Spot Rounds Lower NLUs Admission Bar: CLAT 2025 Cut-Offs Fall from AIR 2,800 to 12,000
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Spot Rounds Lower NLUs Admission Bar: CLAT 2025 Cut-Offs Fall from AIR 2,800 to 12,000

Shubham BhakuniUpdated on 05 Sep 2025, 11:20 AM IST

Admissions to National Law Universities (NLUs) are in the last stage of their year-long process. The three rounds of centralised counselling in CLAT 2025 ended with several seats going vacant in NLUs across the country. The spot round admissions to fill the vacant seats in several NLUs have been held in multiple rounds. Some have gone for the 11th round of admissions to fill LLB seats, lowering the final admission bar by over 5000 ranks from the original third-round allotment in CLAT 2025. While some NLUs, mostly in tier 1, have set admission cutoffs to fill the CLAT vacant seats without diluting the admission bar, general category cut-offs in other NLUs have dropped significantly.

LiveCLAT 2026 First Seat Allotment LIVE: Consortium of NLUs merit list at consortiumofnlus.ac.in on Jan 7, updatesJan 6, 2026 | 10:48 PM IST

Around 96.83% of undergraduate candidates and 92.45% of postgraduate candidates appeared for the CLAT 2026 examination.

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Spot Rounds Lower NLUs Admission Bar: CLAT 2025 Cut-Offs Fall from AIR 2,800 to 12,000
CLAT 2025 Cut-Offs Fall from AIR 2,800 to 12,000

Admission Trends in NLUs

  • NLUs offer a combined intake of over 3500 in 5-year integrated LLB courses, of which around 1500 seats are offered in the all-India general category. While the top NLUs have higher competition, the lower/newer NLUs have fewer takers.

  • NLSIU, for example, is preferred by most of the NLUs; as a result, the seats are filled during CLAT counselling. There was no spot round admission. In fact, 85 to 90 students from the top 100 opt for NLSIU every year, resulting in intense competition and a success rate of less than 0.4% from 60,000 candidates.

  • After NLSIU, NALSAR Hyderabad, WBNUJS Kolkata, NLU Jodhpur, GNLU Gandhinagar and NLU Bhopal are the most preferred NLUs. The preference order among the majority of students remains as given above. NALSAR Hyderabad, while filling the vacant seat, made it clear that only CLAT AIR 200 or below-ranked candidates can apply during the spot round.

    Amity University-Noida Law Admissions 2026

    Among top 100 Universities Globally in the Times Higher Education (THE) Interdisciplinary Science Rankings 2026

    UPES Integrated LLB Admissions 2026

    Ranked #18 amongst Institutions in India by NIRF | Ranked #1 in India for Academic Reputation by QS Rankings | 16 LPA Highest CTC

  • These universities are followed by the tier 2 NLUs such as RMNLU Lucknow, MNLU Mumbai, NLU Odisha, NLU Ranchi, NLU Kochi and NLU Patna. Cutoffs in these universities remain between All India Rank 800 - 1500 during CLAT counselling. They drop marginally in spot rounds due to the exercise of “betterment” or the “exit” option by some students.

  • Tier 3 or newer NLUs face challenging situations, and the spot round admissions are held in several rounds. A majority of students either prefer upgrading to a higher NLU or opt for non-NLUs. The cut-offs in these universities would thus slide by over 200% in several cases.

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Why do students exit lower ranked NLUs?

  • They are relatively new and yet to establish themselves

  • These NLUs often struggle during the placements, while the higher-ranked NLUs have offered significantly better opportunities.

  • Infrastructure in newer NLUs; for example, RPNLU Prayagaj, established in 2022, is yet to get its own campus and residential facility. It is currently functioning in an engineering college in Phaphamau. Similarly, NLU Sonipat has recently got its campus in Sonipat, Haryana. NLU Tripura is also setting up its campus. But they are still in the initial development phase.

  • Competition with non-NLUs: Delhi University, Jindal Global Law School Sonipat, Symbiosis Law School, GLC Mumbai, are often preferred by students over tier 3 NLUs.

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How CLAT Cut-Offs Fall from Counselling to Spot Round?

