Chennai: As admissions to medical and dental courses are likely to get tougher this year, more students have applied for Indian medicine – ayurveda, siddha, and unani – and homeopathy in 2025. Officials say an increase in sales of application forms reveals more students are turning to Ayush as a career option.
When the deadline for applications ended on Thursday, the state committee for admissions in Indian Medicine had received about 7,900 applications, nearly 500 more than in 2024. The sale of applications had commenced on July 24.
TN offers 320 seats in two govt siddha medical colleges, located in Arumbakkam and Palayankottai, as well as one college each in unani (Arumbakkam), homeopathy (Madurai), and ayurveda (Kanyakumari). Of these 320 seats, 48 are set aside for admission through All India quota. In addition, there are 1,920 seats in 29 private Ayush colleges.
The selection committee admits students to ayurveda, siddha, unani, and homeopathy courses based on merit in NEET scores and the 69% rule of reservation.
In 2024, when NEET scores in Tamil Nadu, and across India, soared, the top student to join the bachelor’s course in Siddha medicine had a NEET score of 592/720.
Top score was 585 for ayurveda, 551 for unani, and 547 for homeopathy. The difference in scores between students who joined govt colleges wasn’t huge, as the last candidate to join siddha had a score of 539. Barring unani, where the cut-off was 433, all others had a cut-off above 500.
Overall, the cut-off for Ayush admissions surged by up to nearly 300 marks in select categories. All seats in undergraduate courses for unani and siddha across colleges were taken, while five in ayurveda and 19 in homeopathy were vacant after nearly five rounds of counselling.
This year, the cut-offs may come down drastically as scores in NEET 2025 were lower compared to the previous year’s scores. Considering that students are bunched up between 400 and 550 marks, experts say many students are likely to take up admissions in bachelor’s programmes of Indian medicine.
