13 candidates score full cut-off of 200 as Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions merit list is out

Merit list has 1,39,033 candidates eligible for counselling

A total of 13 candidates, including five girls, have scored the full cut-off of 200 marks this year in the merit list published by the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions committee on Tuesday.

As many as 1,39,033 candidates are eligible for counselling — including 1,36,973 candidates in the academic stream and 2,060 in the vocational stream. Among them were 12 transgender persons. This year, 440 colleges with 1,51,870 seats are participating in the single-window counselling that will be held in five rounds.

Among the top 13 is a candidate from Karnataka. Since he is a native of Tamil Nadu, he has become eligible for counselling, TNEA officials said. The lowest cut-off is 77.5 marks. Of the 1,74,930 registered applications for which random numbers were generated, only 1,42,323 were verified, and 3,290 candidates were found ineligible.

The officials said the random number was used only for four candidates. The cut-off is calculated on the basis of a candidate’s score in mathematics (50%), physics (25%) and chemistry (25%). In a first, a separate merit list was prepared for government school students. It has 15,660 applicants, including 499 in the vocational stream and 20 differently abled candidates. The topper has scored 197.9.

While 182 differently abled candidates are in the academic merit list, there are two such candidates in the vocational merit list. As many as 1,122 wards of ex-servicemen have applied, including four from government schools. The topper in the vocational stream has scored 193.955 marks.

As many as 1,190 candidates are competing under the sports quota for around 500 seats. Unlike last year when 26,533 candidates had scored below 100, only 1,193 candidates are in this category this year.

Independent educational consultant Jayaprakash Gandhi says the non-conduct of the Class 12 exams has made the process a challenge. “In 2020, we had 26,533 candidates with less than 100 cut-off. This year, the number has fallen to 1,193. Another issue is the huge number of students in the 160-180 cut-off range. There were 14,185 students [in this bracket] last year, but there are 57,592 students this year.”