What Is Mop-Up Round in MBBS Admission?

The mop-up round is one of the crucial rounds of your NEET UG counselling which can help you get a seat in case you have not got one already in the second round. However, you must ensure you are eligible for it and know its benefits and drawbacks. The blog below will discuss some important aspects of an MBBS mop-up round.

Definition of Mop-Up Round

According to current regulations, there are four rounds in the NEET counseling process. Mop-up round is the stage where the seats remaining vacant after the first and second rounds are filled. Currently, there are 1,12,112 seats for MBBS in the country. Now suppose 1,10,000 of them have been filled at the first and second rounds, which are held at the national and state levels respectively. In that case, the mop-up round will be held as the third round of counseling where the remaining 2,112 seats will be filled. 

Thus, a mop-up round offers you an opportunity to get a seat in the MBBS course at a national or state-level public or private college. If you have cleared the exams and have not been allocated a seat yet, you are eligible for a mop-up round. 

How It Works

The first stage of the NEET counseling contains 15% of the seats under All India Quota (AIQ). The second stage contains 85% of seats under the State Quota (SQ). Sometimes, some seats might remain vacant after these two counseling rounds. The third round is the mop-up round, which is meant to fill the remaining vacancies. The table below shows you the seats filled in the 2024 NEET counseling mop-up round. 

In the above table, the number of seats includes various courses such as MBBS across many colleges. Virtual vacancy refers to the seats that are available when a student wants to upgrade to another seat. On the other hand, clear vacancies are the unclaimed ones. In addition to that, there are also newly added seats included in the total vacancy. 

Candidates who are eligible for this round can apply in a few simple ways through the official website of the Medical Counselling Committee. Here are the steps in which the mop-up counseling works:

Step 1: Registration

In this step, the students who have not got a seat register for the mop-up round within the deadline for registration. Apart from registering on MCC’s official website,, this step also requires you to pay registration fees online. You can check the seat matrix released by MCC to find the colleges where vacancies are available. Based on that, you can proceed to choose the colleges you want in the next step. 

Step 2: Choice filling and locking

In the second step, candidates must choose the colleges where they want admission and lock their choices. To maximize your chances of getting selected, you can choose as many colleges as possible from the options available. In case you did not get the college that you wanted in the earlier rounds, you must consider applying for it again in the mop-up round. 

Step 3: Seat allotment

The MCC will release the information on the seat allotment on the scheduled date after the candidates have locked the seats they want. In this step, you will have to check whether your name is listed among the seat allotment data released by MCC. In case you find your name under the seat allotment for multiple colleges, you can proceed with the one you prefer the most. 

Read More :Total MBBS Seats in India

Step 4: Reporting to the college

Once you are allotted a seat at a college, you will be provided with a date for reporting there. In case you get seats in multiple colleges, you simply need to report to the one you prefer. This will complete the process to get an MBBS seat in the mop-up round. 

Eligibility for Mop-Up Round

To register for the mop-up round, you must fulfill the specific eligibility criteria for this round. Check the table below for the key eligibility criteria for the NEET mop-up round for admission to MBBS.

Benefits and Drawbacks of Mop-Up Rounds in MBBS Admissions

Before you proceed to register for the mop-up round, you need to be aware of its pros and cons. This will help you understand whether to proceed with the mop-up round for MBBS or how to proceed with it. 

Benefits

Here are some of the key benefits of the MBBS admission mop-up round:

• Another opportunity to get admission

Failed to get a seat in the first and second rounds of counseling? In that case, you must consider the mop-up round as another opportunity to gain admission to the college you want. You can also select multiple colleges in the choice filling and locking round. In this way, you might get selected to one or more suitable colleges for yourself.

• An opportunity to find a better college

Students who want a better seat than what they got in the first and second rounds have the opportunity to do so in the mop-up round. Thus, you can also see this as an opportunity to upgrade to a better college or seat if you already have one. You might get admission to a college that you preferred more in the round but failed to get in the previous rounds. 

• Newly added seats

The newly added seats in the mop-up round can offer you the opportunity to get a seat in the college you want. You can check the newly added seats for the current year and choose colleges based on that. This provides you with a slightly higher chance to get admission if you have not been allotted seats yet. 

Drawbacks

Apart from the benefits and opportunities that it offers to students, the mop-up round also has some drawbacks or risks. Here are some of the main disadvantages of this process that you must think about:

• Seats often get blocked by other candidates

Suppose you did not get admissions in the first and second rounds and register for the mop-up round. On the other hand, another student with a higher rank than you has been allotted a seat but registers for the mop-up round to get a better college. In case you choose the same college as that student, it might result in the other student getting selected due to having a higher rank.  Such a situation will lead to you not getting the college you want. 

• The seat availability is very unpredictable

The number of vacancies you will find in the mop-round for MBBS is quite hard to predict. Hence, you might have to rely on guesses or on your luck in this round. That can lead to some outcomes other than what you wanted. For instance, you might forfeit the seat allotted to you in the previous rounds but fail to get a seat in the mop-up round. Such issues require candidates to consider all the aspects very carefully before proceeding. 

Important Tips for MBBS Mop-Up Round

Given how MBBS mop-up rounds work and their pros and cons, you need to proceed accordingly to ensure that you get a seat in the college you want. Here are some tips that might help you in the MBBS mop-up round:

1. Review the list of colleges you have chosen

You might have a long list of colleges you want to apply for in the mop-up round. In such cases, you must review the list and try to estimate the cutoff required for each college based on the latest trends. Apart from that, you must also add some backup options where you have a good chance of getting selected. This will help you get a seat in MBBS courses even if you fail to get one of your preferred colleges. 

2. Regularly monitor the official websites for updates

The notifications regarding the mop-up round for MBBS counseling will be very crucial for you. Hence, you must regularly check the official website or counseling for news or updates regarding important dates. You must also make sure to complete the registration process including payment of the registration fee as early as possible. 

3. Seek expert guidance 

You might have some questions regarding the choices you have made for the MBBS mop-up round. In such situations, you must always reach out to experts who can provide you with the right advice. In this way, you can deal with the unpredictability related to the mop-up round. 

Conclusion

The mop-up round for MBBS is a crucial step for students who have not been allocated seats as well as for those who want to upgrade to better colleges. The number of vacancies includes the vertical as well as clear vacancies. Apart from that, there are also newly added seats every year during the mop-up round. This offers many opportunities to students who are yet to get admission or want to get admission to a better college. However, students also need to consider the challenges related to the mop-up round. They can address these challenges with some strategies which include getting expert advice. 

Hopefully, this blog has been able to help you understand how the mop-up round works and the eligibility criteria for it. With the steps provided here, you should be able to successfully register for the mop-round round for MBBS and complete it. Moreover, you must make sure to follow the tips provided here to enhance your chances of getting the colleges you want.