Is current NEET PG Counselling process full of LUCK and GAMBLING?

ABSTRACT

Each year, many students attempt the NEET PG entrance exam and then attend the counselling process to get admission in PG. However, each year, we see a lot of issues and delays in the counselling process. All these lead to the PG counselling process having some very confusing rules, and it causes a great deal of confusion and uncertainties among the students, while selecting for their deserved PG seats and attending subsequent rounds. The element of LUCK plays a significant role in allocation of PG seats. Issues like a single candidate blocking multiple seats in state and All India rounds, non-synchronisation between All India and state rounds, delay in some individual state rounds, court cases, addition or deletion of seats in the counselling process, and so on are frequent in each year’s counselling process. The factor of LUCK plays a big role in somebody getting or not getting a seat. This should be completely eliminated. Simple measures like fixing the accountability, management of loopholes of the counselling process beforehand, hearing about any court cases, proper and fixed information about availability of seats in each college way before the starting of the counselling process, keeping real-time data on seats retained or left, synchronised counselling, or possibility of offline centralised counselling are some of the cost-effective impartial methods. These methods will help the students to make informed choices and reduce the element of LUCK from the counselling process. After such hard work, students deserve a counselling process which ensures less uncertainty and no role of luck and eliminates any unfair advantage/disadvantages because of faulty procedures and system issues. If such issues happen each year, it is fair to say that it is because of its sheer ignorance and in-decisions by the officials to improve the counselling process.

Introduction

Every year, around 1.7–2 lakh students attend NEET PG entrance exam for some 20,000–25,000 seats available in MD, MS, Diploma, and DNB seats. Since the starting of the single entrance exam at the All India level, it was expected that the hardship and confusion caused to students will be decreased and there will be fairness in allotment of the seats.

However, what is seen in reality is a total chaos, lack of any accountability, repetition of same mistakes each year, court cases, in-coordination between All India level and state level and a huge new factor coming into play to get a seat – LUCK or GAMBLING – like dependency on random chances.

Explanation of the process of NEET PG counselling

There are two different authorities, All India level and state level. Before the counselling process starts, each college should share the availability of recognised seats with state and centre levels. The seats are distributed in 50–50% ratio to the centre and state. Candidates as domicile residents of some state or studying in that state can only select options of colleges in that state. This seat matrix is displayed for all. Students need to then select a maximum of 200 choices; their most preferable choices should be at the top. According to rank, in NEET PG entrance exam, each person’s choices are matched with the availability of seats.

Now, counselling for seats available in 50% of the All India level takes place as the first round, then second round, (if any) third round, mop-up round, and one last stray round.

Simultaneously, along with this process, the state should also have their rounds as the first round, second round, third round (if any), mop-up round, and last stray round.

When we see this system, we feel it is perfect and for the betterment of students. It seems to decrease chaos and help students get seats they deserve and reduce any unconstitutional elements of injustice.

Is this a good system?

Let us see point by point about how NEET PG 2022 counselling rounds were more dependent on gambling, like chances, and most of the choice selections depended on LUCK!!

1) Candidates block seats in All India and State counselling rounds, which cause many students to not get seats of their choice

Students can fill seats in both All India and state counselling. For this year, people could fill options for the first round and second round in both the state and centre and could leave the seat later. If they fill options for the mop-up round, then they must get the admission in that college. If they do not join the college allotted to them during the mop-up round, then they will be not allowed to participate in any further centre’s rounds (but can still participate in the state’s rounds). The students who were not allotted any seats of their choice in the mop-up round can only fill the form for the stray round for any vacant seats after the mop-up round.

Let us see by an example what issues this can cause.

Consider student A. She got a very good rank, and she is sure to get her favourite college (S1) in the state round. However, just for the curiosity about what other seats she can get in centre level counselling, she will still go through the All India round process. Later, she will be allotted a seat (C1) in the first and second rounds in All India level counselling results. She did not get admission there. Eventually, she enrolled for the state round, got a seat through the state round in the first or second round and joined the college (S1) through the state round.

Now, what issues did it cause? It seems okay. Let us see what this act has caused.

Student B, who was just below her rank, got another college (C2). That college is good, but C1 is better than that. He did not get C1 because both the times, student A went for the All India round and got the allotted C1. Therefore, the seat was blocked by a person who never intended to get admission in that college or was confused or unsure if she will get a seat in state college. Therefore, just to know about her seats or have a safety net, she went through both the counselling processes.

Now, after All India round 2, there will be a mop-up round. We have to leave our allotted seat to go for the mop up, and three things can happen:

• a)We might get any good college by upgradation;
• b)We do not get any college;
• c)We will get a college which is lower-ranked than our previous college because somebody else at a higher rank now thought about it and got that college as soon as that seat is left.

Here is the bottleneck

There is no mechanism for student B, who has a higher rank, to know if student A is going to leave this seat or left the seat or did not join. He must take a decision whether he wants to take the risk to keep his good college C2 or take the risk to leave the seat and hence get eligible for the mop-up round, especially when he does not know whether A has retained the seat (C1) or left the seat.

