The best tool to know the most preferred NLUs is the past years’ CLAT cut-off trends. The available CLAT cut-off data shows that candidates with the highest scores often opt for top-ranked NLUs such as NLSIU Bengaluru and NALSAR Hyderabad. Candidates were required to provide their NLU preference list after the declaration of the CLAT 2025 result. Aspirants can gain admission into only those NLUs that are part of their preferences irrespective of whether they have a good score in CLAT or not. The CLAT 2025 merit list for all three rounds has been published, which contains the CLAT 2025 cut-off. Read on to find out which NLUs are the top preference among candidates, past CLAT cut-off trends, steps to provide NLU preference, and more.
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The Consortium of NLUs conducted CLAT 2025 on December 1, 2024, in offline mode. Through the Common Law Admission Test, candidates will be admitted into the 5-year LLB programme of participating CLAT colleges 2025.
The most reliable indicator of the extent to which an NLU is preferred by the candidates is the NLU’s CLAT cut-off rank available in the CLAT merit list. Top-ranked NLUs have very high cut-offs. They often come first in the candidate’s preference list.
However, it is also important to look at the category-wise cut-offs for a nuanced understanding of the NLU preferences. The CLAT cut-off trends point towards dissimilarities within categories in the same NLU. For instance, the data for CLAT 2024 shows that a general candidate may need around 100 marks (out of 120) for admission into NLSIU Bengaluru, while an ST candidate may only need around 80 marks to gain admission.
The cut-off for a general category candidate at a lower-ranked NLU may turn out to be higher than the cut-off for an ST candidate at NLSIU Bengaluru.
The CLAT cut-off for general category is often the highest cut-off for any NLUs, so it is the best indicator to understand which NLUs are the top preference among candidates. The cut-off progressively decreases as one moves to other categories such as EWS, OBC, SC and ST. Given below are the opening and closing ranks for general candidates for various NLUs for the last four years.
The opening ranks indicate which NLUs are most preferred by top-ranked candidates. The closing ranks can help candidates estimate their admission chances in the top NLUs.
NLU | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | ||||
Opening rank | Closing rank | Opening rank | Closing rank | Opening rank | Closing rank | Opening rank | Closing rank | |
| 1 | 112 | 1 | 102 | 1 | 114 | 1 | 85 | |
| 17 | 159 | 6 | 167 | 25 | 177 | 8 | 162 | |
NLIU Bhopal (BA LLB) | 257 | 480 | 311 | 450 | 186 | 463 | 241 | 451 |
NLIU Bhopal (BSc LLB) | 486 | 915 | 187 | 1047 | ||||
WBNUJS Kolkata ( BA LLB) | 57 | 327 | 140 | 279 | 136 | 260 | 117 | 257 |
WBNUJS Kolkata (BSc.LLB Hons) | 299 | 711 | 289 | 1010 | ||||
| 159 | 367 | 170 | 379 | 70 | 383 | 155 | 378 | |
| 480 | 807 | 434 | 791 | 481 | 805 | 430 | 756 | |
| 236 | 444 | 210 | 464 | 147 | 462 | 175 | 430 | |
| 755 | 1461 | 593 | 1060 | 810 | 1820 | - | - | |
| 461 | 780 | 410 | 764 | 432 | 749 | 377 | 756 | |
| 565 | 1279 | 502 | 1250 | 563 | 1307 | 437 | 1184 | |
CNLU Patna (BA LLB) | 882 | 1398 | 790 | 1358 | 628 | 1541 | 932 | 1498 |
CNLU Patna (BBA LLB) | 1215 | 1555 | 1051 | 1552 | ||||
| 350 | 1346 | 231 | 1136 | 638 | 1461 | 413 | 1315 | |
| 469 | 1013 | 591 | 1205 | 504 | 1207 | 470 | 1191 | |
| 864 | 1667 | 637 | 1594 | 939 | 1895 | 933 | 1603 | |
| 1163 | 2141 | 1344 | 1704 | 1375 | 2569 | 1131 | 1979 | |
| 957 | 1682 | 656 | 1390 | 538 | 2080 | 1002 | 1589 | |
TNNLU Tiruchirappalli (BA LLB) | 1231 | 1763 | 806 | 1628 | 704 | 2045 | 807 | 1816 |
TNNLU Tiruchirappalli (BCom LLB) | 1259 | 1947 | 821 | 1711 | ||||
| 443 | 1473 | 99 | 590 | 325 | 590 | 64 | 548 | |
MNLU Nagpur (BA LLB) | 722 | 1529 | 491 | 1587 | 878 | 2102 | 999 | 1657 |
MNLU Nagpur (BBA LLB) | 1214 | 1623 | 611 | 1685 | ||||
MNLU Aurangabad- (BA LLB) | 1023 | 1949 | 945 | 1832 | 1824 | 2655 | 1390 | 2323 |
MNLU Aurangabad (BBA LLB) | 1361 | 2393 | 681 | 2115 | ||||
HPNLU Shimla - BA LLB | 949 | 2555 | 885 | 2102 | 822 | 2816 | 1056 | 2302 |
HPNLU Shimla - BBA LLB | 1298 | 2634 | 284 | 2150 | ||||
| 1371 | 2243 | 1060 | 1824 | 1696 | 2698 | 1314 | 2262 | |
| 626 | 1930 | 503 | 2050 | 767 | 2713 | 1094 | 2333 | |
| 1964 | 2855 | 1716 | 2243 | - | - | - | - | |
Analysing the general cut-off ranks for CLAT for the last four years, gives the following list of top preferred NLUs.
