National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2021 Eligibility Criteria in Detail

Eligibility criteria for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) UG are specified in the Indian Medical Council Act-1956/Regulations (amended in 2018) and the Dentist Act-1948/Regulations (amended in 2018).

Eligibility Criteria for NEET UG Exam

• Students should be of 17 years of age at the time of admission or on or before 31 December of the first year of MBBS/BDS course.
• There is no upper age limit for the exam until the Supreme Court passes its judgement on the petition. The details of the petition are as under as per the NEET 2020 notification:

“The upper age limit of 25 years as prescribed under the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education, 1997 vide amendment dated 22.01.2018, was challenged before the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi and the said upper age limit had been upheld vide judgement dated 11.05.2018 in W.P. No.1813/2018 & other connected matters. The said judgement dated 11.05.2018 was challenged before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in SLP (C) No. 14320/2018 & other connected matters when vide interim order dated 29.11.2018, candidates who are 25 years and above were provisionally permitted to appear in NEET-UG-2019 subject to the final outcome of the said matters. The Supreme Court thereafter, vide order dated 29.04.2019 had permitted the candidates to appear provisionally in the Counselling subject to the adjudication of the matters. The aforesaid matters are pending adjudication before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India and the authorities shall abide by any order that may be passed for NEET-UG-2020.

Thus, the candidates above 25 years are provisionally permitted to appear and their candidature is subject to the outcome of pending Petitions before the Hon'ble Supreme Court.”

Accordingly, the revised eligibility conditions for age limit are as under:

• Indian Nationals, Overseas Citizen of India (OCIs), Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs), Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) & Foreign Nationals are eligible to appear in NEET (UG)-2021.
• Candidates from J&K state are eligible for 15% All India Quota seats on submission of self-declaration. The draft for self-declaration form is provided in the official notification.
• For all Indian citizens, the aadhaar card number is mandatory to apply for NEET.

Educational Requirements and Qualifying Examination Codes

While filling the NEET online application form, candidates are required to provide the code of qualifying examination passed against the column provided for Qualification examination. So, here are all the codes as per NEET 2021.

CODE 01

Candidate appearing in class 12th boards 2021 (qualifying examination) are also eligible to appear for NEET. The important point to be noted here is if the candidate does not pass the qualifying exam with required marks at the time of first counselling, he will not be considered eligible for MBBS/BDS admission.

CODE 02

The Indian School Certificate Examination (ISCE) or the Senior Secondary Examination, which is equivalent to 10+2, comprising Chemistry, Biology/Bio-technology and Physics (including practical tests in all these subjects) Mathematics or other electives with English as prescribed by the NCERT (National Council of Education Research and Training), after the introduction of 10+2+3 educational structure as suggested by the National Committee on Education.

Note: If the course content of the 10+2 education structure is not prescribed by the National Committee, candidates have to undergo one-year pre-professional training before admission to any medical college.

CODE 03