NEET PG 2025 Cutoff Reduced: More Students Eligible for MD/MS

The National Medical Commission (NMC) has lowered the minimum marks needed to qualify for NEET PG 2025. This important change means more students can now apply for postgraduate medical courses (MD/MS) in India. The main aim of this decision is to fill many medical seats that are still empty across the country.

The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), which works under the NMC, announced this new rule. For students in the General category, the qualifying cutoff has been reduced to the 7th percentile. This means if you scored at or above the 7th percentile, you are now eligible.

Why the Cutoff Was Reduced

Many postgraduate medical seats, both in the All India Quota and State Quota, remained vacant after earlier counselling rounds. To make sure these seats do not go to waste, the NMC decided to lower the qualifying criteria. This gives a chance to more medical graduates to get a seat for their MD or MS studies.

New NEET PG 2025 Cutoff Percentiles and Scores

Here are the new minimum qualifying marks for different student categories:

What Do These Numbers Mean?

• Percentile: A percentile tells you how you did compared to other students. For example, a 7th percentile means you scored better than 7% of all students who took the exam. A lower percentile means you need a lower score to qualify.
• Qualifying Score: This is the actual minimum mark you need to get. For some categories like SC/ST/OBC, even a very low or negative score might qualify you if it falls within the 0 percentile range, which means all candidates from these categories are considered qualified.

Who Benefits from This Change?

This cutoff reduction is good news for many medical graduates. If your score was just below the old cutoff, you might now be eligible. This opens doors for you to get admission to MD or MS courses in various medical colleges.

Next Steps: NEET PG 2025 Round 3 Counselling

After this cutoff change, the MCC will soon release the full schedule for NEET PG 2025 Round 3 counselling. Students who are now eligible can apply for this round. The MCC had already said that the cutoff would be reduced for the later counselling rounds to help fill seats.

The official announcement from MCC stated, "The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) of DGHS will upload the All India Quota (AIQ) / State schedule for Round 3 of PG Counselling 2025. This will happen once the process of revised percentile eligibility for participation in Round 3 of PG Counselling 2025 is finished."

How to Apply for NEET PG 2025 Round 3 Counselling

Once the schedule is out, eligible students can follow these steps to apply online:

• Visit the official MCC website: mcc.nic.in.
• Look for the 'PG medical' section and click on it.
• Find and click the link for 'New candidate registration'.
• Fill in all the required details to register for NEET PG counselling 2025.
• Complete the application form and pay the counselling registration fees.
• Download your filled application form. Keep a copy for future use.

Keep checking the official MCC website for the exact dates and more details about Round 3 counselling. This is a big chance for many students to get into their desired postgraduate medical programs.