Cuddalore: Students participating in the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) counselling process should prioritise selecting the college code before the institution's name to avoid confusion and secure admission to their preferred colleges, a senior official said on Sunday.

Addressing a TNEA counselling guidance programme organised jointly by Dinamalar and Rajalakshmi Institute of Technology in Cuddalore, TNEA Secretary Purushothaman said multiple institutions may have similar or identical names, making the college code a crucial identifier during the choice-filling process.

He said engineering seats are allotted under various categories, including a five per cent reservation for differently-abled candidates, 500 seats for sportspersons, 150 seats for wards of ex-servicemen and a 7.5 per cent horizontal reservation for students from government schools.

The rank list is prepared under general and community-wise categories, while seat allotment is carried out through online choice filling, he said.

Citing an example from last year's counselling, Purushothaman said a candidate had filled 650 choices and secured admission in the institution listed as the 11th preference.

Students with lower scores generally opt for a larger number of colleges, while those with higher marks tend to list fewer choices, he added.

The official said candidates would have three days to submit their college preferences online, after which the choices would be locked automatically. Students must then confirm their selections within the next two days.

"These two days are critical as failure to confirm the choices could affect the admission process," he said.

Purushothaman also said an additional round of counselling would be conducted for students who could not participate earlier and for candidates who passed after the supplementary examinations.

Around 10,000 seats could be filled during the additional counselling round, he added.