CLAT past cutoffs (2018-2025): NLU-wise closing ranks for UG & PG

NLSIU Bangalore typically closes inside AIR 100, NALSAR Hyderabad inside AIR 270, NUJS Kolkata and NLIU Bhopal inside AIR 540, and the 10th-ranked NLU inside AIR 2,900 - cycle to cycle the spread has been stable. Roughly 95+ marks (out of 120) buys NLSIU, 85-94 buys NALSAR or NUJS, 75-84 buys an NLU in the next tier; below 60 sits outside the closing ranks at the 22 NLUs.

CLAT cutoffs at NLUs aren't a fixed score - they're published as closing All-India ranks (AIR) at each counselling round. The first-round closing rank is sharpest; later rounds drift higher as candidates upgrade or withdraw. Numbers below are final round-5 closing ranks (General, All-India quota) for the BA LLB (Hons) programme.

Ready to test where you stand against these closing ranks? Take a free CLAT mock and see your indicative NLU rank in 2 hours.

What are the UG-CLAT top-10 NLU closing ranks?

The gap between a target NLU rank and your current trajectory is most precisely measured on a timed paper. Take a free CLAT mock and the rank predictor maps your score against these same closing-rank tables.

What are the PG-CLAT LLM closing ranks?

How do you translate rank to CLAT score?

The Consortium does not publish a year-on-year "raw score → rank" table, but indicative correlations from past papers (UG-CLAT, out of 120):

• 95+ marks: AIR ~1-80 (NLSIU within reach).
• 85-94 marks: AIR ~80-500 (NALSAR, NUJS, NLIU competitive).
• 75-84 marks: AIR ~500-1,500 (NLU Jodhpur, GNLU, HNLU range).
• 65-74 marks: AIR ~1,500-3,500 (mid-tier NLUs accessible).
• Below 60: Below the AIR cutoff at the 24 NLUs. Consider affiliate law schools or repeat CLAT next year.

The marks-to-rank bands above are an average across cycles; on any one paper your placement within the band moves with paper difficulty and the rest of the cohort. Take a free CLAT mock in Exam-like mode for a much more precise read on where you actually stand.

How do the Consortium counselling rounds work?

The Consortium of NLUs runs a single centralised counselling cycle, not 22 independent admissions. Understanding the flow is what separates candidates who end up at the NLU they want from those who panic-lock a seat in round one and regret it in round three.

• Preference filling: Done once at the time of application (rank-order all 22 NLUs you would accept). You cannot change the order after the form closes - the only way to influence allotment later is to accept, freeze or withdraw at each round.
• Round 1 (early January): First allotment by AIR x preference. Candidates either confirm and pay the counselling fee, freeze the seat (no further upgrade), or float (accept current seat but stay in upgrade pool).
• Rounds 2 - 4 (Jan - Apr): Seats vacated by round 1 candidates who locked elsewhere or withdrew get redistributed. Floaters upgrade if their preferred higher-ranked NLU has opened up. Each round closes faster than the previous one.
• Spot allotment (May - July): Residual vacant seats are filled in spot rounds, often physically at the allotting NLU. Closing ranks at spot rounds drift significantly higher than the round 1 numbers reported in our tables.
• Withdraw window: A candidate who pays the counselling fee can withdraw before classes begin to reclaim most of the deposit; the exact refund schedule is published in the counselling brochure each year.

What are the indicative reserved-category closing ranks?

Reserved-category closing ranks vary significantly across cycles and depend on the participation of high-ranked reserved candidates in each batch. The numbers below are indicative final-round bands at top NLUs - the Consortium publishes the exact category-wise lists in each year's counselling brochure and these should be consulted before drawing conclusions.

The bands are wider than the general-category bands because reserved cohort sizes are smaller and a single high-ranked candidate can swing the closing rank. Treat them as direction-of-travel, not as a guarantee, and always consult the latest Consortium counselling data before planning around a specific number.

How do NLU fees and total cost of attendance vary?

The biggest blind spot for many CLAT candidates is the second-order cost question: a top NLU rank places you at the institution, but the fee structure varies a lot across the 22 NLUs. Indicative annual costs (tuition + hostel + mess + misc) for the BA LLB programme:

Fees are revised annually; the numbers above are indicative ranges and vary year to year. Most NLUs run institute-level fee waivers for high-CLAT-rank candidates and need-based scholarships for low-income families - the effective cost can be significantly lower than the headline number for a top-200 AIR candidate from a family below the income threshold.

Where does NLU Delhi (AILET) fit in?

NLU Delhi (NLU-D) is consistently ranked between NLSIU and NALSAR in most law school rankings, but it sits outside the CLAT consortium. NLU-D runs its own admission test - the All India Law Entrance Test (AILET) - and does not accept CLAT scores for either UG or PG admission.

• Separate exam: AILET is held in late November (typically a week or two before CLAT), is 90 minutes long, has 100 questions, follows the same +1 / -0.25 marking, and has no Quantitative Techniques section.
• Separate seats: ~120 UG and ~80 PG seats at NLU Delhi only. No cross-counselling between AILET and CLAT.
• Separate application: Fee is different, the portal is different (nationallawuniversitydelhi.in), and you can apply for both without conflict. Most serious aspirants do.
• Cutoffs are not directly comparable: A 95 on CLAT translates roughly to a top-80 AIR; AILET closing ranks at NLU-D sit between AIR 60 - 110 for the general category, but the underlying paper difficulty differs enough that a direct mark-to-mark comparison is misleading.