WBMCC NEET UG 2026: Revised Round 2, Round 3, and Stray Vacancy Schedule Explained

The West Bengal Medical Counselling Committee has released a revised tentative schedule covering additional admission days for Round 2, along with the complete timelines for Round 3 and the Stray Vacancy Round, applicable across State Quota, Private Management Quota, and NRI Quota seats. With three distinct rounds now mapped out from mid-September through late October, candidates need a clear, stage-by-stage understanding of what applies to them and when, since each round follows its own sequence of registration, verification, choice filling, and reporting.

Round 2: Additional Reporting and Admission Day

Candidates who were allotted a seat in Round 2 but have not yet completed their reporting and admission formalities now have one additional day to do so at their allotted institute.

• The additional Round 2 reporting and admission day is scheduled for 19th September 2026, between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM

• Candidates should report directly to their allotted institute within this window and follow the specific instructions applicable to their allotment

• This additional day appears to be a final opportunity within Round 2 itself, so candidates who still need to complete admission formalities from an earlier Round 2 allotment should treat this date as a firm deadline rather than an open-ended extension

Round 3: The Complete Sequence From Registration to Reporting

Round 3 introduces a fresh, full counselling cycle, opening with new registration and closing with a three-day reporting window roughly two weeks later. Candidates entering this round, whether fresh or continuing from earlier rounds, need to track each of the following stages carefully, since several run on overlapping or same-day windows.

• Registration: opens 28th September 2026 at 11:00 AM and closes 30th September 2026 at 6:00 PM

• Fee Payment: runs over the same three-day window, from 28th September at 11:00 AM through 30th September, but stays open later, until 12:00 Midnight

• Candidate Verification: conducted across three days, 29th September, 30th September, and 1st October 2026, each day between 11:00 AM and 4:00 PM

• Seat Matrix and Verified Candidate List: published on 1st October 2026 after 5:00 PM, shortly after verification concludes and fee payment closes

• Choice Filling and Locking: opens 1st October at 6:00 PM, just an hour after the seat matrix is published, and remains open until 4th October at 10:00 AM

• Round 3 Seat Allotment Result: declared on 8th October 2026 after 4:00 PM, leaving a gap of roughly four days between choice locking and the result itself

• Reporting and Admission: spread across three days, 12th, 13th, and 14th October 2026, each day between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM

Why the Round 3 Sequencing Needs Careful Attention

A few transitions within this Round 3 timeline are tight enough that candidates should plan around them in advance rather than reacting once each stage arrives. The seat matrix being published just an hour before choice filling opens is the most notable of these.

• Candidates should complete verification as early as possible within the 29th September to 1st October window, since the seat matrix depends on verification being completed and is only published after 5:00 PM on the final verification day

• With choice filling opening barely an hour after the seat matrix is released, candidates benefit from having a provisional preference order ready in advance, based on expected seat availability, so that the actual seat matrix only requires fine adjustments rather than a list built from scratch

• The four-day gap between choice locking on 4th October and the result on 8th October offers a brief window to mentally prepare for outcomes but no opportunity to revise locked choices, so the locking deadline itself should be treated as final

• Candidates should use the three-day reporting window from 12th to 14th October strategically, reporting as early as feasible within it rather than waiting until the last day, in case any documentation issue needs to be resolved before the window closes

Stray Vacancy Round: The Final Opportunity in This Cycle

Following Round 3, the Stray Vacancy Round opens roughly a week later, offering one more chance at seats that remain vacant after the earlier rounds conclude. This round moves noticeably faster than Round 3, compressing registration through result declaration into a shorter overall span.

• Registration: opens 15th October at 11:00 AM and closes 16th October at 6:00 PM, a considerably shorter window than Round 3's registration period

• Fee Payment: runs from 15th October at 11:00 AM through 16th October, staying open until 12:00 Midnight

• Candidate Verification: conducted over two days, 16th and 17th October 2026, between 11:00 AM and 4:00 PM

• Verified Candidate List and Seat Matrix: published on 17th October after 5:00 PM

• Choice Filling and Locking: opens 17th October at 6:00 PM and closes 18th October at 10:00 AM, an unusually short window of roughly sixteen hours

• Stray Vacancy Result: declared by 12:00 Noon on 23rd October 2026

• Reporting and Admission: spread across three separate windows, 23rd October from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM, 24th October from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and 26th October from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM

The Stray Vacancy Round Demands Faster Decision-Making

Since the Stray Vacancy Round compresses several stages into considerably shorter windows than Round 3, candidates participating at this stage need to be prepared to act quickly rather than deliberating over an extended period.

• The choice filling and locking window here runs for roughly sixteen hours overnight, from 6:00 PM to 10:00 AM the next day, which is significantly tighter than Round 3's multi-day window

• Candidates entering the Stray Vacancy Round should already have a clear sense of acceptable colleges and branches going in, since there is very little time within this round to research options once choice filling opens

• The three separate reporting windows spread across 23rd, 24th, and 26th October suggest some flexibility in when candidates can report, but each window is only a few hours long, so candidates should confirm well in advance which specific slot applies to their allotment

Keeping the Three Rounds Straight

With Round 2's additional day, the full Round 3 cycle, and the Stray Vacancy Round all now scheduled within roughly a five-week span, candidates should avoid confusing deadlines across the three, since each operates as its own distinct process with separate registration and verification requirements.

• All timings across every stage in this schedule are based on server time, so candidates should account for this when planning around each deadline rather than relying on local device clocks alone

• Candidates who successfully complete admission in an earlier round generally do not need to track subsequent rounds, while those still seeking a seat or a better allotment should treat each round as a fresh cycle requiring its own registration and fee payment

• Given how this schedule spans State Quota, Private Management Quota, and NRI Quota seats together, candidates should confirm which quota-specific instructions apply to their category before assuming a single timeline covers every quota uniformly

• Candidates weighing whether to wait for Round 3 or the Stray Vacancy Round instead of accepting an earlier allotment should base that decision on realistic closing-rank trends rather than optimism, a consideration worth weighing alongside a broader understanding of how WBJEE and other state-level entrance scores typically convert into realistic admission chances, since the underlying logic of weighing a certain seat against a later, uncertain upgrade applies across both engineering and medical counselling systems

What Can Be Done About It

Candidates should mark all three schedules now rather than tracking them one at a time as each round approaches, given how closely Round 3 and the Stray Vacancy Round follow each other. For Round 2, anyone with a pending allotment should treat 19th September as a firm final reporting date. For Round 3, the priority is completing verification early within the 29th September to 1st October window and having a provisional choice list ready before the seat matrix appears just an hour before choice filling opens. For the Stray Vacancy Round, candidates should enter with decisions largely pre-made, given the unusually short overnight choice filling window. Anyone also comparing this timeline against counselling processes in other states this season may find it useful to review how similarly structured multi-round schedules have unfolded elsewhere, since several states are managing comparably tight windows across their own revised counselling calendars this year.