CLAT 2025 Round 1 Seat Allotment Reveals Trends in NLU Preferences and Cut-offs

Top 6 NLUs

The first round of CLAT 2025 seat allotment shows NLSIU, NALSAR Hyderabad, NUJS Kolkata, NLU Jodhpur, GNLU Gandhinagar, and NLU Bhopal remain the most preferred national law universities. This trend has been consistent over the years. NLSIU retains the top spot, followed by NLU Hyderabad and others.

Tier 2 NLUs such as MNLU Mumbai, RMNLU Lucknow, NLU Raipur and NLU Odisha follow the top six in terms of student preferences and closing ranks. NLU Odisha BBA LLB cut-offs are closing at 1034. This means the general category seats in the top 10 NLUs have been allocated to candidates with AIR 1034.

RGNUL Patiala, NUALS Kochi, GNLU Silvassa, CNLU Patna (BA LLB) and NUSRL Ranchi are other prominent NLUs often clubbed with the tier 2 NLUs. Among these, NUSRL Ranchi (BA LLB) has the highest cut-off under the general category — AIR 1476. All other NLUs have lower cut-offs than this.

Tier 3 NLUs

Finally, there are NLUs that are either recently established or generally less preferred by the students. These include MNLU Nagpur, DSNLU Visakhapatnam, NLU Tiruchirappalli, MNLU Aurangabad, DBRANLU Sonepat, NLUJ Assam, MPDNLU Jabalpur, and HPNLU Shimla.

The general category CLAT cut-offs for these NLUs range from AIR 1353 (MNLU Nagpur) to AIR 1994 for HPNLU Shimla (BBA LLB). Among these universities, NLUJ Assam is the oldest with the establishment year — 2009. The university is ranked 27th in the list of the top law schools in the country and has reported a median package of Rs. 6.80 LPA (lakh per annum), with only 16 out of 70 students securing placements according to the 2024 NIRF ranking report.

The general CLAT 2025 cut-off for NLUJ Assam is AIR 1643. Compared to the previous year's AIR 1474, NLUJ Assam's general category cut-off has dropped by 169 ranks in the first round itself. The university might see a further drop in the second round if students exercise the float option considering the final cut-off for the university was 1704 last year.

MNLU Nagpur had a similar cut-off last year with admission closing at AIR 1356 in the first round, compared to AIR 1353 this year. However, by the time of the fifth round, the MNLU BA LLB cut-off closed at AIR 1587 last year.

New NLUs and IIULER Goa

Among the newer NLUs, the GNLU Silvassa campus (established in 2022) has the most competitive cutoffs, closing at AIR 1252. This cut-off is comparable with tier 2 NLUs. The Silvassa campus is an off-campus of the GNLU Gandhinagar, a tier 1 NLU. The reputation of GNLU Gandhinagar has helped the Silvassa campus attract students from all corners especially those who fail to get a good tier 2 NLU.

The remaining NLUs — RPNLU Prayagraj and NLU Tripura — had cut-offs of AIR 1987 and AIR 2098, respectively. Both these universities along with the GNLU Silvassa campus are yet to graduate a single batch of students.

IIULER Goa is a new addition joining the CLAT consortium this year. The institute was established by the Bar Council of India Trust in 2022. It offers BA LLB and BBA LLB. The CLAT 2025 cut-offs for IIULER Goa are AIR 2096 for BA LLB and AIR 2156 for BBA LLB.

As the students now begin exercising the counselling web options — Freeze (accepting seat), Float (accepting and improving), and Exit options — the CLAT 2025 cutoffs are expected to change in the upcoming rounds of counselling. The second allotment for CLAT 2025 NLUs will be published on June 04.