How Much Do CLAT Cut-Offs Fall by the Final Round? Trends, Ranges & Realistic Expectations
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How Much Do CLAT Cut-Offs Fall by the Final Round? Trends, Ranges & Realistic Expectations

Sansar Singh ChhikaraUpdated on 23 Jan 2026, 12:36 PM IST

The CLAT 2026 first allotment list has been released, and the cutoffs are largely in line with last year’s trends. NLSIU Bengaluru continues to be the most preferred National Law University, recording the highest cutoff in CLAT 2026. With the release of the CLAT 2026 Round 1 seat allotment list, it will now be interesting to track how cutoff trends evolve in the subsequent rounds of CLAT 2026 counselling. As has been the trend, the CLAT 2026 cutoff for top NLUs like NLSIU Bengaluru, NALSAR Hyderabad, WBNUJS Kolkata, NLU Jodhpur etc is only expected to drop negligibly. However, the CLAT 2026 cutoff for mid-tier and low-tier NLUs can take slightly bigger drops. In this article

How Much Do CLAT Cut-Offs Fall by the Final Round? Trends, Ranges & Realistic Expectations
How Much Do CLAT Cut-Offs Fall by the Final Round? Trends, Ranges & Realistic Expectations

CLAT 2026 First Round Cutoff and Expected Drop in Ranks - What does Data say?

Every year, it has been a noticeable trend that the first round of CLAT allotments see the highest cutoffs. However, as the counselling process progresses, NLUs relax the cutoffs based on the availability of seats and preferences entered by candidates. When it comes to top NLUs like NLSIU Bengaluru, NALSAR Hyderabad, WBNUJS Kolkata, NLU Jodhpur, NLIU Bhopal etc, the drop in cutoff ranks in different rounds of counselling is almost negligible. For example, NLSIU Bengaluru and NALSAR Hyderabad only recorded a drop of 11 ranks till the last round of seat allotments compared to the first round. On the other hand, NLUT Agartala recorded a sharp drop of 840 ranks in the last round compared to the first round. The table below shows the expected drop of ranks for each NLU in the upcoming rounds of CLAT counselling.

CLAT 2026 Round 1 vs CLAT 2025 Final Cutoffs (General Category)

College name

Course name

CLAT 2026 R1 opening rank

CLAT 2026 R1 closing rank

CLAT 2025 final opening rank

CLAT 2025 final closing rank

Total fall (rankdrop)

NLSIU Bengaluru

BA LLB

2

101

1

112

11

NALSAR Hyderabad

BA LLB

17

148

17

159

11

WBNUJS Kolkata

BA LLB

102

284

57

327

43

NLU Jodhpur

BA LLB

118

310

159

367

57

GNLU Gandhinagar

BA LLB

163

372

236

444

72

NLIU Bhopal

BA LLB (Hons.)

192

431

257

480

49

MNLU Mumbai

BA LLB

383

481

443

558

77

WBNUJS Kolkata

BSc LLB (Hons.) [Criminology]

305

550

299

711

161

NLIU Bhopal

BSc LLB (Hons.) [Cyber Security]

586

666

486

915

249

HNLU Raipur

BA LLB

434

736

480

807

71

RMLNLU Lucknow

BA LLB

411

747

461

780

33

NLUO

BA LLB

459

800

469

1013

213

NLUO

BBA LLB

701

828

552

1176

348

RGNUL Patiala

BA LLB

722

1059

565

1279

220

NUALS Kochi

BA LLB

439

1076

350

1346

270

CNLU Patna

BA LLB (Hons.)

367

1141

882

1398

257

GNLU Silvassa

BA LLB

523

1210

755

1461

251

MNLU Nagpur

BA LLB (Hons.)

564

1225

722

1529

304

DSNLU Visakhapatnam

BA LLB

788

1281

957

1682

401

MNLU Nagpur

BBA LLB (Hons.)

1107

1284

1214

1623

339

CNLU Patna

BBA LLB (Hons.)

