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Analysis 30 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
NEET PG 2026 Round 2 Expected Cutoff: How Far Ranks Moved After Round 1
In 2024 and 2025, the typical All India Quota seat closed 15–23% later in Round 2 than in Round 1. Branch-wise patterns and what they suggest for 2026.
By CutoffBridge team · Published 30 Oct 2026, 7:00 pm
Key takeaways
- In 2025, the typical AIQ GEN seat closed 23% later in Round 2 than in Round 1; in 2024 the shift was 15%.
- About 8 in 10 seats closed at a later rank in Round 2 in both years, so most seats got easier to get.
- Clinical branches such as General Medicine, Paediatrics and Ophthalmology moved more than Radiology and pre-clinical branches.
- The 2026 Round 2 seat matrix will decide how much ranks move this year, so treat these as patterns, not predictions.
Round 2 of NEET PG 2026 counselling is days away, and the question every student is asking is the same: how much will the Round 1 cutoffs move?
Nobody can know the 2026 Round 2 closing ranks before MCC publishes them. But we can measure exactly how the same seats moved between Round 1 and Round 2 in 2024 and 2025, using MCC’s official round-wise results. That is the best evidence there is for what to expect.
A quick reminder on reading these numbers: a later closing rank means a seat became easier to get, because a student with a higher AIR still got it.
How much did Round 2 move in past years?
We compared every All India Quota (AIQ) seat in the GEN category that had a closing rank in both Round 1 and Round 2 of the same year.
| 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats compared | 2,470 | 2,460 |
| Typical (median) change, Round 1 → Round 2 | 15% later | 23% later |
| Seats that closed at a later rank in Round 2 | 76% | 82% |
| Seats whose closing rank did not change | 18% | 14% |
So in both years, the large majority of seats became easier to get in Round 2. This happens because students who got a better seat in Round 1 upgrade or leave, and new seats can be added to the Round 2 seat matrix.
Branch by branch: who moved most
Typical (median) Round 1 → Round 2 change for AIQ GEN seats, MD/MS branches with at least 8 seats in both years:
| Branch | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| General Medicine | +24% | +31% |
| Paediatrics | +22% | +28% |
| Ophthalmology | +20% | +36% |
| Orthopaedics | +19% | +26% |
| Pathology | +13% | +29% |
| General Surgery | +17% | +23% |
| Anaesthesiology | +14% | +25% |
| Dermatology | +32% | +18% |
| OBG | +12% | +24% |
| ENT | +16% | +21% |
| Psychiatry | +10% | +17% |
| Radio Diagnosis | 0% | +21% |
| Radiation Oncology | 0% | +14% |
| Anatomy | +4% | +11% |
Two patterns stand out:
- Large clinical branches moved the most. General Medicine, Paediatrics, Ophthalmology and Orthopaedics opened up by a fifth to a third in both years.
- Radio Diagnosis is unpredictable. Its typical seat did not move at all in 2024 but closed 21% later in 2025. Its top seats rarely change hands, so the movement comes from a smaller number of seats.
By category, the 2025 Round 2 shift for AIQ seats was about 14% for EWS, 17% for OBC, 11% for SC and 14% for ST.
The seats that moved most in 2025
These AIQ GEN seats opened up the most between Round 1 and Round 2 last year. Seats that closed before rank 200 are left out, because small numbers swing wildly in percentage terms.
