Chennai, July 14 : The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), under the Union Health Ministry, has released the tentative counselling schedule for MBBS and BDS admissions for the 2025-26 academic year.

While the national schedule is now public, Tamil Nadu's State Selection Committee has said that it is still in the process of preparing the merit list and will announce its detailed counselling timetable soon.

According to the MCC schedule, the first round of counselling for state quota seats -- including those in government colleges, self-financing medical colleges, and private universities -- will be held from July 30 to August 6.

The last date for students to join their allotted colleges in this round is August 12. The second round of counselling is scheduled from August 19 to August 29, with the deadline for joining set as September 4. The third round will be conducted between September 9 and September 18, and the final date for joining is September 23.

A stray vacancy round will be held from September 25 to 29, with the last date of joining being October 3.

Meanwhile, the academic session for undergraduate medical and dental courses is set to begin on September 1, as per the directive from the Union Health Ministry.

In Tamil Nadu, the Directorate of Medical Education and Research, which oversees the State Selection Committee, has received a total of 72,743 applications for MBBS and BDS seats. The deadline for submitting applications was June 29.

Officials said that work on compiling the merit list is in its final stages, and counselling dates will be published shortly.

A senior official from the selection committee said, 'We are diligently verifying documents and normalising marks to ensure transparency in seat allotment. Once the merit list is finalised, we will release the schedule for online choice filling and counselling.'

Medical aspirants across Tamil Nadu are eagerly awaiting the merit list, which will determine their eligibility for admission under the state quota in both government and private institutions. With lakhs of students vying for limited seats, the state's counselling process remains a crucial phase in the medical admission cycle.

/IANS