Telangana EAPCET 2026 toppers shun State engg colleges, prefer national institutes

Top rankers of the TG EAPCET 2026 engineering stream have shown little interest in joining colleges in Telangana, with only five of the top 100 participating in counselling. Despite the State government’s full fee reimbursement scheme for ranks below 10,000, many high scorers are opting for IITs, NITs and other premier institutions, treating the State exam largely as practice for JEE.

Hyderabad: The Telangana Engineering, Agricultural and Pharmacy Common Entrance Test (TG EAPCET) 2026 engineering top rankers showed little interest in joining the colleges in the State.

The TG EAPCET 2026 web-based counselling registrations revealed that only five out top 100 rankers decided to participate in the admission process. Similarly, only 42 candidates who secured a rank between 101 and 500 applied for admission.

---

Overall, 6,691 students registered for the engineering counselling from among candidates who were ranked up to 10,000, reflecting that a staggering 3,309 students stayed away from counselling.

In fact, the State government extends full fee reimbursement to all students who secure TG EAPCET rank below 10,000. Despite this provision, the top rankers stayed away from the web-based counselling.

According to officials, TG EAPCET top rankers might have also secured ranks in JEE and opted for admissions to the IITs, NITs or other top engineering institutions across the country. Several toppers take the TG EAPCET as a practice test for the JEE Main and Advanced.