CLAT 2018: Gender Ratios and Rank Cut-offs at the 19 NLUs

It has taken a while for the authorities who conducted this year’s Common Law Admission Test (CLAT 2018) to make public the allotment lists of each National Law University.

Perhaps owing to the confusion that ensued after the shambolic conduct of CLAT 2018, the authorities only made the third and final allotment lists available on the CLAT website.

Now that the dust has settled, it is time to analyse what the gender ratio at each NLU will look like, should no more changes occur before the admission process closes on July 6. This article will also look at the rank cut-off for each NLU and the preference trends of this year’s candidates.

Gender Ratio

A total of 2141 students secured seats at the 19 NLUs this year. As per the third allotment list, 1213 boys and 928 girls have made it to the CLAT NLUs. 43.34% of the seats have been secured by girls, which is slightly more than the 42-odd per cent in CLAT 2017.

Going by the highest rank of each University, the girls seem to have done a little better than the boys, securing the top ranks in 10 of the 19 NLUs. However, only 36 girls featured in the top 100 ranks.

Here is the breakup for each NLU:

NLUNo. of boysNo. of girlsGender of highest rank
NLSIU4827Male
NALSAR6444Female
NLIU5446Female
WBNUJS6637Male
NLUJ5743Male
HNLU8674Female
GNLU10551Female
RMLNLU10456Male
RGNUL10174Female
CNLU6753Female
NUALS2238Female
NLUO8574Male
NUSRL7545Male
NLUJAA5664Female
DSNLU5256Female
TNNLS4757Male
MNLU Mumbai3317Female
MNLU Nagpur6251Male
MNLU Aurangabad2921Male
TOTAL12139282141

At four NLUs – NUALS Kochi, NLUJA Gauhati, DSNLU Visakhapatnam and TNNLS Trichy – girls secured more seats than boys. At the other end of the spectrum, only 51 girls made it to GNLU, Gandhinagar, less than half of the number of boys who secured admission. The gender ratios at RMLNLU, Lucknow and MNLU, Mumbai are similarly skewed in favour of boys.

Rank Cut-offs

The following table reveals the highest and lowest General Category rank for each NLU:

NLUHighest RankLowest Rank
NLSIU166
NALSAR11137
NLIU44428
WBNUJS43268
NLUJ129376
HNLU401657
GNLU142522
RMLNLU354671
RGNUL358924
CNLU7181186
NUALS290928
NLUO5641167
NUSRL7051255
NLUJAA10161556
DSNLU2231432
TNNLS4591571
MNLU Mumbai246503
MNLU Nagpur5201532
MNLU Aurangabad12541588

Preference Trends

A student’s preference of college may not necessarily be as per the perceived ranking of the best NLUs in the country. A number of factors, including proximity to home, and misleading surveys could sway a candidate’s decision.

This is reflected in the fact that a number of students have chosen to relinquish seats in some of the more established NLUs. As many as 13 students in the top 66 ranks gave up seats at what is regarded as the best law school in the country, NLSIU Bangalore. They have instead opted to join NALSAR Hyderabad, NLIU Bhopal and NUJS Kolkata.

A number of students who were eligible to get into the aforementioned three colleges have also opted for other NLUs. There is also the inclination to join NLU Delhi, which has its own entrance test.

MNLU Mumbai continues to feature high up in CLAT candidates’ preference lists, despite being in its nascent stages. As was the case in previous editions, GNLU and even NUALS was preferred to HNLU Raipur.

Last year, a student ranked 110 chose to join CNLU Patna; there has been no such trend this time around. Overall, there have been no such surprises with respect to other mid-tier NLUs as well.

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