Chennai, July 26 (IANS) The second round of Tamil Nadu engineering counselling is set to commence on Saturday with nearly one lakh students from the general category expected to take part. This round is expected to see a significantly larger participation than the first round, which had 39,145 applicants.

According to the Directorate of Technical Education (DoTE), a total of 98,564 students are eligible for this phase. A senior official from the DoTE said that candidates with cut-off marks ranging from 178.9 to 143 are eligible to participate in the second round.

The choice filling process, where students select preferred courses and colleges based on available vacancies, will be open from July 26 to July 28. The tentative seat allotment results will be published on July 29.

Students must confirm their tentative allotment between July 29 and July 30. Once confirmations are received, the final provisional allotment list will be released on July 30 itself.

Candidates will then be required to confirm their admission and follow the joining schedule as per instructions issued. Simultaneously, the second round of counselling for government school students under the 7.5% horizontal reservation quota will also begin on July 26.

A total of 16,258 students from this category are eligible to participate. The schedule for choice filling and seat allotment for these students will mirror that of the general category, the official added.

Looking ahead, the third and final round of engineering counselling will be conducted from August 7 to August 9. This round will include students who secured cut-off marks between 143 and 77.5.

The entire engineering admission process, including supplementary counselling, will be concluded by August 26. The DoTE has urged students to adhere to deadlines and keep track of official updates to avoid missing any critical steps in the admission process.

–IANS

aal/dan