The three rounds of online counselling concluded this week, and 1.3 lakh seats were filled in the general counselling.Chennai: As many as 3,995 students got their choices wrong in the online engineering counselling this year, which is about a 100% increase compared to the previous year. While 994 students from the first round got seat allotment in the second round, 2,991 students from second round got allotment in the third round, according to experts.These students received seat allotment that were significantly below their ranks. Tough competition, lack of awareness, not providing enough choices, and unfair practices by colleges were cited as the main reasons for so many students getting their choices wrong in the online counselling this year.The three rounds of online counselling concluded this week, and 1.3 lakh seats were filled in the general counselling.”They should either increase the number of rounds from three to four or return to the single-window counselling to allot seats based on merit,” said career consultant Jayaprakash Gandhi.While 98,565 students participated in the second round, 101,589 students took part in the third round.He also said 166 students who scored above 190 marks in the rank list received seat allotment in the second round, which is for students scoring between 179 and 143 marks in the rank list. Last year, 1,665 students got their choices wrong in the online counselling.Professors said colleges also resort to unfair practices to boost their admissions, such as changing the choice order of students with the help of browsing centres and middlemen.Educational consultant D Nedunchezhian said students with high marks are joining low-ranked colleges.”Former chief minister M Karunanidhi introduced the single-window admission system, which was the best transparent admission system. For example, a student with a 502nd rank could select the college only after the 501st rank student made their choice. Such a merit-based admission is not possible in online counselling as it depends on the choice order,” he said. However, officials from the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions committee said there are no major complaints regarding seat allotment in the online engineering counselling.
Published On Aug 23, 2025 at 08:07 AM IST
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