The high probability is that people want to play safe. B will choose to retain his seat. Hence, D, E, F, and G will retain their respective seats in various colleges, even though they might want to get a seat in C1. This is because they do not know what is happening upfront and who is going to retain the seat or leave the seat.

Therefore, now, candidate H, who got a low-ranking college, has nothing to lose much. He took the gamble and left the seat and went to mop up. To his surprise, he suddenly got seat C1. If we follow a proper system and all constitutional reservation rules, candidate B should get it. The next best college C2 should be available for candidates C, D, and hence forth.

Any student will naturally go in each round and play safest if these are the rules. However, in doing so, they end up blocking seats for other candidates. This leads to people with a high rank stick to their seat and do not go for the mop-up round, which eventually ends up with people having a lower rank getting surprise seats, which is in the wish list of higher-rank students.

2) No synchronisation between All India rounds and State rounds

Let us see what exactly happens. For example, consider the date of 28 October 2022. It was the last day of getting admission in seats allotted in All India round 2. Therefore, let us see various scenarios in this.

In Karnataka, a student named K1 is sad as the state round in Karnataka is not started yet. She did not get a very high rank but a decent rank. However, she is not sure which college she can get in Karnataka in the state round. She has been allotted a college (C3) in All India round 2. It is a decent college, but she wanted to know if she might get a better college (C4) than this in Karnataka through the state round. If she was sure, she would have left C3 from the All India round and join C4 from the state (but again, because of her, issue number 1 is going to arise as she blocked the All India and state seats for two rounds, causing issues to other candidates).

However, as of today, round 1 in Karnataka has not started yet. Therefore, she does not want to take any risk. She retained C3. Therefore, student K2, who was below her rank in the state, got college C4, which should ideally and constitutionally have been made available to K1. Again, a gamble went bad, and luck played its role.

In Maharashtra, student M1 got a seat in college C5 through All India rank. The state second round allotment list in Maharashtra will be displayed only on 30 October. Today is 28 October, and that person does not know which college he might get in the second round of the state’s counselling. He has to do the gambling by taking the risk to leave the C5 college and wait for second round allotment of the state and retain the seat and take college C5, always wondering what if he left C5 and went for the state round or for mop up. Again, there is gambling and again a question of if’s and but’s, rather than getting a seat according to the rank.

Student P1 got a seat in C6 college through All India in the second round. She knows this is an average college. However, she is not sure whether she should take this or take a risk to go to mop up. The reason for this confusion is that many people had filled both state and All India counselling lists. The same hundreds of candidates are on both All India and state lists. They will leave the seat after round 2 of the state and the All India round.

Now, she is unsure about three things:

• 1)Whether she should take a risk of leaving this college; she is not sure which college she will get in mop up. She might get a lower-rank college than this.
• 2)She is not sure how many people are blocking the upward seats and will leave the seat after round 2 in All India.
• 3)She does not know how many people got admission in the colleges which are at a higher level than college C6 in her preference form. If all the seats in those colleges are retained by the candidates who got allotted those seats in rounds 1 and 2, she should better retain this seat in college C6 because leaving this seat will not get her any upgradation, but she faces the risk of losing this seat.

Again, she has no way to know this thing and she has to take the decision of leaving everything to LUCK!!

3) Barring a few top-most seats, it is all about the LUCK

Student X did not get any allotment in the first and second rounds. His rank is low. He still went to the mop up round with hopes. Now, suddenly, all the blocked seats, at top, till round 2, are open and very few people left their seats due to the attitude of not taking risk. He suddenly got his dream branch in college C7, which is a decent college. When he told this to his friends who got a better rank than him but had to settle for a different branch in a much lower-ranked college, they regrett their chance and luck. Moreover, they did not think that they could get this college because there is literally no way to confirm it.

Student Y got a decent college, C8, in round 2 of All India. He still thought that in the mop up, there might be upgradation to his college and he will get some other better college. Now, he did not retain the seat and went to the mop-up round. In the mop-up round, everybody knows that it is her/his last chance, and very few will be ready to study and attend the exam next year. So many students will fill the fresh college list in mop up. If even one person above his rank opts for the college he left, he will lose this college seat, C8. If all the seats above his rank are retained, then he will not get any upgradation, but his seat C8 also went to some other person. He now regrets that he left his seat C8 allotted to him in the second round. He is cursing his luck. LUCK!!!???

4) Trends are no more reliable

Student P got college C9 in All India Round 2. This college is average, but she got her desired branch. Her rank is 6000, and the last year, at her rank, there was some good college available for her branch. She decides to go by the trend and leave college C9 and opt for the mop-up round. To her horror, there are no seats left for her preferred branch anymore and someone higher than her rank has taken college C9. Now, she regrets why she went with trends and guessing and lost the seat in her preferred branch. She is cursing her LUCK!!

