A majority of medical seats were taken, but very few candidates appeared keen on studies in dentistry.
The first round of counselling for medical and dental courses came to an end on Monday. All candidates ranked between 1-5,001 have completed the counselling process.
A majority of medical seats were taken, but very few candidates appeared keen on studies in dentistry.
On Monday, the premises of the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) were far from abuzz with activity.
Speculating about the cause for the lack of interest in the dental course, officials said that students think that opportunities for jobs for dentists are limited; besides, very few students can study further after the completion of the bachelor’s degree in the subject, as there are very few seats for a master’s degree. Setting up a clinic of one’s own is an expensive proposition.
“Dentistry is no longer a popular choice. Compared to general medicine, the placement in jobs is not promising either. A good number of candidates who study the course go on to set up their own clinics, but that is expensive. There were 739 seats in the dental course on offer, but nearly 400 have not seen any takers,” said a KEA official.
N Krishna, parent of a student wishing to study medicine, was hopeful that his daughter would find a medical seat during the casual round. “My daughter has prepared hard for the medical entrance. We are optimistic and hope that she gets a medical seat during the next round,” he said.
Many candidates like Divya N left the KEA premises, soon after the counselling for medical seats was over, not even waiting to know the status of seats meant for studies in dental science.
“MBBS is my first priority. I think it would be better to take up engineering rather than dentistry, as it would make it easier to land a good job. I hope that during the casual round, a few medical seats would be available for deserving candidates,” Divya said.
The low turn-out of candidates for the dental courses left authorities disappointed. Despite their best efforts, candidates have been unresponsive, they said.
“Candidates do not have to wait for more than twelve to fifteen seconds for seat selection. Our officials reach the premise at 7.30 am, and the seat selection kicks off at 9 am sharp every day. There are only a few instances when delays occur, and these are often for reasons beyond our control,” said SP Kulkarni, administrative officer, KEA.
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