Chennai
Less than 45% of the total seats available for the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) 2026 have been filled after the second round of the counselling process.
As per figures released by the TNEA authorities, a little less than 89,000 students have been given provisional allotments till the end of the second round of counselling. Compared to last year’s engineering admissions at the same stage, there has been a drop of about 4.5% in seat allotment. Career counsellors following the engineering admissions closely say that this could translate into several thousand seats remaining vacant after the end of the counselling process.
On students’ preferences for streams of study, the career counsellors agree that Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) and Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) far exceed all other streams, which has been the trend for the past few years. However, this year, preference for core engineering streams like Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) and Mechanical Engineering has seen a marginal uptick.
Among institutions, the ones located near urban centres like Coimbatore and Chennai continue to enjoy higher preference among students, says Jayaprakash Gandhi, a long-time career guidance counsellor. And the reasons are not too far to seek. “These institutions have greater industry-institution interaction and offer larger scope for students to earn internships. This helps them in their career,” says Mr. Gandhi. They also offer better career placement options, he adds.
While urban-rural divide in terms of choice of institutions was quite discernible, the fact that several students secured allotments only in the second round even after having scored high cut off marks points to the difficulty that rural students face in the counselling process, he emphasises. “The government or the Anna University needs to look at ways to bridge this gap.”
Going by the total number of seats filled, students seem to prefer autonomous colleges more than non-autonomous ones, says R. Ashwin, career guidance counsellor. Over 80% of the seats in autonomous colleges have been filled at the end of round two, he points out. For non-autonomous colleges, the figure stands at less than 20%. Constituent colleges of Anna University have faired poorly this year with over 10% drop in intake compared to last year, Mr. Ashwin says. “This could be because the pass percentage in these colleges have not been encouraging, as per semester-wise results published by the Anna University. Besides, they also do not concentrate on campus placements,” he adds.
Overall, seven institutions have recorded full intake at this stage while over 20 colleges are yet to fill up even a single seat. Choice filling for the third round has been enabled and the portal will be closed at 5 p.m. on August 19.
Published – August 22, 2026 12:32 am IST