In 2021 PG admission, many people got good seats during the mop up round. There were huge upgradations. The colleges which were allotted at around 5000 rank and beyond in All India after the second round were allotted to candidates having 8000–10000 rank during the mop-up round. Considering those trends, this year, many students left their good seats in the second round of All India and entered for the mop-up round. However, this year, the upgradation was very minimal. In fact, for many seats, there was downgradation. Many candidates lost their seats to higher-mark candidates who did not opt for those seats in round 1 and 2, or those seats were blocked by higher-rank candidates and were available only during the mop-up round.

5) Court cases

Each year, as the counselling starts, we get many court cases on issues which are unresolved since many years. This often causes unnecessary delays and confusions among the students and authorities. Courts often halt the counselling process midway, and then there are again uncertainty and delay to the whole process.

6) Addition/Deletion or seats mid-counselling

Each year, during the second or third round, some seats are newly added or deleted in some colleges. This cause is an unfair disadvantage to people who did not have those options in the first or second round and retained their seats in some other college prior to the introduction of those seats.

7) Things all these have caused

These are in fact very few scenarios where we can see how messy the life is for the students. They cannot predict anything and had to take risks at each level of counselling. It is just the gambling, and sometimes, the gamble pays off. Many times, it does not. The highest beneficiaries of this system are the students who got a low rank because they have nothing to lose and wait till mop up. Those students who got a higher rank are left stranded and confused. Nobody wants to risk things at this stage of life, and they settle for what they got rather than what was actually available at their rank.

In all these processes, the decision to take the seat, leave it, go to the mop-up round, and so on all depend on guessing, watching last years’ trends, and risk and gambling of chances.

Why should any seat allotment at this highest point of such an elite profession be dependent on guessing, luck, and gambling of chances when simple procedures can reduce this chaos

Considering all these scenarios, there is huge mismanagement from the side of officials. Considering students’ point of view, it is huge stress to face this counselling. There are a lot of uncertainties and pressure. Because of all the mismanagement, it adds to pressure for the students. They often end up taking seats, which is not their first choice, due to all these uncertainties and fear.

These students had studied all the way for 3–4 years for this entrance exam and got good ranks. Their only demand is to get fair seats as per the availability at their rank, following all constitutional means. However, as we saw, now, there is an unconstitutional element added to it – LUCK.

Hence, this counselling is completely unconstitutional and is dependent on luck and a gambling-like element, and we must raise voice against it.

Yes. Problems are there. But what can be the possible solutions?

Solutions

A) Accountability

Each year, during the counselling process, students face this problem. There should be accountability fixed on someone or a group of people for this mismanagement. They get a full year to correct it, and each time, they bring more new ways to trouble students. They should make sure that availability of seats in each college is confirmed beforehand and it should not change the mid-counselling process, come what may. Similarly, resolving the pending issues will help reducing the court cases during the counselling and reduce unnecessary delays.

If each year these same mistakes and delays happen, it is either intentional or a sheer ignorance and apathy by the authorities.

B) Making correct seat matrixes ready before counselling

This ensures that no confusion in seats occurs in between rounds. Some seats are added suddenly in round 2, and then round 1 people who retained their seat are devoid of the opportunity to apply for those seats.

C) Combined All India and State counselling

We take All India and state allotment at the same time so that there is no time gap between All India and state round NEET PG counselling. The additional points about reservations, in-service candidates, etc., can be put in the software programming for better matching. This will give everybody a fair chance to get the seat that is available at their rank. No more confusions.

D) Real-time display of seats taken or left

Some people will invariably leave seats allotted to them. Again, there is an issue about who will leave the seat and what can be the mechanism to ensure that other students know about it. For this, a simple real-time monitor to know which seats are taken and which are left can be placed online. Each college will update it regularly. Based on it, candidates can then inform the college that they want to go for the second round and want to leave their seat. This information will also be available on real time to all. Therefore, students will know which seats are vacant or left and which candidates opt for upgradation and then they can make a more informed choice. Yes, some element of luck will still be there, but not of this level.

E) Taking Offline/In-Person counselling (Combined for All India and state)

Calling all students offline at a place and showing them all the options available to them is the best possible solution.

Each day, 500 students can be called. A real-time display of seats at the allotment centre and also online on the MCC website will help students know what is available to them.

Anyway, all these rounds and mop up take more than 2 months. Therefore, doing offline counselling will be far better and cost-effective and will be finished in maybe 15–20 days. This will ensure that each student will take decisions based on real-time data. It will also eliminate any luck factor and confusions. Students can take admission according to their rank and thought process at that time.

Will it require travelling? Yes. However, do not students travel to different colleges of allotment from round 1 to round 2 and mop up and all? Therefore, it is better to travel once.

The second round for this, if somebody left the seat, can again be planned, like point number 4, with real-time display of who joined, who did not, and who is going to the second round. People will make more informed choices then, and these things will not be dependent on LUCK….

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.