INI-CET choice filling: how the list works and how to order it

Last updated 20 Oct 2026 · Reviewed by Dr. Rajiv Marechal
Rules from AIIMS New Delhi’s seat allocation brochure, result notifications and prospectus (listed under Sources). Always check aiimsexams.ac.in. FindMyBranch is not part of AIIMS.

Got your rank? See which seats closed near it.

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How AIIMS reads your list

You fill choices on AIIMS’s PG Online Seat Allocation portal. A choice is one institute plus one subject. Seats are allotted in order of overall rank. When your turn comes, you get the best choice on your list that is still available at your rank, under each institute’s reservation and preference rules. So the order of your list is everything: a seat you like less, placed higher, is the one you get.

You do not pick a category for a choice. The allocation does that. If your best available choice is free both as a UR seat and as a seat of your category, you get the UR seat. You get a reserved seat only when no UR seat is left for that choice. A PwBD candidate who can get a better choice on open merit gets that.

How many choices?

There is no limit. Add as many as you like, as long as every one is a seat you would really join, and they are in the right order. If every seat on your list is gone by your turn, you get no seat in that round.

One list for two rounds

You can add, edit and reorder choices until the Round 1 deadline.
Then the list is locked, either by you or automatically at the deadline.
Round 2 uses the same list. You cannot add or change choices for Round 2. So the seats you might want in Round 2 must already be on your Round 1 list.
A mock round comes before Round 1. It shows the seat you would likely get with your list, but it is not an allotment. You can still change your list afterwards. If you do not log in to fill Round 1 choices, your mock round choices are used.
Do not skip Round 1. If you do not register and fill choices for Round 1, you cannot take part in Round 2. Only the Open Round is left.

Only list seats you would join

This matters more in INI-CET than almost anywhere else. AIIMS says the option to refuse an allotted seat is not available, and asks candidates to fill choices “carefully and responsibly”. If you get a Round 1 seat, you must accept it with Option 1 or Option 2, and not joining it costs ₹3 lakh. See what leaving an INI-CET seat costs.

Option 2 also only moves you up your own list. In Round 2 you can be given a seat you placed higher than your Round 1 seat. If you are, you must take it, and the Round 1 seat is released.

What order? The seats you want most, first

The seats you want most, first. Even if their past closing rank was better than your rank. It costs nothing to try: the allocation only moves down your list if they are gone.
Seats near your rank in the middle. Seats whose past closing rank was close to yours.
Seats you would still join, last. Seats whose past closing rank was well past yours. They catch you if everything above is taken.

Inside each group, keep your true order of liking. Past closing ranks are a guide, not a promise. INI-CET branches are small and the category split changes each session; see how to read an INI-CET closing rank.

An example list (made up)

This is only an example. The institutes are not real and the order is not advice for your rank. It shows the shape of a good list.

#	Group	Choice (example only)
1	Want most	Example AIIMS A, MD General Medicine
2	Want most	Example Institute B, MD General Medicine
3	Middle	Example AIIMS C, MD Paediatrics
4	Middle	Example AIIMS D, MD General Medicine
5	Middle	Example AIIMS E, MD Paediatrics
6	Would still join	Example AIIMS F, MD Paediatrics
7	Would still join	Example AIIMS G, MD Pharmacology

Check each seat before you add it

Is it on this session’s seat list? AIIMS publishes the final seat position before the result, by institute, branch and category. Read the corrigenda too: in July 2026, Corrigendum No. 21/2026 withdrew two seats after the list came out. The published seat list is fixed once the result is out. But seats that fall vacant because someone resigned after joining have been added in the Open Round (July 2025 Open Round brochure).
Are you eligible at that institute? Your choices are accepted provisionally, under each institute’s own rules in its Part-B prospectus. SCTIMST, for example, had an upper age limit of 40 years as of 1 July 2026, with relaxations for some categories. NIMHANS sets age limits by course.
What does it cost to stay, and to leave? SCTIMST asks for a ₹50 lakh bond. Every institute has its own penalty for leaving after joining.
Sponsored candidates can choose only the subject and institute in their sponsorship certificate. Foreign nationals choose from what they filled in at registration.

Mistakes that cost seats

A seat you like less, placed higher. You get it, and never reach the better seats below.
A seat you would not join. There is no refusing it, and not joining costs ₹3 lakh.
Leaving seats off for “later”. Round 2 uses your Round 1 list. A seat that is not on it cannot come to you in Round 2.
Skipping Round 1. No Round 1 choices means no Round 2.
Not choosing Option 1 or 2 after a Round 1 seat. The seat is forfeited, and Round 2 with it.
Reading the mock round as a result. It is a preview, not a seat.
Moving up without reading the catch. If you upgrade in a later round, the Open Round included, you complete the course at the new institute; time at the earlier seat does not count.

Round dates change every session and are announced by AIIMS after the result. See after your INI-CET result for how tight they were in July 2026.

Use FindMyBranch to sort the seats first

The INI-CET tool sorts every seat you can take into very likely, possible and hard for your rank and category, in your own branch order, with the session and round behind each number. Use it to decide what goes at the top, in the middle and at the bottom. The list itself is filled on AIIMS’s portal.

Start with your rank. See your very likely seats for free, and the true number of possible and hard ones.

Check INI-CET options

Sources

The choice-filling rules are from the July 2025 brochure and were applied the same way in the July 2026 Round 1 result. They can change each session.