The Medical Counselling Committee has published the full schedule for all four rounds. Registration runs 5 to 12 August and the Round 1 result lands on 17 August. Choice filling opened at 4:00 PM on 7 August, alongside the Round 1 seat matrix. Every date below, plus where it collides with the state deadlines you are already juggling.
Last verified · 7 August 2026 · against official counselling portals
The short answer. MCC NEET UG 2026 Round 1 registration and payment run 5 August to 12 August 2026, closing at 3:00 PM with payment open until 6:00 PM. Choice filling runs 6 to 13 August, closing 11:00 AM. Choice locking opens 4:00 PM on 12 August and shuts 11:00 AM on 13 August. Seat allotment processes 13 to 16 August, the result is out 17 August, and reporting runs 18 to 22 August 2026. MCC covers the 15% All India Quota plus 100% of deemed and central universities, AIIMS and JIPMER, for MBBS, BDS and B.Sc Nursing. Register only at mcc.nic.in.
Live update · 7 August 2026
Choice filling for Round 1 is now open. MCC notice Ref. U-11011/07/2026-MEC, dated 7 August 2026, confirms the choice filling facility for Round 1 of UG Counselling 2026 went live from 4:00 PM on 7 August 2026. The Round 1 seat matrix covering MBBS, BDS and B.Sc Nursing was published the same day. MCC has also activated a RESET Registration option (Ref. U-11011/07/2026-MEC, 7 August 2026) for candidates who inadvertently entered incorrect information or selected wrong options during registration. The unlock or re-set registration facility for candidates who entered incorrect details or selected a wrong option during registration — corrections stay possible until 11:00 AM on 12 August 2026.
Two things follow from this. First, check the seat matrix before you order your preferences rather than filling from an older seat list circulated elsewhere — the matrix is specific to this round. Second, if you spotted an error in your registration, use the reset facility before 11:00 AM on 12 August; after that the correction route closes while choice locking is still open, which is an awkward position to be in.
All timings are server time. MCC has historically enforced these to the minute.
| Stage | Dates | Duration | What you must do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verification of tentative seat matrix | 4 August 2026 | 1 day | Nothing — participating institutes do this |
| Registration and payment | 5 – 12 August 2026 Registration closes 3:00 PM on 12 Aug Payment open until 6:00 PM on 12 Aug | 8 days | Register and pay at mcc.nic.in |
| Choice filling | 6 – 13 August 2026 Closes 11:00 AM on 13 Aug | 8 days | Fill and order your college choices |
| Choice locking | 4:00 PM on 12 Aug to 11:00 AM on 13 Aug 2026 | ~19 hours | Lock your final list |
| Processing of seat allotment | 13 – 16 August 2026 | 4 days | Wait |
| Result | 17 August 2026 | 1 day | Download your allotment letter |
| Reporting and joining | 18 – 22 August 2026 | 5 days | Report at the allotted college with originals |
| Verification of joined candidate data | 23 August 2026 | 1 day | Nothing — institutes report to MCC |
The locking window is the trap. Choice filling opens on 6 August but locking does not open until 4:00 PM on 12 August, and both shut at 11:00 AM on 13 August. That leaves about nineteen hours to lock, most of it overnight. Candidates who assume they can fill and lock in one sitting on 6 August find the lock button greyed out and come back later than they meant to. Fill early, then set an alarm for the evening of 12 August.
The full NEET UG 2026 admission calendar for All India Quota, deemed and central universities, alongside the state counselling windows they run against.
| Stage | AIQ / Deemed & Central Universities | MCC verifies joined data | State Counselling | State DMEs verify |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | 4 – 17 August 2026 | 23 August 2026 | 13 – 22 August 2026 | 29 August 2026 |
| Last date of joining | 22 August 2026 | — | 28 August 2026 | — |
| Round 2 | 24 August – 2 September 2026 | 9 September 2026 | 31 August – 8 September 2026 | 15 September 2026 |
| Last date of joining | 8 September 2026 | — | 14 September 2026 | — |
| Round 3 | 10 – 18 September 2026 | 27 September 2026 | 16 – 26 September 2026 | 2 October 2026 |
| Last date of joining | 26 September 2026 | — | 1 October 2026 | — |
| Stray vacancy round | 28 September – 3 October 2026 | Allotted-candidate data shared by MCC on 3 October 2026 | 3 – 5 October 2026 | — |
| Last date of joining | 10 October 2026 | — | 10 October 2026 | — |
| Academic session begins | 8 September 2026 for all UG courses | |||
Two notes printed on the schedule itself. First, all participating institutes and colleges are directed to treat Saturdays, Sundays and gazetted holidays as working days, given how little time the cycle has left. Do not assume anything pauses for a weekend. Second, state DMEs and state counselling authorities will share joined-candidate data with MCC so duplicate holdings can be weeded out during Round 3 seat processing — which is why holding a seat in two places quietly does not work.
