Only 54% of engineering aspirants get provisional allotments in second round

CHENNAI: As the second round of TN engineering counselling was completed with 1.14 lakh students participating, only 54 per cent of the candidates earned provisional allotments, which were released on Thursday, even as the third round of counselling also began.

Like the first round, most of the students who participated in the second round of counselling also preferred Computer Science and Electronics and Communication.

A senior official from the Directorate of Technical Education (DoTE), who was in charge of the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA-2025), said a total of 1,14,822 students from the general category and government school candidates, who will be availing 7.5% horizontal quota, were eligible to participate in the second round of counselling this year.

"However, he said only 62,327 students were given provisional allotments and they will be joining the colleges," he added.

Going by the statistics, only 54.28% students have benefited in the second round of counselling.

According to the official, of the total 1.14 lakh students, as many as 52,495 students opted out of the second round and might have sought admissions in private colleges.

With regard to the government school students, who have availed 7.5% horizontal reservation for engineering admissions, the DoTE official said that of the total 18,921, who have participated in the second round, only 16,258 students got the provisional allotments.

Sources from the DoTE further added that the craze for Computer Science and its related subjects, including Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Machine Learning, continued even for the students who were given provisional allotment in the second round.

It further added that Electronics and Communication (EC) once again emerged as the second choice for the students.

Even Information Technology (IT) and Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) courses are also among the favourites among the students from the second batch.

L Krishnamurthy, a senior student's career counsellor, especially in technical education in the city, said the country is witnessing a major stride towards digitisation across all sectors, including education, finance, healthcare, tourism and transportation.

"This digital change requires skilled professionals who can develop software and maintain the technology infrastructure, creating a high demand for Computer Science graduates", he said, adding, "this course provides a wide range of career paths not only in the state and the country but also across the globe.”

However, B Kailash, working in a student's career information company in Chennai, appealed to the students that they should not get carried away that selecting Computer Science is the only best option to get employment, since it has been trending in the past few years.

"If they select low-performing colleges to pursue computer-related courses, it will not help them as many IT companies will not prefer campus interviews in institutions, which have scored less in National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), "he added.