relatives.
The first thing I will do is repay the debt," she said. Snega, who studied in Tamil medium, said she found English NCERT books a little difficult at first but they helped her crack the test in the end.
R Kaviya, who secured a seat in Madha Medical College, said her father, a tailor, paid her Rs1.5 lakh fee by borrowing from relatives. "It is a dream supported by my parents," she said. P Udhaya Mareeswaran, another Tamil medium student who scored 460 in his first attempt, didn't get admission to a govt college, he said.
His parents sold cattle to pay his private coaching fee, he added. He has secured a seat in Tiruvarur govt medical college.
While parents opt to borrow to make their kids study, in some families the siblings take charge. V Nambu Selvi says her two brothers ensured she could afford private coaching for a year. "I gave NEET after my 12th but couldn't crack it. So, I opted for a residential coaching centre in Salem," she said.
Another student, S Karthikeyan, benefited from the same centre. "My brother-in-law paid my fees and I cracked NEET," he said.
In R Priyanka's case, her father, who runs a tea shop, paid her private coaching fee of Rs40,000 for a year. She said, "I didn't have the motivation to repeat NEET. I wasn't sure if I should still pursue medicine. But my teachers motivated me. They looked for good institutes and ensured I performed better the next attempt."
She has secured a seat in Tirunelveli Medical College.
This year, 260 govt school students in Madurai appeared for NEET, out of whom more than 104 cleared it. "While the seven students secured seats under the 7.5% quota, many more govt students will secure seats outside this quota," said S Venniladevi, Madurai NEET coordinator.