MBBS/BDS admission prospectus keeps students, parents guessing

Time of India

11-06-2025

Chennai: The prospectus for MBBS/BDS admissions for 2025, available on the selection committee's official webpage, is riddled with errors, leading to confusion on several issues such as the application fee, admission process, and penalties for violations.
For instance, on page 8 of the management quota application form, it states the application fee is 500, but on page 16, the fee mentioned is 1,000. For registrations, pages 28 and 31 say fresh registration is permitted in round 2 and round 3, while page 43 says registration is not allowed before round 2 but allowed in round 1, round 3, and the stray round. Page 9 says the security deposit will be forfeited if the candidate discontinues the allotted course in any round, but the tabular column on page 50 says there will be no forfeiture if the student discontinues in round 1.
"There are so many contradictions that it is difficult to understand the process," said student counsellor Manickavel Arumugam, who compiled a six-page document of errors in the prospectus. "It is good the state started the admission process ahead of NEET results to give students time, but they had a whole year to review and edit the prospectus. It's sad to see so many glaring errors," he said.
Parents and students have also complained about inconsistencies in the admission process.
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While page 24 states that the signature file should be between 4KB and 20KB, the online application asks for a file size of 10KB to 40KB. "We've called the help desk at least 12 times to get these clarified. The person at the desk also gives different versions every time we call," said Kumeresan K, whose son is aspiring for a medical seat this year.
"The entire admission process is going to be online. At least in face-to-face counselling, we can seek clarification.
If the prospectus is so unclear, how do we make smart choices?" he said.
Students also said that it's not clear if they are allowed to reject the offer in round 2 without penalties. "While some pages (9 and 45) say candidates exiting round 2 must forfeit the security deposit, the instructions on other pages (30 and 50) say round two has a free exit," said a candidate aspiring for a medical seat this year. "The entire admission process is going to be online.
At least in face-to-face counselling, we can seek clarification.
If the prospectus is so unclear, how do we make smart choices?" he said.
The state has also given two different timelines on when they would refund the security deposit. While page 15 says the security deposit will be refunded within two months after the completion of counselling, pages 7 and 47 say it will take three months. But what have students and parents worried are redundant rules. The prospectus states that in case candidates get equal marks, the rank of such candidates may be determined on the basis of seniority in age.
When NTA gives an all-India ranking – a unique rank for all candidates – this becomes redundant, experts said.