MBBS admissions to Christian minority medical colleges in Tamil nadu

Tamil Nadu has released a “religious minority rank list” for MBBS admissions to three Christian minority self-financing medical colleges.

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu has released a “religious minority rank list” for MBBS admissions to three Christian minority self-financing medical colleges — Christian Medical College, Madha Medical College and Panimalar Medical College — the first time any state has done so.

The state selection committee has told managements of the minority institutions that admissions to 35%-50% of seats they surrender will be made based on NEET scores and 69% reservation. “For the remaining 50%-65% of seats, the selection committee will first admit students from the respective minority rank list before accommodating students from the common merit pool,” selection committee secretary Dr P Vasanthamani said.

The list, now available on the state selection committee website, will be updated based on fresh applications from Tamil Nadu students by Friday.

The committee took this step after it found some colleges have never admitted students from the minority pool for several years, while some others predetermine the number of minority students they can take. Of the 17 self-financing colleges under the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University, nine are minority colleges.

The minority colleges put 35%-50% of seats into the state’s merit pool, compared to 50% given by non-minority institutions. There are five Telugu minority institutions, one Malayalam minority institution and three Christian minority institutions in TN. In 2020-21, only five colleges surrendered seats to the state for admission through merit. As for admission to CMC Vellore, Vasanthamani said that until now nearly 85% of seats were being filled by the selection committee based on the minority rank list prepared by the college. For 2021 admissions, the rank list for 70% of students will be drawn from the Christian minority list prepared by the Tamil Nadu government, she said.