Gujarat: NEET repeat! 45% took test again to better score

AHMEDABAD: Neel Patel scored 432 out of 720 in the Undergraduate National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) 2021 but did not take admission in medicine. He prepared once again for a year and appeared again in 2022 posting an impressive score of 648.
By investing a year, Patel not only got admission in the government medical college in Vadodara, one of the top medical colleges in the state but also saved lakhs in fees."I took a drop as my NEET-UG score last year wasn't close to my year-round average. I had significant room for improvement. Last year, I was getting admission in management quota which means I had to pay about Rs 75 lakh to Rs 90 lakh in fees," Patel said and added that he didn't want to burden his parents with hefty fees that private colleges demanded. Patel said now that he has got admission in a government medical college, he has to pay Rs 1.25 lakh as fees.
Patel is one among 8,715 out of 19,500 applicants for admission in medical, dental, ayurveda and homeopathy courses who had passed class 12 in 2021 or earlier. This number comes to nearly 45%.
According to National Testing Agency, there is no restriction on number of attempts for NEET exams. The data was compiled by Admission Committee for Professional Undergraduate Medical Educational Courses during verification process for admission in about 6,000 MBBS seats among other courses. Last year, of the total 23,800 applicants 8,855 students were repeaters which comes to about 37% of the total.
Experts say the number of candidates adopting repeat approach is growing for a solid reason. To study MBBS at a private college, the fees range from Rs 8 lakh to 14 lakh per year. Government colleges that need higher cut-off marks than most private colleges, have annual fees of about Rs 25,000. At GMERS colleges which are government trust run colleges, the annual fee is about Rs 3 lakh. Patel said his father runs an auto ancillary unit in Ahmedabad and was not able to afford the fees.
Another candidate, Alpesh Rathod, who scored 613 in NEET 2022 compared to 450 the previous year, was getting admission at MK Shah Medical College in Ahmedabad which is a private college but wanted admission in a government college. With his latest NEET score, Rathod has got admission in MBBS at Vadodara government medical college.
Rathod said that he was getting a MBBS admission last year but his family could not afford high fees.