Freeze or Float in NEET-PG counselling: how MCC's 2026 upgrade rule works

Until 2025, every step of MCC counselling meant going to the allotted college in person: reporting, upgrading and resigning. Candidates who wanted to upgrade from Round 1 to Round 2 or from Round 2 to Round 3 had to report with original documents, and the institute entered their willingness on the portal (bulletin, page 10). For 2026 MCC changed this. After you are allotted a seat in Round 1 or Round 2 you are either a Freeze candidate or a Float candidate, depending on whether you want to upgrade.

The two paths side by side

Pages 10 to 13 and the flow chart on page 15.

Freeze: join and stay

A Freeze candidate takes the allotment as final for that round. You visit the allotted institute, hand over the physical documents, they are verified there, and you pay the admission fee at the institute. The institute then decides: if the documents are valid, the admission is confirmed and the seat finalised; if a discrepancy is found in the documents, the admission is cancelled (page 11). The original documents you need are listed in the documents checklist, and carrying them is mandatory (page 42).

Float: keep the seat while you try for a better one

A Float candidate gives willingness for upgrade online and uploads the required documents; the allotted institute verifies them online and you do not have to go there (pages 10 and 11). The bulletin asks everyone to upload the documents within two to three days of the final allotment, so there is time to resolve any query the institute raises. The upload is a one-time upload that serves all rounds (page 11).

The online check works like this (page 12):

• The institute’s nodal officer looks for problems such as blurred copies, incorrect certificates, a mismatch in category claims, or missing documents.
• If there is a problem, the institute’s Document Verification Committee can raise a query with you.
• You must re-upload corrected documents within the time allowed, as early as possible, to avoid the seat being cancelled.
• If the documents are in order the seat is provisionally confirmed and you become eligible for the next round. If the documents do not match the claims, the seat is cancelled.

What happens in the next round

• You are upgraded. The seat you held is cancelled immediately and given to someone else. You must take your relieving online from the old institute and join the new seat; you have no claim on the earlier one (page 44; page 56, Q18; page 58, Q31). If you do not join the new seat within the stipulated time, your security deposit is forfeited (page 56, Q18).
• You are not upgraded. You keep the seat you hold. After the Round 3 result, a Float candidate of Round 1 or Round 2 who did not get an upgrade must report in person, along with everyone allotted a Round 3 seat (page 12).
• You change your mind. If you said yes to upgrading but now want to keep your seat, do not fill any fresh choices for the next round; the earlier seat is retained (page 56, Q19).
• You never said yes. If you are satisfied and do not give willingness for upgrade as “Yes” for Round 2, you are not considered for an upgrade in Round 2 (page 54, Q14).

While you float, the seat you hold appears to other candidates as a virtual vacancy in the next round: someone can be given it, but only if you vacate or upgrade (page 8, para 2.23). That is why your list for the next round matters; see choice filling.

Leaving a seat: free exit, forfeiture and your state seat

Both Freeze and Float candidates can also take part in their state counselling (page 15). A candidate who wants a state seat must give up the MCC seat: Freeze candidates resign in person at the institute, and Float candidates resign online, and the flow chart marks Round 1 as a free exit and Round 2 as with forfeiture. A joined Round 3 seat cannot be resigned at all (page 13). The money side is in free exit and the security deposit, and the choice between an MCC seat and a state seat is worked through in MCC seat in hand, state result coming.

Rules that stay the same

• Each round is separate, and its rules apply only in that round (page 8, para 2.24).
• In Round 3 you can only take part if you hold no Round 1 or Round 2 seat, or you hold one and have given willingness to upgrade (page 59, Q37). See Round 3 and the stray round.
• All joining and resigning is online; an offline admission or resignation is not accepted (page 7, para 2.25).

New to the whole process? Start with MCC counselling rules, explained simply or how NEET-PG counselling works. Dates are on the counselling calendar.