Round 1 of NEET 2026 counselling is done. If you were one of the students refreshing the MCC portal every hour for the last few days — that wait is brutal, and it’s finally over. The NEET 2026 Round 1 cutoff is now out across AIQ, AIIMS, JIPMER and the ESI IP quota, which means for the first time in weeks you have real numbers to work with instead of guesswork. This guide breaks down every category-wise last rank and closing mark, explains what those numbers actually mean, and tells you what to do next if Round 1 didn’t go your way.
NEET 2026 Round 1 Cutoff at a Glance
Short answer: The NEET 2026 Round 1 cutoff closed at 572 marks (Rank 22,342) for AIQ MBBS Open category, 627 marks for AIIMS MBBS Open, and 677 marks for JIPMER Puducherry General. Here are the headline closing numbers across every major quota:
| Quota / Institute | Category | Closing Marks | Last Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIQ MBBS (Govt. colleges) | Open | 572 | 22,342 |
| AIQ BDS (Govt. colleges) | Open | 545 | 41,017 |
| AIIMS MBBS (All India) | Open | 627 | 3,948 |
| JIPMER Puducherry MBBS | General | 677 | 309 – 2,638 |
| ESI IP Quota MBBS | Open / EWS / OBC | 538 | 47,374 |
| Read this before you panicThis is Round 1 data only. Cutoffs rarely stay this tight — they drop a little in Round 2 and usually drop a lot more in the Mop-Up round. If you missed a seat by a whisker, this is not the end of your story. |
What Is the NEET 2026 Round 1 Cutoff?
The NEET 2026 Round 1 cutoff is simply the score and rank of the very last candidate who was allotted a seat in a given category and quota during the first round of counselling. That’s it. There is no committee sitting down months in advance deciding “this year it will be 572.” The number is a by-product of three things:
- How many candidates appeared for the exam and how the paper was scored.
- How many seats were actually available in that quota — see the state-wise MBBS seat matrix for the full picture.
- How students filled, ordered and locked their choices during counselling.
In other words, a cutoff is reactive, not predetermined. It is calculated after the round closes, which is exactly why it shifts from round to round — and why your NEET MBBS safe score should always be planned with a buffer rather than pegged to last year’s closing mark.
All India Quota (AIQ) Cutoff 2026 — Round 1
AIQ is the 15% slice of seats in government medical and dental colleges that comes from the central pool. It is the one list virtually every NEET candidate checks first, no matter which state they belong to, because it is open to everyone on pure merit.
AIQ MBBS Cutoff 2026 — Government Medical Colleges
| Category | Last Rank (Round 1) | Closing Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Open | 22,342 | 572 |
| EWS | 27,179 | 564 |
| OBC | 23,075 | 571 |
| SC | 1,04,921 | 489 |
| ST | 1,32,111 | 471 |
Table 2: AIQ MBBS category-wise last rank and marks, NEET 2026 Round 1.
AIQ BDS Cutoff 2026 — Government Dental Colleges
| Category | Last Rank (Round 1) | Closing Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Open | 41,017 | 545 |
| EWS | 45,421 | 540 |
| OBC | 42,260 | 544 |
| SC | 1,53,140 | 458 |
| ST | 1,77,533 | 444 |
Table 3: AIQ BDS category-wise last rank and marks, NEET 2026 Round 1.
AIIMS & JIPMER Cutoff 2026 — Round 1
AIIMS, as usual, is not handing out seats easily this year either — and JIPMER is arguably tougher still.
AIIMS MBBS Cutoff 2026 (All India)
| Category | Last Rank (Round 1) | Closing Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Open | 3,948 | 627 |
| EWS | 5,492 | 618 |
| OBC | 4,382 | 624 |
| SC | 28,615 | 562 |
| ST | 44,940 | 541 |
Table 4: AIIMS MBBS category-wise last rank and marks, NEET 2026 Round 1.