One oddity worth planning around. The academic session for UG courses commences on 8 September 2026, but Round 3 joining runs to 26 September and stray vacancy joining to 10 October. A candidate admitted in a later round joins a class already several weeks old. That is not a reason to gamble on a later round hoping for a better college.
| Date | MCC | Also happening |
|---|---|---|
| 5 August | Round 1 registration opens | — |
| 6 August | Choice filling opens | CENTAC Puducherry closes |
| 7 August | Choice filling continues | ZMC Mizoram NRI quota closes |
| 12 August | Registration closes 3:00 PM; locking opens 4:00 PM | Gujarat ACPUGMEC closes |
| 13 August | Choice filling and locking close 11:00 AM | State counselling Round 1 begins |
| 17 August | Round 1 result | NEIGRIHMS Shillong closes |
| 18 – 22 August | Reporting and joining | State Round 1 still running |
Look at 12 August. MCC registration shuts at 3:00 PM the same day Gujarat's window closes, and MCC choice locking opens an hour later. A family trying to do both on the same afternoon, from Guwahati, on a patchy connection, is going to lose one of them.
Reporting is the other pressure point. MCC gives five days — 18 to 22 August — to physically reach an allotted college with original documents. If that college is in Karnataka or Tamil Nadu, five days from Guwahati including document collection is tight but manageable, provided you book travel on the 17th rather than the 20th. Have your originals in one folder now: Class 10 and 12 certificates, NEET admit card and scorecard, category and domicile certificates, passport photographs.
Seats surrendered by state government medical and dental colleges into the national pool. No domicile bar at all — the single most valuable route for a Northeast candidate with a strong rank, because it puts you in the same queue as everyone else on rank alone.
Every seat in participating deemed universities is filled by MCC. Fees are substantially higher than government colleges, so check the total five-year cost including hostel before you fill a single choice.
Central university seats, AIIMS institutions, and JIPMER at both Puducherry and Karaikal, all through the same MCC process. Rank requirements here are the steepest in the country.
All three courses run through this schedule. If you are weighing BDS seriously as well as MBBS, fill both in one choice list rather than treating them as separate plans.
Medical Counselling Committee, Directorate General of Health Services. “Schedule for Online Counseling (Allotment Process) for NEET 15% AIQ and 100% Deemed/Central Universities/AIIMS Institutions/JIPMER (Puducherry & Karaikal) — for MBBS, BDS and B.Sc Nursing Course for the Academic Year 2026”, together with the NEET-UG Schedule 2026 for All India Quota and State Quota. Published at mcc.nic.in. Verify every date on the official portal before you act — MCC revises schedules mid-cycle, and it does so without warning.
How to use this page. Every date here was checked against the official counselling authority's own website on 7 August 2026. State authorities extend and revise deadlines at short notice, sometimes with only a few hours' warning, so treat this page as a starting point and confirm the current date on the official portal before you pay any fee. Orchid Education Foundation is an independent admission guidance firm. We are not an agent of any counselling authority, we cannot influence any allotment, and no seat in India can be obtained without a valid NEET UG 2026 score.
5 August 2026, and it closes at 3:00 PM on 12 August 2026 as per server time. The payment facility stays open slightly longer, until 6:00 PM on 12 August. Verification of the tentative seat matrix by participating institutes happens a day earlier, on 4 August 2026. Registration is at mcc.nic.in and nowhere else.
Choice filling runs from 6 August to 13 August 2026 and closes at 11:00 AM on 13 August. Choice locking opens later, from 4:00 PM on 12 August 2026, and also ends at 11:00 AM on 13 August. So there is a window of roughly nineteen hours in which you can lock. If you do not lock, your last saved choices are auto-locked when the window shuts — but relying on that has cost candidates seats before.
17 August 2026. Seat allotment processing runs 13 to 16 August, the result is declared on 17 August, and reporting or joining at the allotted college runs 18 to 22 August 2026. Institutes verify joined candidate data on 23 August.
The 15% All India Quota in government medical and dental colleges, plus 100% of seats in deemed universities, central universities, AIIMS institutions and JIPMER at Puducherry and Karaikal, for MBBS, BDS and B.Sc Nursing. There is no domicile requirement anywhere in it. For a candidate from Assam, Nagaland, Manipur or anywhere else in the Northeast, this is the one national process where your home state neither helps nor hurts you — only your All India Rank counts.
Yes. MCC and state counselling run on separate calendars, separate portals and separate fees, and MCC registration gives you nothing in your home state. The two overlap heavily in 2026: state Round 1 runs 13 to 22 August while MCC Round 1 reporting runs 18 to 22 August. Plan for both at once, because the schedule does not give you the option of doing one and then the other.
A well-ordered choice list turns an average rank into a seat you can live with; a careless one wastes a good rank entirely. Send us your All India Rank and category and we will work through the order with you. Free.