Using Past Cutoffs for INI-CET Choice Filling

Start with your priorities, not the cutoffs

A choice list is a statement of what you would accept and in what order. Before opening any cutoff table, write down what matters to you: the specialties you would genuinely take, locations you can live in, fee and stipend constraints, course type and duration.

This site does not rank institutes or specialties, and a lower closing rank is not a measure of quality. Use institute pages, fees and stipend to check facts that matter to you.

Read past cutoffs as ranges

For every option on your shortlist, collect its closing ranks for your category and PwBD status:

• from several sessions, not just the latest;
• round by round, because later rounds can close at quite different ranks;
• together with the number of seats, since one-seat rows swing the most.

The Cutoff Explorer's historical comparison shows one institute and specialty across sessions and rounds in a single table. How to read INI-CET cutoffs explains each label.

Group options by how past ranks compare with yours

A simple way to see your list clearly is to sort each option into one of three groups, based only on published data:

• options whose past closing ranks were mostly better (lower) than your rank;
• options whose past closing ranks were close to your rank, or varied around it;
• options whose past closing ranks were mostly worse (higher) than your rank.

These groups describe past allotments, nothing more. They help you notice when a list contains only options that have always closed far ahead of your rank, or none that have.

Put the list in your real order of preference

Order the options by how much you want them, not by their cutoffs. Placing an option lower than you really rank it, because you expect it to be out of reach, can mean giving up an option you would have preferred if it had become available, depending on how the official scheme uses your order (see below).

Check the official counselling rules

Allotment rules differ between counselling systems and can change between sessions. The official counselling scheme for your session tells you:

• how the order of your choices is used in allotment;
• whether choices can be changed, added or removed between rounds;
• what happens to an allotted seat if you are allotted another option in a later round;
• deadlines, fees and documents for each step.

Before you submit

1. Check every institute and specialty name against the official list for the round.
2. Confirm your category and PwBD status are the ones recorded in your application.
3. Read the list once from top to bottom and ask of each option: “Would I accept this if allotted?”
4. Submit before the official deadline and keep the confirmation.