JIPMER Puducherry MBBS Cutoff 2026
JIPMER publishes its data slightly differently — you get a rank range instead of one clean closing number.
| Category | Rank Range (Round 1) | Closing Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Open | 309 – 2,638 | 677 |
| EWS | 1,651 – 5,156 | 647 |
| OBC | 771 – 3,976 | 664 |
| SC | 3,910 – 20,601 | 627 |
| ST | 13,345 – 40,684 | 590 |
Table 5: JIPMER Puducherry MBBS rank range and marks, NEET 2026 Round 1.
ESI IP Quota Cutoff 2026 — Round 1
If either of your parents is an Insured Person (IP) under ESI, this quota tends to be far kinder on marks. It is worth checking even if your AIQ rank isn’t looking great — and worth confirming your paperwork against the NEET UG document requirements before you claim it.
ESI IP Quota MBBS Cutoff 2026
| Category | Last Rank (Round 1) | Closing Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Open | 47,374 | 538 |
| EWS | 50,764 | 538 |
| OBC | 50,728 | 538 |
| SC | 1,97,490 | 435 |
| ST | 3,74,314 | 363 |
Table 6: ESI IP quota MBBS category-wise last rank and marks, NEET 2026 Round 1.
ESI BSc Nursing Cutoff 2026
| Category | Last Rank (Round 1) | Closing Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Open | 64,246 | 521 |
| EWS | 83,471 | 505 |
| OBC | 71,301 | 515 |
| SC | 1,95,423 | 435 |
| ST | 2,26,634 | 420 |
NEET 2026 Cutoff Ladder — Open Category Snapshot
One glance at how the Open-category closing marks stack up across quotas. The longer the bar, the harder the seat was to get in Round 1.
| Institute / Quota | Closing Marks | Difficulty Bar |
|---|---|---|
| JIPMER Puducherry | 677 | ███████████████████ |
| AIIMS MBBS | 627 | ███████████████ |
| AIQ MBBS | 572 | ██████████ |
| AIQ BDS | 545 | ████████ |
| ESI IP MBBS | 538 | ███████ |
| ESI BSc Nursing | 521 | ██████ |
Infographic 1: Open-category closing marks, NEET 2026 Round 1 (bar length is proportional to marks above a 450 baseline).
What the NEET 2026 Round 1 Numbers Are Really Telling Us
A few things jump out once you actually sit with these figures instead of just skimming them.
Open category is still brutal
You basically need a solid buffer above 572 for any AIQ MBBS seat, and 627 for AIIMS is not a number you stumble into by accident. Treat the Round 1 closing mark as the floor, not the target.
OBC and EWS have closed the gap on Open
What is genuinely interesting this year is how close OBC and EWS have come to Open. In several of these lists the gap is down to single digits — sometimes literally one mark. OBC closed at 571 against Open’s 572 in AIQ MBBS, and 544 against 545 in AIQ BDS.
SC and ST candidates had a noticeably easier ride
AIQ MBBS closed at 489 for SC and 471 for ST, while the ESI IP quota dropped all the way to 435 and 363 respectively. That is a wide corridor compared to the Open list.
JIPMER remains merciless
Open category ran dry by rank 2,638, and it took 677 marks to clear. If JIPMER is on your list, the margin for error is close to zero.
| Key takeaways in one placeAIQ MBBS Open closed at 572 marks / Rank 22,342; AIQ BDS Open at 545 marks / Rank 41,017.AIIMS MBBS Open closed at 627 marks / Rank 3,948 — the tightest rank in the entire dataset.JIPMER Open needed 677 marks, the highest closing score across all quotas.The OBC–Open gap is down to a single mark in both AIQ MBBS and AIQ BDS.ESI IP quota is the most forgiving route, closing at 538 marks for Open/EWS/OBC. |
Will the NEET 2026 Cutoff Drop in Round 2 and Mop-Up?
Usually, yes. Every year a chunk of Round 1 allottees don’t confirm or report — they upgrade, switch streams, or take a state seat instead. Those vacated seats flow back into the pool, which pulls the closing rank and marks down in the next round. Here is the pattern to expect:
| Round | What Typically Happens | Expected Cutoff Movement |
|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | Highest competition; freshest, deepest pool of candidates | Highest cutoff |
| Round 2 | Seats freed by non-reporting and upgrades re-enter the pool | Slight drop |
| Round 3 / Mop-Up | Leftover and newly surrendered seats are filled | Largest drop |
| Stray Vacancy | Final leftover seats, institute-level filling | Highly unpredictable |
Track how ranks moved between rounds in previous years — combined with this year’s NEET 2026 registration and competition data, it gives you a reasonable sense of how far the numbers might slide.
