First in 5 years: All BDS seats in Karnataka picked

BENGALURU: Counselling for medical and dental seats in the state has ended on a high note, with all MBBS and BDS seats - which are counselled by Karnataka Examinations Authority - have been filled this year. In the past five years, this is the first time all BDS seats are filled.

In the stray-vacancy round on Sunday for pending seats, four MBBS seats and 32 BDS seats were filled. Some 2,650 BDS seats and 9,181 MBBS seats were counselled by KEA this year. For perspective, 199 BDS seats and one MBBS seat remained vacant last year. In 2020, 1,398 BDS seats were vacant. This increased to 1,411 in 2021. By 2022, the number of vacancies nearly halved to 693.
Earlier, TOI had reported the trend of students willing to pick available seats owing to the ever-growing competition for NEET.

Raghavendra Hegde, founder of RH Medtech Mentor that provides counselling guidance, said: “As NEET cutoffs were extremely high this time, students and parents were worried that things might get worse next year. Hence, many didn’t want to take any risk. Many have settled with BDS, dropping their MBBS dream.”
Girish B Giraddi, dean and director of Govt Dental College, said, “Last year, many BDS colleges had 10-15 seats vacant each. This time, there is more demand. The growing number of NEET aspirants and the resultant competition have helped increase the demand.”
KEA executive director H Prasanna said: “The special stray-vacancy round held this year has helped (fill all BDS vacancies). Until then, 32 seats were vacant. That students are getting seats under one roof (KEA) is making choices easier and clearer for students.”
MK Ramesh, vice-chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences said, “There was a phase when engineering picked up. MBBS and BDS are a favourite among those who do not want Maths. In between, Ayurveda remained very popular. This (trend) keeps shifting.”