November 15 last date: zero percentile now enough for BSc Nursing in Maharashtra

If you appeared for the Maharashtra Nursing CET this year and missed the cut-off, you have a second chance. The Indian Nursing Council has relaxed the minimum qualifying percentile for BSc Nursing admission to zero for vacant seats, and Maharashtra has pushed the last date to November 15, 2026.

Till now, general category candidates needed the 50th percentile in the CET to be eligible for BSc Nursing admission. That bar is gone for the leftover seats this year. Anyone who sat for the entrance test for the 2026-27 session can now be considered, even with a zero percentile score. The change comes from the Indian Nursing Council’s Notification No. 23 of 2026, dated October 30, which was issued after several states reported vacant BSc Nursing seats and asked for the cut-off to be lowered.

The same notification round also extended the last date of admission for all nursing programmes to November 15, 2026, through Notification No. 21 of 2026. Maharashtra has made it clear that this is a one-time concession and no further extension will be given after November 15.

Why so many BSc Nursing seats are still vacant

The seats are not empty because students are not interested in nursing. Maharashtra added close to 1,000 BSc Nursing seats in recent months. Eight General Nursing and Midwifery colleges were converted into degree-level nursing colleges, and the intake of five nursing colleges attached to medical colleges was raised.

The problem was timing. The extra seats came late in the admission cycle, and many students did not know about them. Colleges kept reporting vacant seats even after the regular rounds of counselling were over. The state Medical Education and Drugs Department wrote to the Indian Nursing Council on October 12, 2026, asking for the percentile bar to be relaxed and the schedule to be extended.

The council agreed after referring to a decision of the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court in a writ petition on the same issue. The council has also said the concession applies to Maharashtra and cannot be cited by other states or Union Territories as a basis for similar extensions. Students should treat November 15 as a hard stop.

“INC has no objection for filling up the vacant seats of BSc(N) for candidates who have appeared in the Common Entrance Examination for session 2026-27 by reducing qualifying percentile criteria.” - Indian Nursing Council, Notification No. 23 of 2026

What this means if you appeared for the CET

First, check where you stand. If you appeared for the Maharashtra Nursing CET for 2026-27 but did not apply earlier because your percentile was below the old cut-off, you can now register for the remaining seats. If you applied and did not get a seat, watch the revised schedule for the next round.

Second, do not wait till the last day. The CET Cell will publish the revised admission schedule on its website, and the remaining rounds will move fast with only ten days left. Keep your CET scorecard, Class 12 marksheet and other papers ready, so a document check does not slow you down. Our college admission documents checklist covers what most colleges ask for at the verification desk.

Third, remember what has not changed. The relaxation only drops the CET percentile bar. The other Indian Nursing Council rules for BSc Nursing admission still apply, including passing Class 12 with Physics, Chemistry and Biology. And this is not a walk-in admission. You must have appeared in the CET for this session. Candidates who skipped the entrance test cannot get a seat on the basis of this decision.

The same relief is reaching other states too

Maharashtra is not the only state where this is playing out. In Odisha, the Odisha Private Nursing School and College Association had filed a writ petition (WPC No. 30169) in the Odisha High Court, and the Indian Nursing Council has now allowed BSc Nursing admissions at the zero percentile level there as well. The council’s notification was issued in response to representations from various states about vacant seats, so other states with leftover seats may follow with their own schedules.

The pattern this year is clear. Medical and nursing seats are being filled to the last round instead of being left vacant. The NEET UG special stray vacancy round is running on a similar logic at the national level, and reports of 2,000 MBBS seats lying vacant show why regulators are moving to fill every seat they can. For nursing aspirants, the message is simple: the door is open, but only till November 15.

What to do now

• Go to the Maharashtra CET Cell website and read the revised BSc Nursing admission schedule.
• Register or confirm your application for the remaining rounds before the November 15 deadline.
• Keep your CET scorecard, Class 12 marksheet, domicile and category certificates ready for verification.
• Do not trust agents or social media posts promising a seat. The CET Cell website is the only source for the schedule and the seat list.

For the latest updates in this space, keep an eye on our education news section, where we track admission deadlines and result announcements as they come in.