Punjab (UHS pool) — 2025-26 final open-merit snapshot
UHS publishes successive selection lists until every seat fills; the final list is the true 'closing merit'. On the 2025-26 final open-merit list, the Punjab public-college band ran from roughly 93.5% to 94.9%:
| King Edward Medical University (KEMU), Lahore | ≈94.87% — highest in Pakistan |
|---|---|
| Allama Iqbal Medical College (AIMC), Lahore | high band, just under KEMU |
| Sargodha Medical College (SMC) | ≈93.59% |
| Sheikh Zayed Medical College (SZMC), Rahim Yar Khan | ≈93.54% |
| DG Khan Medical College (DGKMC) | ≈93.53% — lowest Punjab public closing |
Other provincial pools
- Sindh (conducted under the same PMDC framework, Sindh merit pool): DUHS and JSMU historically close ≈89–92%, with domicile and district quotas shifting effective cutoffs.
- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Khyber Medical College leads the KP pool, historically ≈89.5–92%.
- Federal (open to all): SZABMU and FMDC use their own weightings (Matric excluded) — a strong FSc + MDCAT combination matters more there.
- NUMS colleges (AMC, CMH network): separate NUMS entry test and merit pool — MDCAT is not the entry test for these.
How to read closing merit correctly
- Always use the FINAL list of the cycle, not the first — first-list cutoffs run 1–2 points higher before upgrades cascade.
- Compare like-for-like: open merit vs open merit. Quota, self-finance and overseas seats have separate (lower) cutoffs.
- Add a safety margin of ~1 point over last cycle's closing number when setting your target — merit has trended upward every recent cycle.
- If your aggregate is within 0.5 points of a college's last closing merit, list it — cascading upgrades regularly pull the final cutoff down to the wire.