LLB At NLU Without CLAT 2025: What Are Your Options?

LLB At NLU Without CLAT 2025: What Are Your Options?

Sumeet SudarshanUpdated on 24 Mar 2025, 04:07 PM IST

The Consortium of National Law Universities has postponed the CLAT 2025 counselling process indefinitely due to ongoing court cases. However, there is a way candidates can do an LLB at NLU without CLAT. A few National Law Universities offer 3-year LLB programmes in addition to 5-year LLB. The admissions into NLU 3-year LLB courses are not done through the Common Law Admission Test but through entrance exams conducted by respective universities. In this article, let’s look at the options candidates have to do an LLB at NLU without CLAT.

LLB At NLU Without CLAT 2025: What Are Your Options?
LLB At NLU Without CLAT: What Are Your Options?

Which NLUs Offer LLB Without CLAT?

There are three National Law Universities that offer LLB without CLAT. NLSIU Bengaluru, NLU Odisha, and DSNLU Visakhapatnam offer 3-year LLB programmes. These NLUs conduct their 3-year LLB admissions by conducting their own law entrance exams. These universities also feature in the NIRF law rankings 2024 and are among the top law colleges in India.

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NLUs Offering 3-year LLB

NLU

NIRF Ranking

Entrance Exam

NLSIU Bengaluru

1

National Law School Admission Test (NLSAT)

NLU Odisha

26

NLU Odisha All India Entrance Test (NAIET)

DSNLU Visakhapatnam

39

DSNLU Entrance Test (DET)

LLB At NLU Without CLAT: Exam Schedule

Candidates interested in enrolling for 3-year LLB programmes at NLU must be aware of the exam schedule. They must complete the application form online from the official website of the respective universities before the prescribed deadline. After the entrance exam, each NLU will conduct the admission process separately unlike CLAT counselling which is a centralised process. The table given below provides the timeline for the exams.

Entrance Exam Schedule for 3-year LLB at NLUs

Exam Name

Application Window

Exam Date

NLSAT (NLSIU Bengaluru)

January 2 to March 30, 2025

April 27, 2025

NAIET (NLU Odisha)

February 13 to March 31, 2025

May 11, 2025

DET (DSNLU Visakhapatnam)

First week of August 2025 (Tentative)

August 2025 (Tentative)

NLU 3-year LLB Seat Intake

The number of 3-year LLB seats at NLUs is far less than the 5-year LLB seats available through the CLAT counselling process. Given below is the seat intake of the 3-year LLB programme at the three NLUs.

3-year LLB Seats

Eligibility Criteria for LLB at NLU Without CLAT

Before applying for LLB admissions at NLU, candidates must make sure they fulfil the eligibility criteria as prescribed by the university. If a candidate fails to meet the eligibility requirements then they will be disqualified from the admission process. Given below are the 3-year LLB eligibility criteria for each of the three NLUs.

3-year LLB Eligibility Criteria

NLU

Educational Qualification

Minimum Passing Marks

Other Details

NLSIU Bengaluru

Graduation in any stream from a recognised university

45% for general, 40% marks for SC/ST/OBC/PwD candidates.


No age limit. Final-year graduation students can also apply.

NLU Odisha

45% for general/OBC, 40% marks for SC/ST candidates.


DSNLU Visakhapatnam

45% for general, 42% for OBC, and 40% for SC/ST categories.



NLUs Not Participating in CLAT 2025

NLU Delhi and NLU Meghalaya do not participate in the Common Law Admission Test. However, the application form for admissions into both NLUs are currently closed. NLU Delhi conducts its admissions through the All India Law Entrance Test conducted in offline mode. NLU Meghalaya admissions are done through a separate entrance exam conducted by the university. The universities offer BA LLB and LLM programmes.

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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