Maharashtra: Third mop-up round in dental courses over, 697 seats vacant

Mop-up rounds of counselling are conducted only if seats remain vacant after second round of counselling.

Vacancy in BDS UG courses has been a concern for years now. Even if there is a marginal dip in vacancy this year, it continues to remain high. In 2021, 852 of the 2,400 seats remained vacant in BDS UG courses. In 2020, 1,028 of 2,350 seats remained vacant.

In fact, the vacancy in BDS UG courses has increased after allotment of seats in the third mop-up round. After the second mop-up round, 269 seats were vacant.

According to experts this too has been a trend for a few years. Many who have secured a seat in dental, wait until late to see if they can secure a seat in pure medicine stream. “As soon as they secure seats in pure medicine or also in allied courses such as ayurveda or physiotherapy, the students leave the dental seat. This leads to more vacancies in the latter rounds for BDS UG courses,” said a CET Cell official.

“This happens every year. Compared to MBBS, dentistry does not have many opportunities and setting up your own practice is a huge financial investment due to the machinery required,” said Brijesh Sutaria, a parent. He added that there has also been a demand to lower the NEET score eligibility criteria for BDS UG course admissions from private colleges.

There are four government colleges offering BDS in the state, opposed to 30 for MBBS. This too plays a role in BDS vacancy as instead of paying high fees in private colleges for BDS, candidates prefer to wait and take admission in allied courses.

An expert in medical admissions, Sudha Shenoy, said, “NEET 2022 is just three months away. Many would prefer to reappear with the hope of getting a BDS seat in a government college or in courses such as ayurveda or physiotherapy, which are preferred choices.”