What Was the Last Rank Allotted in NEET 2026 Round 1?
There is no single answer — the last rank allotted in NEET 2026 Round 1 depends entirely on the quota and category you are checking. It ranges from as tight as rank 3,948 for AIIMS Open, to as relaxed as rank 3,74,314 for the ESI IP Quota ST list. Find your own NEET UG rank on your scorecard, match it against the closest row in the tables above, and that tells you roughly where you stand right now.
| Extreme | Quota & Category | Last Rank | Marks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tightest | AIIMS MBBS — Open | 3,948 | 627 |
| Most relaxed | ESI IP Quota MBBS — ST | 3,74,314 | 363 |
Table 9: The narrowest and widest closing ranks in NEET 2026 Round 1.
Didn’t Make the NEET 2026 Round 1 Cutoff? Do This Next
Missing Round 1 is a setback, not a verdict. Work through these five steps in order:
- Don’t spiral. Round 1 closing is not Round 2 closing, and it is definitely not Mop-Up closing. A meaningful number of seats are still in play.
- Study the round-to-round movement. Look at how ranks shifted between rounds historically; it gives you a rough, workable expectation for this year.
- Plan for Mop-Up. This is where the biggest drops usually happen, so keep your choices open and don’t write yourself off.
- Get your paperwork sorted now. Certificates, category proof, ID, fee receipts — run through the NEET UG counselling login and document checklist today instead of during the next deadline crunch.
- Register for state quota counselling separately. If you haven’t already, do it alongside AIQ — check your NEET state quota eligibility first, since domicile rules differ sharply between states.
And if the numbers make it clear that this cycle isn’t going to work out, that decision deserves a proper plan rather than a panic. Start with a realistic NEET dropper strategy, then rebuild your foundation with the best books for NEET preparation. A structured gap year beats a reactive one every time.
FAQs on NEET 2026 Round 1 Cutoff
1. What is the NEET 2026 Round 1 cutoff for AIQ MBBS Open category?
The AIQ MBBS Open category cutoff for NEET 2026 Round 1 is 572 marks, and the last rank allotted a seat was 22,342.
2. What was the last rank allotted in NEET 2026 Round 1 for AIIMS MBBS?
Rank 3,948 for the Open category, which corresponds to 627 marks. That makes AIIMS the tightest closing rank across all quotas this round.
3. Will the NEET 2026 cutoff decrease in Round 2?
Usually, yes. Some students who secure seats in Round 1 don’t confirm them, which frees up spots and typically pulls the cutoff down a bit further in Round 2, and again in Mop-Up.
4. What is the NEET 2026 Round 1 cutoff for JIPMER Puducherry?
JIPMER Puducherry closed at 677 marks for the General category, with an allotted rank range of 309 to 2,638 — the highest closing score in this year’s Round 1 data.
5. Is the ESI IP quota cutoff lower than the AIQ cutoff?
Yes, noticeably. ESI IP quota MBBS closed at 538 marks for Open, EWS and OBC, compared with 572 for AIQ MBBS Open. The quota is only available to children of Insured Persons registered under ESI.
6. How is the NEET Round 1 cutoff different from the NEET qualifying cutoff?
The qualifying cutoff is the minimum percentile you need to be eligible for counselling at all. The Round 1 admission cutoff is much higher — it is the closing score of the last candidate who actually got a seat in a specific college, quota and category. Check your NEET 2026 scorecard, rank and counselling status to confirm which one applies to you.
I am Samik Hazra, Senior Content Writer at Vidyamandir Classes, specializing in education-focused content. With a strong command over academic and exam-preparation domains, he creates insightful, student-centric articles that simplify complex topics and add value for aspirants.
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