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Analysis 28 Oct 2026 · 3 min read
NEET PG 2026 Round 1 cutoffs: seats closed 14% later than last year
The typical All India Quota GEN seat closed about 14% later than in 2025 Round 1. See which branches eased, which got tougher, and where Radiology closed.
By CutoffBridge team · Published 28 Oct 2026, 9:00 am
Key takeaways
- The typical AIQ GEN seat closed about 14% later than in 2025 Round 1, comparing the same seats year on year.
- Radio Diagnosis is still the most competitive branch, with a typical closing rank around 800 and the toughest seat at AIR 37.
- Orthopaedics (+26%) and Paediatrics (+22%) eased the most among large branches.
- Radiation Oncology (−14%) and Dermatology (−4%) got tougher than last year.
MCC’s Round 1 result for NEET PG 2026 is out, and the first thing the numbers show is that most seats closed at a later rank than they did in Round 1 last year. A later closing rank means the seat was easier to get: a student with a slightly higher AIR could still land it.
We compared the same seats (same college, course, quota and category) in 2025 Round 1 and 2026 Round 1. For All India Quota seats in the GEN category, the typical seat closed about 14% later this year.
Branch by branch
The table below shows every branch with at least 8 AIQ GEN seats. The typical (median) closing rank is the middle value across all colleges for that branch, which is a fairer picture than the single toughest seat.
| Branch | Seats | Toughest seat | Typical (median) | vs 2025 R1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RADIO DIAGNOSIS | 116 | 37 | 792 | +18% |
| DERMATOLOGY | 85 | 12 | 1,378 | -4% |
| GENERAL MEDICINE | 186 | 17 | 1,495 | +5% |
| PAEDIATRICS | 178 | 702 | 4,813 | +22% |
| OBG | 186 | 489 | 6,456 | +16% |
| GENERAL SURGERY | 193 | 333 | 6,951 | +8% |
| TBRD | 71 | 828 | 7,397 | +8% |
| ORTHOPAEDICS | 159 | 592 | 8,145 | +26% |
| EMERGENCY MEDICINE | 28 | 1,687 | 8,773 | -1% |
| PSYCHIATRY | 93 | 912 | 9,147 | +4% |
| RADIATION ONCOLOGY | 48 | 949 | 9,234 | -14% |
| OPHTHALMOLOGY | 123 | 1,301 | 11,766 | +14% |
| ENT | 127 | 1,619 | 12,656 | +18% |
| PMR | 9 | 2,855 | 15,229 | -1% |
| ANAESTHESIOLOGY | 202 | 4,729 | 16,990 | +15% |
| PATHOLOGY | 174 | 9,175 | 30,945 | +18% |
| IHBT | 22 | 14,763 | 31,015 | +29% |
| SPM | 121 | 12,801 | 49,066 | +22% |
| PHARMACOLOGY | 106 | 3,650 | 51,085 | +9% |
| FORENSIC MEDICINE | 83 | 10,652 | 53,904 | +4% |
| MICROBIOLOGY | 135 | 4,072 | 56,292 | +17% |
| BIOCHEMISTRY | 125 | 12,378 | 68,338 | +4% |
| PHYSIOLOGY | 110 | 18,528 | 78,067 | +9% |
| ANATOMY | 104 | 16,690 | 96,459 | +16% |
A few patterns stand out:
- Radio Diagnosis, Dermatology and General Medicine remain the three most competitive branches by a wide margin.
- Orthopaedics and Paediatrics eased noticeably, so students a few thousand ranks lower than last year still found seats.
- Radiation Oncology and Dermatology moved the other way and closed at earlier ranks than in 2025.
Seats that eased the most
These AIQ GEN seats closed at a much later rank than in 2025 Round 1. We leave out seats that closed before rank 200, because very small numbers swing a lot in percentage terms.
