MCC Releases NEET UG 2026 Counselling Schedule: Round 1 Registration Opens August 5

If you cleared NEET UG 2026, the countdown to actual admission has now formally started. The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), which runs seat allotment for the 15% All India Quota (AIQ) in government medical and dental colleges plus deemed universities, AFMS, ESIC, BHU and AMU, has put out its full Round 1 schedule. Registration opens on August 5, 2026, and the process runs in four rounds through the year. Because this year's NEET UG was delayed and held on June 21 instead of May 3, every downstream date has moved too — so knowing exactly when to act matters more than usual. This piece breaks down the dates, eligibility and a practical checklist for the days ahead.

The Round 1 timeline you need to track

MCC has laid out a tight, sequential schedule for Round 1 of AIQ counselling. Every stage — registration, payment, choice filling, locking, allotment and reporting — has its own deadline, and missing one can cost you the round entirely.

• August 4: Participating institutes verify the tentative seat matrix
• August 5–12 (till 3 PM): Registration window
• Payment facility open till August 12, 6 PM
• August 6–13 (till 11 AM): Choice filling
• Choice locking: August 12, 4 PM to August 13, 11 AM
• August 13–16: Seat allotment processing
• August 17: Seat allotment result declared
• August 18–22: Reporting/joining at the allotted college
• August 23: Institutes verify data of joined candidates

Who this counselling round is for

This schedule covers only the 15% AIQ seats and a set of central/deemed institutions — it does not cover the 85% state-quota seats, which are handled separately by each state's own counselling body. If your primary goal is a government seat in your home state, you must register on that state's portal in parallel; MCC registration alone will not get you a state-quota seat.

To be eligible, you need to have qualified NEET UG 2026, completed Class 12 with Physics, Chemistry, Biology/Biotechnology and English, and meet the minimum age requirement of 17 years as on December 31, 2026. Indian citizens, NRIs, OCIs and PIOs can participate under their respective category rules.

Why the timing is different this year

NEET UG 2026 was originally scheduled for May 3 but was cancelled and rescheduled to June 21, pushing the entire admission calendar back by nearly two months. Starting AIQ registration on August 5 shows MCC trying to compress the gap and get students into classrooms before the academic session slips further behind. Aspirants should expect a faster, more compressed sequence between rounds compared to a normal year, so response time on each deadline matters even more.

The four-round structure, and what happens if you miss a step

MCC counselling runs across Round 1, Round 2, a Mop-Up Round, and a Stray Vacancy Round, each repeating the same core steps: seat matrix publication, registration and fee payment, choice filling and locking, processing, result declaration, and reporting. Round 1 and Round 2 allow fresh registrations; the Mop-Up Round fills seats still vacant after Round 2; the Stray Vacancy Round is the last chance, and seats allotted here are typically final — you're generally expected to join without the option to exit and try again.

If you skip fee payment, don't lock your choices, or fail to report at your allotted college within the window, your allotted seat can be cancelled. There's no informal extension built into this process, so treat every date on the schedule as final.

Documents and registration steps to have ready

Getting your paperwork in order before August 5 will save you from last-minute stress during a very short registration window.

• NEET UG 2026 admit card and rank letter
• Class 10 and Class 12 mark sheets and passing certificates
• Valid photo ID (Aadhaar or PAN)
• Category certificate, if applicable (SC/ST/OBC-NCL/EWS/PwD)
• Eight recent passport-size photographs
• Registration fee and refundable security deposit, payable via net banking, debit card or UPI

Frequently asked questions

With registration opening August 5 and choice locking closing barely a week later, this is not a schedule to approach casually — decide your college and course preferences in advance, keep documents scanned and ready, and check mcc.nic.in daily for the seat matrix and any updates. If you're also eligible for state-quota seats, don't forget to register on your state portal in parallel, since MCC counselling alone won't cover that.