NEET PG 2026 Round 1: AIQ Radiology closed at a median 792, deemed at 44,233

In NEET PG 2026 Round 1, the typical All India Quota (AIQ) General seat in MD Radio Diagnosis closed at rank 792. The typical deemed university seat in the same branch closed at rank 44,233, about 56 times later. The same gap shows up in every large branch, though it shrinks a lot outside the clinical subjects.

A later closing rank means a seat was easier to get. So for the same branch, deemed seats stayed open for candidates much further down the merit list, usually at a far higher fee.

How we compared

We used the Round 1 closing ranks in our seat data, which come from MCC's Round 1 allotment result.

• AIQ side: All India Quota seats in the General (GEN) category. That is 2,839 college and course listings at 302 colleges. None of them are at deemed universities.
• Deemed side: deemed university management seats (the MNG quota in MCC counselling). That is 872 college and course listings at 54 deemed colleges in 12 states. In our data every deemed seat is listed under the General (GEN) category.
• Per branch: we took the median closing rank on each side, so half the seats closed earlier and half later. Medians are rounded to the nearest rank. We kept only branches with at least 10 listings on both sides.

The gap, branch by branch

Branch	AIQ GEN listings	AIQ median closing rank	Deemed listings	Deemed median closing rank	Deemed vs AIQ
Radio Diagnosis	116	792	53	44,233	56x
General Medicine	186	1,495	54	46,472	31x
Dermatology	85	1,378	50	34,458	25x
Paediatrics	178	4,813	52	76,952	16x
General Surgery	193	6,951	54	87,354	13x
Orthopaedics	159	8,145	47	90,285	11x
OBG	186	6,456	54	62,050	10x
Psychiatry	93	9,147	51	81,844	9x
Anaesthesiology	202	16,990	53	1,18,468	7x
Pathology	174	30,945	43	1,36,704	4.4x

The gap is widest where AIQ seats close earliest. In Radiology, General Medicine and Dermatology, half of the AIQ seats closed within the top 1,500, while the deemed seats went much deeper. In Anaesthesiology and Pathology, the typical AIQ seat already closed at about 17,000 and 31,000, so the multiple is smaller.

Fees differ just as sharply. In our seat data the median listed annual fee for these AIQ seats was ₹40,000 or less in every one of the ten branches. For deemed seats it ranged from ₹13 lakh (Pathology) to ₹50 lakh (Radiology and Dermatology). Our deemed fees analysis shows how the closing rank changes within the deemed seats as the fee rises.

Where AIQ and deemed overlap

In most branches the two sets of seats did not overlap at all. The last AIQ General seat to close was still earlier than the first deemed seat.

• Radio Diagnosis: the latest AIQ seat closed at 3,058; the earliest deemed seat at 3,928.
• General Medicine: latest AIQ 4,703; earliest deemed 6,353.
• Psychiatry: latest AIQ 19,747; earliest deemed 20,831.
• Dermatology was the only branch with an overlap: the latest AIQ seat closed at 5,628, and 3 of 50 deemed listings closed before that, the earliest at 2,617.

So in Round 1, a candidate who missed every AIQ General seat in a clinical branch could often still find that branch at a deemed university, at a much higher fee.

Non-clinical branches are closer

Outside the clinical branches the gap narrows. In Community Medicine (SPM) the medians were 49,066 for AIQ and 1,31,708 for deemed seats, 2.7 times later. In Microbiology they were 56,292 and 1,25,275 (2.2 times), and in Physiology 78,067 and 1,23,532 (1.6 times). Many AIQ seats in these branches already close late, so deemed seats add less reach.

What it means for Round 2

• Check both lists for your branch. The AIQ cutoffs and deemed cutoffs pages show every seat with its Round 1 closing rank.
• Round 2 starts later than first planned. MCC says the Round 2 schedule will start from 7 November 2026, after NMC sent newly approved seats. The seat matrix page shows the Round 1 seats and allotments.
• Round 1 is only a guide. Closing ranks usually move later in Round 2, but not by the same amount for every seat.

Here are the AIQ General Radio Diagnosis seats that closed earliest in Round 1:

All ranks here are NEET PG All India Ranks from 2026 Round 1. A later closing rank means the seat was easier to get.