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Apna Merit

What Is Closing Merit and How to Use It

Updated

Closing merit is the aggregate of the last student admitted to a program or college in a merit list. For example, Narowal Medical College's open-merit MBBS seats closed at 93.51% in the final 2025 UHS list. Compare your aggregate with the last two years' final-list closing merits to judge your chances. Official source

What does closing merit mean?

Closing merit is the aggregate of the last student admitted to a program or college in a merit list. If a college's final list closed at 93.51%, the student with the lowest aggregate who still got a seat there had 93.51%. Students also call it "last merit" or "last year merit".

For example, in the 13th and final 2025 UHS selection list for public medical colleges in Punjab, King Edward Medical University closed at 94.87% and Narowal Medical College at 93.51% on open merit (see the full MDCAT merit list).

Closing merit vs merit list vs aggregate

Closing merit and related terms
TermMeaning
AggregateYour own score out of 100 from the admission formula (for MDCAT: 50% MDCAT, 40% FSc, 10% Matric).
Merit list / selection listThe official list of students given seats, usually college-wise or program-wise, issued in rounds (1st, 2nd … final).
Closing meritThe lowest aggregate admitted in one list, for one program or college and one category.
Open meritSeats filled purely on aggregate, without a quota (district, disability, overseas and so on).

Why does closing merit drop from the 1st list to the final list?

After each list, some students move to a college they prefer, choose another program or do not join. Their seats go to the next students in order of merit, so the last admitted aggregate usually goes down. In 2025 UHS public MBBS, King Edward Medical University closed at 94.92% in the 1st list and 94.87% in the final list. Private colleges dropped much more: Queens Medical College Kasur went from 75.95% to 61.00% on open merit.

How to use last year's closing merit

  1. Calculate your aggregate (for MBBS/BDS, use the MDCAT aggregate calculator).
  2. Compare it with the final list, open merit closing merit of the last two years for the colleges you want.
  3. If you are clearly above, your chance is strong; within about 1.5 points, borderline; well below, unlikely. Our methodology explains this rule.
  4. Remember that closing merit changes every year with the test's difficulty, the number of seats and the number of applicants. It is a guide, not a promise.

Where to find official closing merits

Universities publish merit or selection lists on their own websites, often as PDFs that include student names. We copy only the closing figure for each program or college and link every number to its official list. All sources are listed on our data sources page.

Frequently asked questions

Is closing merit the same as the merit list?

No. The merit list is the list of admitted students; closing merit is one number from it, the lowest aggregate admitted for a program or college.

Does closing merit go down in later lists?

Usually yes, because seats left by students who move or leave are given to the next students in merit order.

Will this year's closing merit be the same as last year?

No. It changes with test difficulty, seats and applicants. Use the last two years as a guide, not a guarantee.

Closing merit ka kya matlab hai?

Kisi list mein jis aakhri student ka admission hua, us ka aggregate closing merit kehlata hai.

Last year merit se kaise pata chale ga ke admission hoga?

Apna aggregate pichle do saal ke final list, open merit closing merit se milayein. 1.5 points se zyada upar hon to chance strong hai, qareeb hon to borderline.

Asaan alfaaz mein (Roman Urdu)

Closing merit yani kisi college ya program mein aakhri admission kis aggregate par hua. Pehli list ke baad log college badalte hain, is liye final list ka merit aam tor par kam hota hai.

Misaal ke liye MDCAT merit list dekhein.

Sources