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What is the 7.5% quota in Tamil Nadu?
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The 7.5% quota is a preferential reservation in Tamil Nadu for students who studied in State Government schools. It reserves 7.5% of Government seats in MBBS and BDS for them under the Tamil Nadu Act No. 34 of 2020. You must have qualified NEET-UG of the same year; the quota does not replace NEET.
Who qualifies
The 2026-27 prospectus of the Tamil Nadu Selection Committee says the quota is for students who studied from Class VI to Class XII in Tamil Nadu State Government schools and who qualified NEET-UG of that year. The prospectus is the authority on which schools count. If your school is not a State Government school, for example an aided or private school, write to the Selection Committee before you assume anything.
Which seats it covers
- 7.5% of Government seats in government medical and dental colleges.
- 7.5% of Government Quota seats in self-financing colleges.
- Both MBBS and BDS.
How the quota works in counselling
Tamil Nadu runs the 7.5% and the general (92.5%) tracks separately. A separate 7.5% rank list is published, and special-category counselling, which includes the 7.5% quota along with PwD, sports and ex-servicemen candidates, runs ahead of General Category counselling.
The reservation is horizontal. Seats are taken out of each community compartment (OC, BC, BCM, MBC/DNC, SC, SCA and ST), and unfilled seats revert to the general pool. So the 7.5% sits across the community reservation rather than beside it. See community reservation in Tamil Nadu MBBS.
Proof you need
A bonafide certificate from your school, signed by the Headmaster and countersigned by the Chief Educational Officer, in the format of Annexure II of the prospectus. It must cover Standard 6 to 12. It needs two signatures, so request it well before you apply rather than on the last day.
What the quota does not do
It does not guarantee a seat, and it does not lower the NEET qualifying percentile. You still compete on your NEET score, within the 7.5% list. In 2026, the provisional rank lists, including the 7.5% list, were published on tnmedicalselection.net on 12 August. For the whole process, read the Tamil Nadu NEET counselling guide.
Official source
The Act and the rules are summarised in the Tamil Nadu Selection Committee's prospectus for MBBS/BDS 2026-27 (G.O.(D) No. 667, Health and Family Welfare Department, 5 June 2026) on tnmedicalselection.net. Read the current prospectus before you apply.
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- TN government MBBS seatsTamil Nadu has 36 government medical colleges with about 5,050 MBBS seats in 2026-27: 753 All India Quota, 4,247 state quota and 50 ward seats.
- Community reservation in TN MBBSTamil Nadu MBBS state quota seats are reserved at 69%: BC 30%, MBC/DNC 20%, SC 18%, ST 1%. The OC share, horizontal quotas and how rank-based open seats work.
- Who runs TN NEET counsellingTamil Nadu NEET counselling is run by the Selection Committee, DME&R, Kilpauk, Chennai. Which seats it fills, what MCC fills instead, and the websites.
- Tamil Nadu NEET counsellingTamil Nadu MBBS/BDS counselling for 2026-27: seat matrix, nativity rule, 69% reservation, the 7.5% government-school quota, rounds and documents.
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