What is the story about?
With the announcement of Re-NEET 2026 results, the attention of medical aspirants who have been declared qualified in India’s largest entrance test has
now shifted to the counselling process. It’s evident since meeting the qualifying criteria doesn’t automatically lead to seat allocation in coveted medical institutions across the country. In order to secure admission to MBBS or BDS programmes, one needs to participate in the counselling process organised at the central and state levels.
Difference between MCC and State Counselling
At the central level, counselling is managed by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) under the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), while state counselling is conducted by the respective state authorities.
- 15% seats - MCC (All India Quota)
- 85% seats - State counselling
Through MCC, aspirants can secure admissions to 15% All India Quota (AIQ) seats of government medical colleges across India, and 100% seats of:
- AIIMS
- JIPMER
- Central Universities
- Deemed Universities
- Some other central institutes
In simpler terms, if a government college has 100 medical seats, 15 of them are earmarked for NEET-qualified candidates from across India. It implies that an aspirant residing in any part of the country can apply for admission to a publicly owned institution in whichever state he/she wants.
Conversely, in state counselling, 85% of seats in government medical colleges and 100% of seats in private medical colleges of that state are reserved for candidates who meet the state eligibility/domicile rules.
Candidates who have cleared the medical entrance test can apply through either MCC or state authorities. In most cases, candidates apply for both since they offer a varied seat pool. The following are the factors that they consider before registration.
- NEET rank and expected cut-off
- Domicile advantage
- College preference
- Fees
- Category and reservation benefits
NEET UG Counselling 2026: Registration, Choice Filling, Seat Allotment & Reporting
The first and foremost stage of NEET UG 2026 counselling is registration. Qualified candidates have to register themselves either on MCC’s official portal or the designated state counselling portals and pay the category-wise prescribed fee.
Following this, a choice-filling window is made available for applicants to submit their preferences for medical colleges and courses (MBBS/BDS). Afterwards, the authorities announce the seat allocation results based on candidates’ NEET rank, category, choices filled, and seat availability.
Post allotment, candidates allotted seats have to accept them, upload and verify the required documents, pay the required fee, and join their respective colleges.
