32 candidates compete for top slot in engineering admission

CHENNAI: As many as 32 students vied for the top slot this year in the engineering admissions rank list by securing 200/200 in maths, physics and chemistry in the Class 12 board exams. As the number of centums in mathematics and physics dropped this year, the number of contenders for the top rank decreased from 88 in 2011.
Anna University, the coordinating agency for the single window counselling for admission to government quota seats in engineering colleges in the state, released the rank list on Saturday.The top ranker, Devaprasath E of Tiruvannamalai, has decided to pursue mechanical engineering in Anna University, Chennai.
Aashish Rajesh, the only student from Chennai in the top 10, has resolved to give engineering a miss and instead opt for medicine, in which merit list he stands third in the state. “I want to become a doctor like my parents. I would like to specialize in cardiology or become an ophthalmologist like my father,” said Aashish.
A total of 1,75,065 students will compete for 1,71,417 seats in 504 engineering colleges through the single window counselling. Higher education secretary T S Sridhar said the number of students taking part in the single window counselling this year was higher that last year's number by more than 30,000. The slots of 32 students in the rank list had to be resolved using the random number, said Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions secretary V Rhymend Uthariaraj.
This year, nearly half the applicants are first-generation college-goers, and are eligible for tuition fee waiver. The most number of applications came from the BC category (85,888), followed by the MBC category (44,372). More boys (1,02,924) applied for an engineering seat than girls (72,141). Fearing that seats would go vacant if they waited any longer, private self-financing engineering colleges had surrendered 12,328 management seats to the single window counselling system before the admission process began. TNEA officials expect more seats to come into the system before the process is over.
The counselling for students seeking admission under the sports quota will be held on July 5, vocational category counselling on July 7, followed by that for students in the differently-abled category. Counselling for students under the general academic category will begin on July 13 and go up to August 18. Counselling for BArch course will be held on July 22. This year four new self-financing colleges and one government engineering college in Bodinaickanur have been added to the existing 500 in the state.