| # | College | Course | 2025 R1 | 2025 R2 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Silchar Med Coll, SilcharAssam | RADIO DIAGNOSIS | 874 | 3,938 | +351% |
| 2 | Nalanda Med Coll, PatnaBihar | FORENSIC MEDICINE | 18,079 | 75,300 | +317% |
| 3 | Grant Government Medical College, MumbaiMaharashtra | ANATOMY | 24,454 | 94,937 | +288% |
| 4 | SMS, JaipurRajasthan | EMERGENCY MEDICINE | 3,030 | 10,557 | +248% |
| 5 | Guru Govind Singh, FaridkotPunjab | GENERAL MEDICINE | 757 | 2,413 | +219% |
| 6 | SNMC, JodhpurRajasthan | ANATOMY | 27,253 | 86,096 | +216% |
| 7 | Government Medical College, KozhikodeKerala | GENERAL SURGERY | 1,035 | 3,238 | +213% |
| 8 | Madras Medical College, ChennaiTamil Nadu | PHARMACOLOGY | 11,705 | 36,361 | +211% |
| 9 | Thanjavur Med CollTamil Nadu | ANATOMY | 20,016 | 60,191 | +201% |
| 10 | Government Medical College & Hospital, ChandigarhChandigarh | OPHTHALMOLOGY | 1,656 | 4,944 | +199% |
| 11 | Guru Govind Singh, FaridkotPunjab | FORENSIC MEDICINE | 23,560 | 70,066 | +197% |
| 12 | University College of Medical Sciences, DelhiDelhi | GENERAL SURGERY | 456 | 1,328 | +191% |
And here is how the toughest Radio Diagnosis seats moved from Round 1 to Round 2 in 2025:
| # | College | 2025 R1 | 2025 R2 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Government Medical College & Hospital, ChandigarhChandigarh | 39 | 39 | 0% |
| 2 | Vardhman Mahavir Medical College & Safdarjung Hospital, DelhiDelhi | 25 | 46 | +84% |
| 3 | GovtMedColl,ChhatrapatiSambhajiNgrMaharashtra | 568 | 63 | -89% |
| 4 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences & Dr RML Hospital, DelhiDelhi | 73 | 73 | 0% |
| 5 | Government Medical College, KozhikodeKerala | 79 | 79 | 0% |
| 6 | Bangalore Medical College & Research Institute, BengaluruKarnataka | 80 | 80 | 0% |
| 7 | Seth GS Medical College & KEM Hospital, MumbaiMaharashtra | 58 | 96 | +66% |
| 8 | Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, HyderabadTelangana | 98 | 98 | 0% |
| 9 | Maulana Azad Medical College, DelhiDelhi | 60 | 108 | +80% |
| 10 | Lady Hardinge Medical College, New DelhiDelhi | 108 | 116 | +7% |
| 11 | Government Medical College, ThiruvananthapuramKerala | 118 | 118 | 0% |
| 12 | Institute of Medical Sciences, BHU, VaranasiUttar Pradesh | 179 | 179 | 0% |
What this suggests for 2026 Round 2
If 2026 follows the 2024–2025 pattern, a typical AIQ GEN seat that closed at a given rank in Round 1 could close roughly 15% to 23% later in Round 2. As an illustration only:
| Round 1 closing rank | At +15% (2024 pattern) | At +23% (2025 pattern) |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | about 1,150 | about 1,230 |
| 10,000 | about 11,500 | about 12,300 |
| 50,000 | about 57,500 | about 61,500 |
Treat this as a pattern, not a promise:
- The 2026 Round 2 seat matrix matters most. If many new seats are added, ranks can move further; if few are added, they may move less.
- Each seat is different. About one seat in seven did not move at all in 2025, and some got tougher.
- Your category and quota change the picture. Use the tools below with your own rank.
How to use this for Round 2 choice filling
- Check every seat’s full history, not just its Round 1 rank. Our cutoff explorer shows all rounds of 2024, 2025 and 2026 side by side.
- See what was within reach at your rank on the rank pages, then compare with last year’s final round on the same page.
- Watch the 2026 Round 2 seat matrix on our seats page. Seats added or removed change everything above.
- Keep safe seats in your list. A Round 2 rank that moved last year may not move this year.
We will publish the real 2026 Round 2 closing ranks, and how they compare with Round 1 college by college, as soon as MCC releases the result.
Spotted a wrong number? Tell us and we will fix it in public.