NEW DELHI, India | September 22, 2026 — For thousands of doctors who thought their NEET SS 2025 journey was over, the door has suddenly opened again.
The qualifying percentile for NEET SS 2025 has been reduced from the 50th percentile to the 30th percentile, widening eligibility for the upcoming Special Stray Vacancy Round of super-speciality counselling.
The move comes after a large number of DM, MCh and DNB-SS seats remained vacant even after two counselling rounds.
And this is not a minor adjustment.
Candidates who missed the earlier qualifying line may now find themselves back in the admission race.
From 50th to 30th Percentile: What Changed?
Under the original NEET SS 2025 result criteria, candidates had to secure the 50th percentile or above in their respective question-paper group to qualify.
That threshold has now been lowered to the 30th percentile for the special vacancy-filling exercise.
In simple terms:
A candidate who was earlier declared not qualified may now become eligible if their score meets the revised group-specific cut-off.
That changes the counselling equation immediately.
Why Was the Cutoff Reduced?
The answer lies in empty seats.
After the second round of counselling, around 1,857 super-speciality seats reportedly remained vacant across the country.
These included approximately:
1,094 DM/MCh seats
and
763 DNB-SS seats
Leaving such advanced medical-training seats empty became a concern before the Supreme Court.
The Centre subsequently agreed to reduce the qualifying percentile, and the Supreme Court approved the move.
The objective is straightforward:
fill seats rather than let scarce super-speciality training capacity go waste.
Around 6,000 More Candidates Could Become Eligible
The reduction is expected to bring roughly 6,000 additional candidates into the eligible pool.
For doctors who fell between the earlier 50th-percentile line and the new 30th-percentile threshold, this could be a career-changing development.
But qualifying does not guarantee a seat.
Candidates will still have to participate in counselling, exercise choices and compete according to rank and seat availability.
Still, the biggest barrier has now moved.
NEET SS 2025 Revised Cutoff: 15 Groups
The currently reported revised cut-off scores at the 30th percentile are:
| Question Paper Group | Earlier 50th Percentile | Reported Revised 30th Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Medical Group | 225 | 175 |
| Medical Oncology Group | 230 | 180 |
| Pharmacology Group | 236 | 213 |
| ENT Group | 294 | 247 |
| Anaesthesiology Group | 284 | 249 |
| Critical Care Medicine Group | 288 | 255 |
| Orthopaedics Group | 294 | 256 |
| Paediatric Group | 271 | 231 |
| Pathology Group | 290 | 238 |
| Surgical Group | 288 | 243 |
| Respiratory Medicine Group | 325 | 285 |
| Microbiology Group | 389 | 298 |
| Psychiatry Group | 324 | 302 |
| Radiodiagnosis Group | 356 | 315 |
| Obstetrics and Gynaecology Group | 355 | 325 |
Candidates should verify the final group-wise figures against the latest NBEMS/MCC notification before registration or choice filling.
Medical Group Gets One of the Biggest Breaks
For candidates in the Medical Group, the earlier qualifying score was 225 out of 600.
The reported revised qualifying score is now 175.
That is a 50-mark fall.
Medical Oncology similarly drops from 230 to a reported 180.
For candidates sitting just below the old line, those numbers could completely change their counselling status.
Microbiology Still Has One of the Highest Cutoffs
Not every group sees an equally low qualifying score.
Microbiology had the highest original NEET SS 2025 qualifying mark at 389.
Its reported revised 30th-percentile cut-off is 298.
Obstetrics and Gynaecology remains comparatively high at a reported 325, while Radiodiagnosis is reported at 315.
This is why candidates should not focus only on the percentile.
The actual qualifying score differs by question-paper group.
Who Benefits From the Cutoff Reduction?
The biggest beneficiaries are candidates who:
appeared in NEET SS 2025,
did not meet the original 50th-percentile qualifying cut-off,
but score at or above the revised 30th-percentile threshold for their group.
Those candidates may now become eligible for the special counselling opportunity.
However, candidates who have already secured and joined seats in earlier rounds may face restrictions on changing or upgrading seats in the Special Stray Vacancy Round, depending on the final MCC counselling rules.
Does 30th Percentile Mean 30% Marks?
No.
This is one of the most common sources of confusion.
A 30th percentile is not the same as scoring 30% marks.
Percentile measures a candidate’s relative position among other candidates in that question-paper group.
That is why each group has a different qualifying score even though the qualifying percentile is the same.
For example, the reported 30th-percentile score for the Medical Group is far lower than that for Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
Why Did the Supreme Court Step In?
The issue reached the Supreme Court because a substantial number of super-speciality medical seats remained unfilled.
The Court questioned whether keeping the qualifying threshold unchanged made sense when hundreds of advanced medical-training seats were going vacant.
The Centre then reconsidered its position and agreed to lower the percentile.
The larger policy question was simple:
Should available super-speciality seats remain empty when more doctors could be allowed to compete for them?
The revised threshold answers that question in favour of expanding the eligible pool.
Qualified Does Not Mean Admitted
Candidates should keep expectations realistic.
Crossing the revised cut-off only makes a candidate eligible to participate.
It does not automatically secure:
a DM seat,
an MCh seat,
a DNB-SS seat,
a preferred speciality,
or a preferred medical college.
Final admission will still depend on rank, available seats, choices filled and applicable counselling rules.
The relief is significant.
But the competition is not over.
What Should Candidates Do Now?
Candidates who missed the previous cutoff should immediately recheck their NEET SS 2025 score.
Compare it with the revised score for the relevant question-paper group.
Then keep a close watch on the Medical Counselling Committee’s counselling schedule.
Candidates should also prepare documents in advance rather than wait for the registration window to open.
In a Special Stray Vacancy Round, timelines can be tight.
Missing a deadline after finally becoming eligible would be the cruelest possible twist.
One Number Has Changed Thousands of Careers
For months, a score below the 50th percentile meant the NEET SS 2025 road had effectively ended.
Now the same score may mean something entirely different.
That is why this is much bigger than a routine cutoff update.
For thousands of doctors, the difference between 50 and 30 could mean the difference between:
waiting another year,
and entering super-speciality training now.
The seats are still limited.
The competition remains intense.
But for many candidates, the most important thing has already happened:
they are back in the race.
