The Directorate of Technical Education released the Tamil Nadu engineering admissions on Wednesday (TNEA) Rank List 2026, with 2,36,017 students appearing in the list before this year’s counseling process. Higher Education Minister P. Viswanathan released the rank list. This year, 53 candidates have secured the maximum cut-off score of 200 out of 200, underscoring the intense competition for engineering seats. Aksitha S of Sri Ram Higher Secondary School, Boomisamuthiram, Dharmapuri secured General Academic Rank 1 with a perfect cutoff of 200.00. Counseling for special category candidates will be held on July 13-14, while online general counseling is scheduled on July 20-30. Students from Dharmapuri, Tiruppur, Namakkal, Ariyalur and Kanyakumari shared the top ranks in the academic stream. All the top five candidates achieved the maximum cutoff of 200.00.
Academic course (general): 5 best
| classification | candidate | school | district | cutting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aksitha S | Sri Ram Higher Secondary School, Boomisamuthiram | Dharmapuri | 200.00 |
| 2 | Rohith Balan A | Srinivasa Vidhyalaya Matric Higher Secondary School | Tiruppur | 200.00 |
| 3 | Venkatakrishnan A | Kurinji High School, Kavettipatti | Namakkal | 200.00 |
| 4 | Rikshitha T | Gokilambal Matriculation High School | Ariyalur | 200.00 |
| 5 | Ratan S Joe | Corpus Christi School, Peruvilai | Kanyakumari | 200.00 |
Public school students with a quota of less than 7.5%.
The separate merit list for students applying under the 7.5% government school reservation was topped by Devadharshini P of Model School, Veerapandi, Salem who secured 199.00 marks. The top five candidates were from government model schools in Salem, Tiruchirappalli, Tiruvannamalai and Erode.
| classification | candidate | school | district | cutting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Devadharshini P | Model School, Veerapandi | salem | 199.00 h |
| 2 | Pugalesh K | DN Government Higher Secondary School, Perumalpalayam | Tiruchirappalli | 198.50 |
| 3 | Janarthanam R | Tiruvannamalai District Government Model School, Anakkavur | Tiruvannamalai | 198.50 |
| 4 | Kevin K | Model Government Higher Secondary School, Sathyamangalam | crazy | 198.50 |
| 5 | Gokula Krishnan M | Salem District Government Model School | salem | 198.00 h |
The professional stream also registers near-perfect scores
In the vocational stream, Mithun Varshan B of Vivekananda Higher Secondary School, Paundamangalam in Namakkal secured the first rank with a perfect cut-off of 200.00. Students from Coimbatore and Namakkal bagged most of the top positions.
| classification | candidate | school | district | cutting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mithun Varshan B | Vivekananda Higher Secondary School, Paundamangalam | Namakkal | 200.00 |
| 2 | Shivani Sri GK | SVGV Matric Baccalaureate | Coimbatore | 199.50 |
| 3 | Prithikha RB | SVGV Matric Baccalaureate | Coimbatore | 199.50 |
| 4 | Raksha ARK | SVGV Matric Baccalaureate | Coimbatore | 199.50 |
| 5 | Priyadharshini M | Vivekananda Higher Secondary School, Paundamangalam | Namakkal | 199.00 h |
Government professional school category
Madhan Kumar S of Government Higher Secondary School, Onnupuram, Tiruvannamalai topped the vocational course under 7.5 per cent government school reservation with 199.00 marks. It is noteworthy that all the top five candidates in this category studied in the same government school in Onupuram.
| classification | candidate | school | district | cutting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Madhan Kumar S | Government Higher Secondary School, Onnupuram | Tiruvannamalai | 199.00 h |
| 2 | Mahasree M | Government Higher Secondary School, Onnupuram | Tiruvannamalai | 195.00 h |
| 3 | Lishanth M | Government Higher Secondary School, Onnupuram | Tiruvannamalai | 195.00 h |
| 4 | Kaviya V | Government Higher Secondary School, Onnupuram | Tiruvannamalai | 194.00 h |
| 5 | Divine S | Government Higher Secondary School, Onnupuram | Tiruvannamalai | 194.00 h |
Counseling will begin in July
With the rank list out, the admission process moves on to counselling. Candidates belonging to special categories will participate in the counseling on 13th and 14th July followed by online counseling for other candidates from 20th to 30th July. The release of the rank list marks the beginning of the seat allotment process for engineering admissions across Tamil Nadu, with thousands of students now awaiting their counseling rounds and college allotments.