How Much Do NEET AIQ Cutoffs Relax Between Round 1 and the Stray Rounds? The 2024 Numbers
2026-07-20
"Wait for the later rounds, cutoffs always fall." It is the most repeated advice in NEET counselling — and it is only half true. We computed round-wise closing ranks for every MBBS All India Quota seat in the UR category from the official 2024 MCC data: 396 college-level seat groups that had both a Round-1 close and at least one later-round close.
The overall drift, round by round
| Round | Seats reporting | Median UR closing rank |
|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | 394 | 10,024 |
| Round 2 | 394 | 14,213 |
| Round 3 | 394 | 15,924 |
| Stray Vacancy | 130 | 21,247 |
| Special Stray | 19 | 25,037 |
Across all seats, the median relaxation from Round 1 to the last round a seat appeared in was 5,813 ranks; the largest single relaxation was 21,482. The heaviest lifting happens between R1 and R2 (median close moves ~4,200 ranks); R2 to R3 adds only ~1,700 more. By the stray rounds, only 130 of 396 seat groups even have vacancies left — and those close a further ~5,000 ranks out.
But relaxation depends entirely on where you are in the list
| R1 closing-rank band | Seats | Median R1 close | Median final close | Median relaxation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1,000 | 13 | 510 | 731 | 0 |
| 1,001–5,000 | 81 | 3,190 | 7,212 | +3,865 |
| 5,001–10,000 | 101 | 7,498 | 14,467 | +6,408 |
| 10,001–20,000 | 201 | 14,292 | 21,387 | +6,130 |
The elite tier does not relax. Among the 13 seats that closed under rank 1,000 in Round 1, the median relaxation across all subsequent rounds was zero. AIIMS Delhi closed at 47 in R1 and 47 in R3. Safdarjung: 141 → 141. AIIMS Jodhpur: 374 → 374. MAMC budged by six ranks. If your rank misses a top-tier seat in Round 1, later rounds will almost never rescue you there.
The middle is where waiting pays. Seats closing between roughly 1,000 and 20,000 in R1 relaxed by a median of 3,900–6,400 ranks — for the 5,000–10,000 band that is an 81% loosening. The biggest movers were government seats that slid into the stray rounds: GMC Patiala went from 3,318 in R1 to 24,800 in the special stray round (+21,482), AIIMS Madurai from 4,531 to 25,037, and Grant Medical College Mumbai from 2,338 to 21,292.
The strategy this data supports
- Top-1,000 aspirants: Round 1 essentially is your counselling. Lock your preferred order early; only 2 of 396 seats anywhere closed tighter in a later round than in Round 1, and just 10 stayed flat.
- Ranks 5,000–25,000: the later rounds are genuinely your friend. The median seat in your reach loosens by ~6,000 ranks, and stray-round closes reach the mid-20,000s even at some well-known government colleges.
- Everyone: stray rounds are a lottery of leftovers — only a third of seat groups reach them. Plan around R2/R3, and treat a stray-round upgrade as a bonus, never as the plan.
The cliché needs an amendment: cutoffs relax a lot in the middle of the table, a little at the edges, and not at all at the top.
Data compiled from official publications; verify with MCC (Medical Counselling Committee) before decisions.