My aggregate sits near the closing merit. Take the private seat or wait for the public lists?

1. Accepted answer

   Decide on the gap, the money and the dates, in that order.

   The gap. UHS public-sector MBBS closed between 93.51% and 94.87% in 2025-26, and the floor moves only a little between cycles, so an 88 needs several points of luck to reach open merit. Run the calculator to find the MDCAT score that would close the gap, because it tells you whether retaking, not waiting, is your real lever.

   The money. Private MBBS tuition runs roughly PKR 1.2M to 2.4M a year, and tuition is not the whole bill: hostel, mess, exam dues and annual escalation clauses accumulate across five years. The PM&DC 2026 regulations penalize a college that departs from its published fee, so hold the college to its own fee schedule. The public vs private ROI guide does this math properly.

   The dates. Punjab private-sector MBBS runs its own schedule, with the first selection list on 18 November, and private medical colleges have until 31 January 2027 to finish admissions. Public medical colleges must finish by 31 December 2026. Those two outer deadlines do not force a same-week decision, but a private college's own fee window can, so read the offer notice before assuming you can hold the seat until the public lists finish.

   What not to do: decline the private seat to wait for a public list your aggregate has not reached in any recent cycle. That is the upgradation trap in reverse, and it has cost families both the money and the year. If you take the private seat, the cost breakdown tells you what to verify before the challan, and the merit list page tracks where the public lists actually close this cycle.

   SalikStaff

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