In a first, Tamil Nadu student among top 10 NEET rankers

CHENNAI: For the first time since the introduction of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for MBBS admissions seven years ago, a student from Tamil Nadu has broken into the top 10. Srijan R got the 8th rank nationally scoring 710 out of 720 marks. Two other candidates from the state, Mohanaprabha Ravichandran and G Swetha, scored 705 and 702 respectively and secured the 52nd and 62nd ranks.Last year, the state topper was Shruthi K, who scored 685 out of 720 marks and secured the 57th rank.
Of 1,21,617 students who had registered for the test from the state, 99,610 took it. Of them, 57,215 students (57.4%) qualified. Last year 48.5% qualified.
In 2019, the cut-off for MBBS admissions in government medical colleges went up by nearly 100 marks in most categories because of a surge in scores. Last year, the cut-off for OC category was 520 marks and for BC it was 470 marks. The cut-off for BCM and MBC was 458 marks and for SC category 360 marks. For SCA it was 301 and ST 267 marks.
Going by the high scores in NEET this year, the cut-off for medical admissions will likely increase.
This year's state topper R Srijan, a native Vellakoil in Tirupur district, attended a coaching centre in Namakkal. Talking to reporters in Namakkal, Srijan said he has been passionate about medicine and wants to specialise in cardiology. Srijan had attempted NEET last year and appeared again this year to better his scores.
Mohanaprabha Ravichandran, who is also from the same coaching centre, emerged second in the state. Mohanaprabha said she wants to specialise in neurology.
N Jeevithkumar, a student of Tamil medium Government Model Higher Secondary School, Siluvarpatti, Theni district, has scored 664/720. He is the second student pursuing medicine from the school and has scored just over 99% in physics, chemistry and biology. He has secured the 1,823rd rank at the national level. His father K Narayanamoorthi rears goats for a living and his mother N Parameswari takes up work under the MNREGA. He had undergone NEET coaching in Namakkal district and this is his second attempt at NEET.
"Last year, the all-India topper scored 691 marks. This year, one of our students scored 700 out of 720 marks and he was ranked 105. So, it means that 105 students have scored above 700 and we expect more high scorers in NEET," said Chandan Chand, regional director, Aakash Institute.
(With inputs from Madurai and Coimbatore)