847

1287

1215

1555

268

NUSRL Ranchi

BA LLB (Hons.)

853

1297

864

1667

370

NUSRL Ranchi

BBA LLB (Hons.)

1295

1356

1164

1760

404

TNNLU Tiruchirappalli

BA LLB (Hons.)

989

1370

1231

1763

393

MNLU Aurangabad

BA LLB (Hons.)

1308

1424

1023

1949

525

TNNLU Tiruchirappalli

BCom LLB (Hons.)

1044

1517

1259

1947

430

DBRANLU Sonepat

BA LLB

1115

1665

626

1930

265

MNLU Aurangabad

BBA LLB (Hons.)

1322

1737

1361

2393

656

MPDNLU Jabalpur

BA LLB

1473

1740

1371

2243

503

NLUJA Assam

BA LLB

1162

1764

1163

2141

377

HPNLU Shimla

BA LLB (Hons.)

930

1824

949

2555

731

HPNLU Shimla

BBA LLB (Hons.)

603

1871

1298

2634

763

RPNLU Prayagraj

BA LLB

951

1930

1446

2469

539

NLUT Agartala

BA LLB

1540

2015

1964

2855

840

IIULER Goa

BA LLB (Hons.)

943

2124

1314

2784

660

IIULER Goa

BBA LLB (Hons.)

1910

2236

1198

2832

596

CLAT 2026 Rank-wise Counselling Strategy for Upcoming Rounds

CLAT Rank Range

Counselling Advice

Best Strategy

AIR 1–100

Seat almost assured in Top 3 NLUs

Freeze if satisfied; Float only for preference change

AIR 101–300

High upgrade probability within Top 5 NLUs

Float aggressively till Round 3

AIR 301–600

Strong chance in Top 7–10 NLUs

Float till mid rounds, avoid early freeze

AIR 601–1000

Mid-tier NLUs highly likely

Keep all preferences active, avoid exit

AIR 1001–1500

Best range for late-round upgrades

Patience critical; Round 3–4 decisive

AIR 1501–2000

Lower NLUs + niche courses

Do not panic after Round 1

AIR 2001–2500

High chance in newer NLUs

Focus on BA/BBA LLB in lower NLUs

AIR 2501–3000

Borderline but realistic chances

Stay till final round

AIR 3000+

Limited but possible

BBA LLB + late-round exits key

CLAT 2026 Seat Allotment - Predictions for Upcoming Rounds of Allotment

Here are some predictions for the upcoming rounds of CLAT 2026 counselling:

  • AIR 1–150: Seat almost fixed in top NLUs

  • AIR 150–600: High upgrade chances

  • AIR 600–1500: Strong opportunity zone

  • AIR 1500–3000: Late-round breakthroughs likely

  • AIR 3000+: Focus on lower NLUs + BBA courses

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Questions related to CLAT

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to CLAT ?

Start preparing for CLAT by first understanding the exam pattern and syllabus, which includes English, Current Affairs, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Techniques. Make a simple daily routine and begin with basics read newspapers regularly for current affairs, practice comprehension passages for English and legal sections, and solve basic

Hello

With an AIR of 9076 and EWS rank of 846 in CLAT 2026, getting a top NLUs is unlikely, which is why you didn’t get a seat in the first round. However, you still have some chances in lower-tier NLUs like NLU Odisha, NLU Assam, NLU Tripura, NLU Meghalaya,

Hello

With a CLAT 2026 score of 60.75, AIR 17,715, and OBC-NCL rank 3,347 as an out-of-Delhi candidate, getting a seat in the Faculty of Law, Delhi University is very unlikely. DU’s cut-offs for OBC candidates are usually much higher, even in later rounds. You should keep backup options like

Hello,

With AIR 10542 and OBC rank 1843, getting top NLUs is unlikely. However, you still have chances in newer or lower ranked NLUs like NLU Assam, NUSRL Ranchi, MNLU Nagpur/Mumbai, especially in later or vacancy rounds. Also consider good private law colleges as backup options.

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