City medical colleges may slash cut-offs

Updated on: Thursday, June 16, 2011

Students across the state have fared poorly in the Common Entrance Test for engineering and medicine. In the medical stream, Vivek Tiwari and Parasmita Bhattacharya, both repeaters from Thane, topped the list with their score of 195. The overall student tally, which has been chronically sliding, dipped further to 12.01% compared to 15.23% in 2010. While college cut-offs are slated to fall, tough times lie ahead. “Our internal analysis shows that a student who could have secured 176 last year, would have got about 163 this year. The performance has been rather lacklustre,” said an officer from the Directorate of Technical Education.

Health Sciences

At a time when the country needs more doctors, the state is not just witnessing a dip in aspirants, but also a drop in the number of those qualifying the entrance exam. In the rest of Maharashtra, which includes Mumbai, 13, 030 out of 1.18 lakh candidates (11.07%) got 50% marks – the minimum required for an open category seat. In 2010, this region recorded a success rate of 15.42 per cent. In Vidarbha, 12.56% students cleared the tests, though last year, the figure was 15.21%, and Marathwada had a students qualifying rate of 14.66% compared to 14.64% in 2010.

“Clearly, most of our students have been preparing for all-India competitive entrance examinations. They have always felt that training for the state’s CET is merely a subset of the overall preparation, but this year has been different. The state’s question paper was tougher than the previous editions,” said a principal of a junior college. Top city public medical colleges like KEM, JJ, Lokmanya Tilak (Sion) and Nair that closed admissions at 170, may lower the cut-offs a tad bit this year. In all, 1.93 lakh students took the medical test, comprising physics, chemistry and biology sections; 50.07% (1.04 lakh) students were boys and 45.93% (88, 507) were girls.

In June, when lakhs of city youngsters drew up their career graph, stiff competition forced them – whether likely toppers or those at the bottom of the pyramid – to have a back-up plan. So, 1, 49, 410 students appeared for both the engineering and medical entrance exams.

Engineering

While medical aspirants scramble for seats, candidates wanting to take up engineering have a smooth admission ride, if they aren’t very choosy about the colleges. Maharashtra’s tech institutes have more seats than students wanting to secure them. So, even the last 10 candidates, who have scored a mere 10 out of 200, can also study engineering. In all, 1.24 lakh general category students and 1.31 lakh from the reserved slot took the engineering test, comprising physics, chemistry and math sections.

This year, the number of girls went up compared to last year: the figure increased from 87, 486 in 2010 to 89, 539. However, that had no bearing on their performance as boys mostly bagged the top ranks. Merely 35 girls figured in to top 100 ranks.

DATES TO REMEMBER

Engineering:

June 21 to 29- Verification of documents and online submission of applications for all candidates
June 30- Provisional merit list

Health science courses:

Students can pay Rs 500 and get a photocopy of their answer script and a copy of the model answer sheet. The selection process for admission will be conducted by filling preference forms at four centres: Grant Medical College, Mumbai; BJ Medical College, Pune; Government Medical College, Nagpur and Government Medical College, Aurangabad (Dates not yet announced)

UP FOR GRABS

Health science MBBS: 18 colleges, 2, 060 seats
BDS (dental): 4 colleges, 240 seats
BAMS (Ayurveda): 20 colleges, 1, 020 seats
BPTh (Physiotherapy): 4 colleges, 90 seats
BOTh (Occupational Therapy): 4 colleges, 90 seats
BSc nursing: 4 colleges, 200 seats

Private medical colleges:

- KJ Somaiya Medical College, Mumbai 50 seats
- Maharashtra Institute of Medical Education and Research, Pune, 100 seats
- Maharashtra Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Latur, 100 seats
- Kashibai Navle Medical College, Pune, 100 seats (Will admit students based on MHT-CET scores)

Engineering: 309 colleges, 1, 14, 268 seats

Autonomous Institutes:

- College of Engineering, Pune
- Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, Mumbai
- Shri Guru Gobind Sinhji Institute of Engineering and Technology, Nanded
- Walchand College of Engineering, Sangli (Will conduct online admissions this year)

Pharmacy: 147 colleges, 9, 170 seats

City medical colleges may slash cut-offs

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