| # | College | Course | 2025 R1 | 2026 R1 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Goa Med Coll, PanajiGoa | ORTHOPAEDICS | 212 | 6,238 | +2842% |
| 2 | King George’s Medical University, LucknowUttar Pradesh | TRAUMATOLOGY AND SURGERY | 1,389 | 7,167 | +416% |
| 3 | Seth GS Medical College & KEM Hospital, MumbaiMaharashtra | ENT | 756 | 3,719 | +392% |
| 4 | SCB, CuttackOdisha | ORTHOPAEDICS | 1,497 | 6,345 | +324% |
| 5 | Govt Med Coll, AyodhyaUttar Pradesh | SPM | 13,271 | 52,905 | +299% |
| 6 | Sher-I-Kashmir, SrinagarJammu and Kashmir | OBG | 1,482 | 5,290 | +257% |
| 7 | Burdwan Medical CollegeWest Bengal | ANATOMY | 34,379 | 1,14,612 | +233% |
| 8 | Thanjavur Med CollTamil Nadu | ANATOMY | 20,016 | 64,420 | +222% |
| 9 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences & Dr RML Hospital, DelhiDelhi | PSYCHIATRY | 618 | 1,939 | +214% |
| 10 | Guru Govind Singh, FaridkotPunjab | FORENSIC MEDICINE | 23,560 | 69,069 | +193% |
| 11 | Gandhi Medical College, SecunderabadTelangana | ORTHOPAEDICS | 2,478 | 7,187 | +190% |
| 12 | Institute of Medical Sciences, BHU, VaranasiUttar Pradesh | ENT | 2,053 | 5,943 | +189% |
| 13 | Govt Med Coll, KotaRajasthan | RADIO DIAGNOSIS | 317 | 907 | +186% |
| 14 | SGITO (Sanjay Gan), BangaloreKarnataka | ORTHOPAEDICS | 1,860 | 5,274 | +184% |
| 15 | BJ Medical College, AhmedabadGujarat | ENT | 3,423 | 9,594 | +180% |
Seats that got tougher
And these moved the other way, closing at an earlier rank than last year:
| # | College | Course | 2025 R1 | 2026 R1 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BJ Medical College, AhmedabadGujarat | DERMATOLOGY | 634 | 25 | -96% |
| 2 | RCC, ThiruvananthapuramKerala | RADIATION ONCOLOGY | 10,008 | 949 | -91% |
| 3 | RG Kar Med Coll, KolkataWest Bengal | DERMATOLOGY | 1,556 | 187 | -88% |
| 4 | Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, HyderabadTelangana | ORTHOPAEDICS | 4,657 | 592 | -87% |
| 5 | Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, AMU, AligarhUttar Pradesh | RADIO DIAGNOSIS | 326 | 51 | -84% |
| 6 | Bundelkhand Med Coll, SagarMadhya Pradesh | ANATOMY | 98,339 | 16,690 | -83% |
| 7 | SMS, JaipurRajasthan | PMR | 11,980 | 2,855 | -76% |
| 8 | SVIMS, TirupatiAndhra Pradesh | RADIO DIAGNOSIS | 521 | 135 | -74% |
| 9 | Lokmanya Tilak, Sion, MumbaiMaharashtra | GENERAL SURGERY | 1,257 | 333 | -74% |
| 10 | Lokmanya Tilak, Sion, MumbaiMaharashtra | PHARMACOLOGY | 12,863 | 3,650 | -72% |
Where Radio Diagnosis closed
Radiology is the most searched branch every year, so here are the 15 most competitive AIQ GEN Radio Diagnosis seats in Round 1:
| # | College | 2026 R1 | 2025 R1 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vardhman Mahavir Medical College & Safdarjung Hospital, DelhiDelhi | 37 | 25 | +48% |
| 2 | Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, AMU, AligarhUttar Pradesh | 51 | 326 | -84% |
| 3 | Government Medical College, KozhikodeKerala | 57 | 79 | -28% |
| 4 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences & Dr RML Hospital, DelhiDelhi | 64 | 73 | -12% |
| 5 | Maulana Azad Medical College, DelhiDelhi | 78 | 60 | +30% |
| 6 | University College of Medical Sciences, DelhiDelhi | 95 | 187 | -49% |
| 7 | Madras Medical College, ChennaiTamil Nadu | 96 | 156 | -38% |
| 8 | Seth GS Medical College & KEM Hospital, MumbaiMaharashtra | 101 | 58 | +74% |
| 9 | Lady Hardinge Medical College, New DelhiDelhi | 103 | 108 | -5% |
| 10 | Government Medical College & Hospital, ChandigarhChandigarh | 110 | 39 | +182% |
| 11 | Government Medical College, ThiruvananthapuramKerala | 128 | 118 | +8% |
| 12 | SVIMS, TirupatiAndhra Pradesh | 135 | 521 | -74% |
| 13 | IGIMS, PatnaBihar | 168 | – | – |
| 14 | Govt Med Coll, ThrissurKerala | 169 | – | – |
| 15 | Grant Government Medical College, MumbaiMaharashtra | 178 | 145 | +23% |
What this means for Round 2
Round 1 closing ranks are a starting point, not the final word. In both 2024 and 2025, most seats closed at a later rank in Round 2 than in Round 1, as seats were freed by upgrades and new seats were added. How much they move depends heavily on the Round 2 seat matrix, which MCC has not released yet.
If you are planning your Round 2 choices, check each seat’s full history across rounds rather than only its Round 1 rank, and keep a mix of safe and target seats in your list.
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