Chennai: The online counselling process for Tamil Nadu engineering admissions 2026 under the general category begins on Monday, with the Directorate of Technical Education (DoTE) starting the first phase of seat allocation for eligible candidates.
The general counselling process will be conducted in three rounds and will continue until August 31.
First round begins for candidates ranked up to 37,976
After completing counselling for special reservation categories, Tamil Nadu has started the general category counselling process for engineering admissions.
The admission process began on July 13, with candidates under special categories, including sportspersons, persons with disabilities (PwD), and children of ex-servicemen, given priority during the initial phase.
A total of 813 seats were allotted under special category counselling. This included 416 seats under the sports quota, 258 for persons with disabilities, and 139 for children of ex-servicemen.
Counselling divided into three rounds
The general category counselling will be conducted completely online and has been divided into three rounds based on candidates’ ranks.
The first round, starting on Monday, will continue until August 3 and is open for candidates with general ranks from 1 to 37,976.
The second round will be held from August 3 to August 17 for candidates ranked between 37,977 and 1,31,093.
The third and final round will take place from August 17 to August 31 for candidates with ranks between 1,31,094 and 2,33,812.
7.5% reservation counselling also begins
Alongside general counselling, Tamil Nadu will also conduct admissions under the 7.5 per cent horizontal reservation for students who studied in government schools.
This counselling process will also be conducted in three rounds and will conclude on August 31.
Officials said the overall engineering admission process for the academic year is expected to end by August 31. If seats remain vacant after all rounds, a supplementary counselling session will be conducted to fill the remaining seats.