Band 1 — 95% and above: pick your college
KEMU closed at ≈94.87% in 2025-26, the highest in the country. Above 95% you clear every public college's last-cycle cutoff with margin. List KEMU/AIMC first if Lahore works for you — otherwise order by city and hostel preference, not by fear.
Band 2 — 93.5% to 95%: Punjab public range
This band matches the 2025-26 Punjab closing spread (≈93.5–94.9%). Your strategy is list ORDER: put reach colleges (KEMU, AIMC) on top — upgrades cascade automatically — and make sure the bottom of your list includes colleges that closed at or below your aggregate, like DGKMC (≈93.53%) or SZMC (≈93.54%).
Band 3 — 89% to 93.5%: provincial pools & alternatives
- Sindh domicile: DUHS/JSMU historically close ≈89–92% — a 91% Sindh-pool aggregate is genuinely competitive.
- KP domicile: KMC and the KP public network historically close ≈89.5–92%.
- Federal route: SZABMU/FMDC exclude Matric from their formula — recompute your aggregate for them; students with weaker Matric often jump a band.
- NUMS route: AMC/CMH colleges use the separate NUMS test — if your MDCAT underperformed your mocks, NUMS is a legitimate second shot.
- Top private colleges (Shifa, CMH Lahore, FMH etc.): open merit typically closes in this band or below.
Band 4 — below 89%: honest options
- Private MBBS: many PMDC-recognised private colleges close in the low-to-mid 80s; verify recognition and fee structure college by college.
- BDS: closes several points below MBBS at the same institutions — a strong path if you want clinical work.
- Allied health (DPT, Pharm-D, BS Nursing, MLT): rising demand, public-sector programs, and far lower cutoffs.
- Strategic retake: if your MDCAT was the weak component (it's 50% of the formula), one focused retake cycle changes the math more than anything else.