NEET UG 2026 Round 1: Choice Filling Opens Early, Correction Window Closes August 12

If you registered for NEET UG 2026 Round 1 counselling, you now have an extra day or so to start ranking your preferred colleges and courses — the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) opened the choice filling window from 4 PM on August 7, 2026, a day earlier than the previously announced August 8 start. This shift was triggered by a National Medical Commission (NMC) notice concerning Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) candidates, issued on August 5. Alongside this, MCC has given candidates who made mistakes during registration a chance to correct them, using an unlock or reset option, before 11 AM on August 12, 2026. For any NEET aspirant currently in the middle of Round 1, these dates directly determine how much time you have to research colleges, decide your preference order, and fix registration errors before choices are locked.

What actually changed

MCC had earlier communicated that choice filling for Round 1 would begin on August 8, 2026. That date was preponed by roughly a day, with the facility going live from 4 PM on August 7 instead. MCC's own notification links this change to a separate NMC notice issued on August 5 concerning PwBD category candidates in the counselling process.

For most candidates, the practical effect is simple: choice filling started sooner than expected. If you were planning to log in on August 8 assuming that was the first available day, you can now do so a day earlier — and there's no reason to wait, since choices can be edited and reordered any number of times before you finally lock them.

The registration correction window: August 12, 11 AM

Separately, MCC has allowed candidates who entered incorrect details or selected wrong options during Round 1 registration to fix them. This is done through an 'unlock' or 'reset registration' option on the MCC portal, and it must be completed by 11 AM on August 12, 2026.

This is a genuinely useful safety net. Every counselling cycle, a number of candidates realise after registering that they ticked the wrong category, entered an incorrect state-of-domicile detail, or made some other clerical slip. Ordinarily, such errors are hard to undo once locked in. Having a defined correction window — with a clear deadline — means you should use it deliberately rather than leaving it to the last hour.

Step-by-step: how choice filling works

The choice filling process for NEET UG 2026 Round 1 counselling follows the same broad structure MCC has used in previous years.

• Visit the official MCC counselling portal at mcc.nic.in
• Register using your personal details, mobile number and email ID if you haven't already
• Pay the counselling fee online as applicable to your category and quota
• Fill in your choices of colleges and courses, arranging them from most preferred to least preferred based on your NEET rank
• Review the order carefully, then lock your choices before the deadline — an unlocked choice list is not considered for seat allotment

Why the choice order matters more than most students realise

Many aspirants treat choice filling as a formality and rush through it, but the order you set is what the allotment algorithm uses. If you rank a lower-preference college above one you'd genuinely prefer, and you become eligible for both, the system will allot you the one placed higher in your list — not necessarily the 'best' one by reputation or cutoff.

Because the window is open for several days, use the time to cross-check previous years' opening and closing ranks for the colleges you're considering, verify fee structures, and confirm whether a college falls under All India Quota, state quota, deemed university, or a specific state's counselling body before adding it to your list.

Do not leave locking your choices to the very last hour. Server load tends to spike close to any counselling deadline, and a missed lock can mean your registration is treated as incomplete for that round.

What this means if you are still deciding whether to register

If you haven't registered for Round 1 yet, the preponed choice-filling date does not change your registration deadline directly, but it is a signal that MCC is actively adjusting its schedule this cycle — so keep checking the official portal rather than relying on a single previously announced date.

Candidates in the PwBD category in particular should watch for further MCC or NMC communications, since the schedule change stemmed from a notice specific to that category.

Frequently asked questions

If you're in the middle of Round 1, don't wait to start filling choices — use the extra time to verify college-wise cutoffs and quota details before locking your list. If you spotted an error in your registration, use the unlock/reset option well before the 11 AM, August 12 cutoff rather than risking a last-minute rush.