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    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

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

    #CLAT
    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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