Sl. no | NLU Name |
|---|---|
1 | NLSIU Bengaluru |
2 | NALSAR Hyderabad |
3 | MNLU Mumbai |
4 | WBNUJS Kolkata |
5 | NLU Jodhpur |
6 | NLIU Bhopal |
7 | GNLU Gandhinagar |
8 | NUALS Kochi |
9 | RMLNLU Lucknow |
10 | HNLU Raipur |
In the NIRF law rankings 2024 released by the Ministry of Education, 15 NLUs find a place in the rank list. Candidates can take the NIRF rankings as reference to provide their NLU preferences for law admission. The NLU rankings as per NIRF law 2024 are given in the table below.
| Sl. no | Name | City | State | NIRF Score | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | National Law School of India University | Bengaluru | Karnataka | 83.83 | 1 |
2 | Nalsar University of Law | Hyderabad | Telangana | 77.05 | 3 |
3 | The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences | Kolkata | West Bengal | 76.39 | 4 |
4 | Gujarat National Law University | Gandhinagar | Gujarat | 69.56 | 8 |
5 | Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University | Lucknow | Uttar Pradesh | 55.92 | 20 |
6 | National Law Institute University, Bhopal | Bhopal | Madhya Pradesh | 55.64 | 21 |
7 | National University of Study and Research in Law | Ranchi | Jharkhand | 55.52 | 22 |
8 | The Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law | Patiala | Punjab | 54.7 | 24 |
9 | National Law University, Cuttack | Cuttack | Odisha | 54.49 | 26 |
10 | National Law University and Judicial Academy | Kamrup | Assam | 53.39 | 27 |
11 | Maharashtra National Law University Mumbai | Mumbai | Maharashtra | 51.7 | 31 |
12 | Chanakya National Law University | Patna | Bihar | 51.7 | 31 |
13 | Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur | Nagpur | Maharashtra | 51.43 | 34 |
14 | National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS) | Kochi | Kerala | 47.96 | 38 |
15 | Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University | Visakhapatnam | Andhra Pradesh | 47.94 | 39 |
The CLAT 2025 counselling registrations closed on May 21, 2025. Candidates were required to provide their NLU preferences after the declaration of the CLAT 2025 result. The NLU admissions 2025 will be done as per the candidate’s rank and preferences given by them. At the time of CLAT 2025 counselling, candidates will be considered for admission into only those NLUs which are part of their preferences. A minimum 15 NLU preferences must be provided. There is no maximum limit.
Login to the CLAT account
Click on update NLU preferences
Provide the NLU choices in the order of preference
Click on submit
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On Question asked by student community
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Hello,
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1. CLAT 2025 information and how to prepare :
https://law.careers360.com/articles/how-prepare-for-clat
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- https://law.careers360.com/articles/best-books-for-clat
Hope it helps !
Hello,
Yes, Hindi medium students are eligible to appear for most entrance exams, including those for higher education or competitive exams, provided they meet the other eligibility criteria like educational qualifications. Many exams offer question papers in Hindi, especially for state and national-level exams like UPSC, NEET, JEE, and law
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To use the predictor, just head over to our website and look for the CLAT section. You'll need to input your