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

Shubham BhakuniUpdated on 26 May 2025, 05:28 PM IST

The Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) released the CLAT 2025 seat allotment for the first round on May 26. The allotment of seats was announced for each participating national law university. As these lists contain all India ranks of the shortlisted candidates, they become an important data repository for understanding student preferences and CLAT cut-offs. The CLAT 2025 seat allotment is announced in three rounds. So, each round has separate cut-offs, depending on the allocation of seats and the number of vacancies arising after students exercise web options.

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

NLU Name

General Category Closing Rank

NLSIU Bengaluru

100

NALSAR Hyderabad

150

WBNUJS Kolkata BA LLB

285

NLU Jodhpur

357

GNLU Gandhinagar

402

NLIU Bhopal BA LLB

458

NLIU Bhopal; BSc. LLB

821

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.

NLU Name

General Category Closing Rank

MNLU Mumbai

536

WBNUJS BSc LLB

652

RLMNLU Lucknow

721

HNLU Raipur

765

NLU Odissa BA LLB

943

NLU Odissa BBA LLB

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.

NLU Name

General Category Closing Rank

RGNUL Patiala

1146

NUALS Kochi

1175

GNLU Silvassa

1252

CNLU Patna BA LLB

1278

CNLU Patna BBA LLB

1424

NUSRL Ranchi BA LLB

1476

NUSRL Ranchi BBA LLB

1504

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.

NLU Name

General Category Closing Rank

MNLU Nagpur BA LLB

1353

MNLU Nagpur BBA LLB

1375

DSNLU Visakhapatnam

1489

TNNLU Tiruchirappalli BA LLB

1516

MNLU Aurangabad BA LLB

1580

DBRANLU Sonepat

1621

TNNLU Tiruchirappalli BA LLB

1642

NLUJ Assam

1643

MPDNLU Jabalpur

1762

MNLU Aurangabad BBA LLB

1850

HPNLU Shimla BA LLB

1951

HPNLU Shimla BBA LLB

1994

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.

NLU Name

General Category Closing Rank

RPNLU Prayagraj

1987

IIULER Goa BA LLB

2096

NLUT Agartala

2098

IIULER Goa BBA LLB

2150

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.

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Questions related to CLAT

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to CLAT ?

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

With a CLAT LLM rank of 13656, getting a top NLU is difficult. You may have chances in lower-ranked NLUs or private law universities, depending on seat availability and category.


You can check CLAT LLM counselling details here:

https://law.careers360.com/articles/clat-llm-cut-off


Hello there,

Having a 15000 general rank and 1740 as your SC category rank, your chances of securing a seat are very low. As per the previous trends, it is a direct no for you to get into the top-tier NLUs since the closing general rank is around 1500-3000. If

With a CLAT PG rank of 1257 in the SC category and being a woman candidate with Rajasthan domicile, you do have a realistic chance of securing admission to several National Law Universities, though the top NLUs may be difficult at this rank. Admission chances depend heavily on category-wise cut-offs,

With a CLAT PG rank of around 11,000, getting admission into the top National Law Universities (NLUs) is not likely, as their general category cut-offs usually close much earlier. However, you still have realistic chances in lower-ranked and newer NLUs, especially in the later rounds of CLAT counselling or through