NEET UG Counselling 2026: How to fill, lock choices for MBBS admission; key rules

The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) NEET UG 2026 counselling choice filling round 1 is currently underway for admission to MBBS and other undergraduate programmes. The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET UG) choice filling is one of the most important stages of medical admission, where candidates have to select their preferred choice of colleges and courses. MCC NEET Counselling 2026 LIVE.

Candidates seeking admission to MBBS, BDS and AYUSH Nursing programmes at government, deemed and private medical colleges across the country can access the NEET UG 2026 counselling round 1 choice filling facility through the official website at mcc.nic.in.

During the NEET UG 2026 counselling choice filling process, MBBS aspirants select their choice of medical and dental colleges along with the courses.

According to an official brochure, the NEET UG 2026 choice filling is a process of selecting and arranging eligible institutes and courses in the order in which a candidate wishes to pursue admission.

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MCC Counselling 2026: Key rules for choice filling

Notably, MBBS candidates can only appear for the MCC counselling choice filling round if they have completed the eligibility formalities such as registration, filling of application form, qualifying details, quota selection, contact details, uploading of required documents, preview and final submission, and payment of the registration and security fee.

Moreover, it is important for candidates to pay the registration fee before starting the choice filling round.

Once the fee payment is done, candidates can go to the MCC’s official portal and click on the “available choices” on the counselling portal. To begin the NEET UG Counselling 2026 process, candidates can check on choice filling, enter the password and click on the submit icon.

As part of the security measure, candidates have to identify through OTP authentication, which could be received on the registered mobile number or email address.

The choice filling window will have institute name, programme, and eligible quota. Candidates can add their preferred institute-programme combinations to the filled choices list.

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MBBS Admissions 2026: MCC tips for aspirants

Candidates must note that the counselling software always checks the first preference before moving to the next one. Hence, the order of colleges chosen is crucial.

Then they have to save their choices without exiting the choice filling page and they can continue editing their preferences later. Candidates are advised to save their preferences daily for better clarity in the subsequent rounds.

In addition, after the preference order confirmation, candidates should lock their choices and as per the guidelines, candidates must review their institute-type-wise filled choices, total number of filled choices, and preference order.

After locking the choices, candidates must download their locked choices letter, which will contain choice locking status, date, time of locking, IP address, round number and code generated by the system.

The MCC has also advised candidates to fill as many eligible colleges as possible to improve their chances of allotment. They should arrange colleges in the exact order of their preference, and not according to expected cut-offs.

The committee will issue the seat allotment result on the basis of NEET UG rank, reservation category, quota eligibility, availability of seats, and order of preferences submitted by the MBBS aspirants.