The spot round dropped the admission by over AIR 5,000 in at least two NLUs and by over 3,000 in seven NLUs. Among these is NUSRL Ranchi, the 22nd best law school according to NIRF Law rankings 2024. It released 12 rounds of merit lists to fill the vacant seats. Overall, at least 12 NLUs which conducted spot round admissions saw the cutoffs dropping by over 1000 ranks from the CLAT counselling in the general category. Only NLSIU Bangalore did not announce any spot round admissions. As of September 1, 2025, some NLUs are still conducting spot round admissions. The detailed drop across NLUs is shown below.

CLAT 2025 Cut-Offs: Counselling vs Spot Round Admissions

Name of NLU

Closing Rank After CLAT Counselling

Closing Rank in Spot Round

Drop in Rank

NLUT Agartala

2855

12515

9660

NUSRL Ranchi BBA LLB

1760

7782

6022

NUSRL Ranchi BA LLB

1667

7096

5429

GNLU Silvassa Campus

1461

4943

3482

HPNLU Shimla - BA LLB

2555

5856

3301

HPNLU Shimla - BBA LLB

2634

5881

3247

MPDNLU Jabalpur

2243

5398

3155

MNLU Nagpur - BBA LLB

1623

3976

2353

MNLU Nagpur - BA LLB

1529

3793

2264

NLUJA Assam

2141

4004

1863

RPNLU Prayagraj

2469

3906

1437

TNNLU Tiruchirappalli BCom LLB

1947

2961

1014

DSNLU Visakhapatnam

1682

2566

884

CNLU Patna (BBA LLB)

1555

2366

811

RMLNLU Lucknow

780

1500

720

TNNLU Tiruchirappalli BA LLB

1763

2424

661

NLU Odisha BA LLB

1013

1667

654

CNLU Patna (BA LLB)

1398

1981

583

DBRANLU Sonepat

1930

2470

540

NLU Odisha BBA LLB

1176

1668

492

RGNUL Patiala

1279

1704

425

NUALS Kochi

1346

1701

355

HNLU Raipur

807

1112

305

WBNUJS Kolkata( BA LLB)

327

485

158

WBNUJS Kolkata (BSc.LLB Hons)

711

855

144

NLIU Bhopal (BA LLB)

480

527

47

NALSAR Hyderabad

159

168

9

GNLU Gandhinagar

444

451

7

NLIU Bhopal (BSc LLB)

915

917

2

NLSIU Bengaluru

112

0

0

NLU Jodhpur

367

N/A

0

MNLU Aurangabad- BA LLB

1949

N/A

0

MNLU Aurangabad - BBA LLB

2393

N/A

0

MNLU Mumbai

558

550

-8

Key takeaways

The data given above shows cut-off declining massively in several newly established NLUs. Whereas, top-ranked NLUs such as NALSAR, GNLU Gandhinagar, NLU Bhopal and NUJS Kolkata are sliding marginally. In the mid-tier NLUs, the drop is between 300-800 ranks. MNLU Aurangabad did not provide the CLAT ranks of candidates shortlisted in the spot round. However, considering the student preference for the university, the cut-offs are likely to have dropped, similar to MNLU Nagpur or MPDNLU Jabalpur.

In conclusion, the data above make it clear that CLAT counselling is not a dead-end in the admission process at NLUs. The spot round admissions can drastically change the cut-off scenario and help the students secure seats even if they do not qualify through the CLAT counselling.

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Questions related to CLAT

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to CLAT ?

Since you scored 8000 AIR in CLAT, getting into top NLUs may not be possible, so it is a good idea to look for affordable and good law colleges.


State government law colleges are usually low in fees, and have decent reputation. Some options include Government Law College, Mumbai, Faculty

Hello,
With a CLAT rank of 8037 in the General category, you do have a fair chance of getting admission into UPES Dehradun, especially if you apply early and stay active during counselling rounds. UPES is comparatively flexible with CLAT ranks, and many students with ranks around this range have

With 67 marks in and SC rank 415 in CLAT, you have a very good chance of getting admission in CNLU Patna BA LLB. The SC category cut-off at Patna NLU  are usually much lower than the general category, so your rank is well within the likely range. Final admission

HELLO,

For CLAT 2026 counselling , the only official registration window announced by the Consortium of NLUs was from 17 Dec 2025 to 27 Dec 2025 that was last date to register and pay the fee. There are no additional or alternate registration dates released for 2026 beyond this window.

With an AIR of 34724 and OBC category rank of 7153, chances of getting a seat in DSNLU Visakhapatnam are low in early rounds. However, since you are already invited for counselling, there may be some chance in later rounds depending on seat vacancy and cut-off movement. You should participate