
GATE 2026 counselling will be start after announcement of results. As per official notification, GATE 2026 result date is March 19, 2026. GATE 2026 counselling process is done by CCMT and COAP and is held in several rounds. The process of GATE counselling 2026 comprises registration, choice filling and locking, depositing of fees, followed by seat allotment and reporting to institute. COAP counselling is for IITs admission, and CCMT for NITs, IIITs, and GFTIs admission. GATE 2026 admission counselling is conducted by two major bodies- COAP (for admission to IITs) and CCMT (for admission to various universities and institutes, like NITs and IIITs). Read below to know more about GATE MTech counselling process.
- What is GATE 2026 Counselling?
- GATE 2026 Exam Dates & Schedule
- GATE CCMT 2026 Counselling Dates
- GATE 2025 COAP Counselling Dates
- GATE 2026 Counselling Eligibility Criteria
- GATE 2026 Counselling Documents Required
- IIT MTech Admission through GATE 2026 COAP Counselling
- NIT, IIIT, CFTI MTech Admission Through GATE 2026 CCMT Counselling
- Tips for Successful GATE 2026 Counselling
- GATE Counselling 2026 FAQs
What is GATE 2026 Counselling?
GATE counselling 2026 will take place separately. IIT Guwahati is not responsible for conducting counselling. Only GATE -qualifed candidates will be eligible to participate to admission counselling. The portals: COAP and CCMT are authorities to announce counselling schedule and registration process. The counselling process will be held in different rounds, based on GATE cutoff scores, branch, seat availability, etc.
- COAP, also known as Common Offer Acceptance Portal is used for admission to IITs.
- CCMT, also known as Centralised Counselling for MTech/MArch/MPlan is used to offer admission to NITs, IIITs, and other GFTIs.
Also Read:
| GATE Cutoff for NITs | ||
Commonly asked questions
The GATE counselling process starts after the announcement of results. The GATE counselling is conducted by COAP and CCMT. The COAP (Common Offer Acceptance Portal) is the counselling portal that offers admission to IITs. While CCMT (Centralised Counselling for MTech/M.Arch/M.Plan) is the counselling portal that offers admission to NITs, IIITs, and other GFTIs. The GATE CCMT/COAP counselling usually starts in the second or third week of May.
The GATE counselling is conducted online by CCMT and COAP. Authorities will announce GATE results 2026 on March 19. Qualified candidates can participate in counselling. COAP is done IIT and IISc admission and CCMT for NITs and other institutions.
GATE counselling 2026 will be conducted by COAP and CCMT, which will be done by respective IITs and IISc on rotational basis.
- Through COAP, students will be offered admission to IITs
- Through CCMT, students will be offered admission to NITs, IIITs, and GFTIs.
GATE 2026 Exam Dates & Schedule
Take a look at the table below for the complete schedule of GATE 2026 exam
| Dates | Upcoming Exam Dates |
|---|---|
| Feb ' 26 | GATE 2026 Master Question Paper TENTATIVE |
| Feb ' 26 | GATE 2026 Response Sheet Release Date TENTATIVE |
| Feb ' 26 | GATE 2026 Answer Key (Provisional) TENTATIVE |
| 19 Mar ' 26 | GATE 2026 results |
| 27 Mar ' 26 - 31 May ' 26 | GATE 2026 Scorecard (free download) |
| May ' 26 | COAP 2026 TENTATIVE |
| May ' 26 | CCMT 2026 TENTATIVE |
GATE CCMT 2026 Counselling Dates
The CCMT 2026 counselling dates will be released on its official website. The dates will be updated here. It is conducted in three phases, followed by two special rounds (depending on the seat availability). The CCMT dates will comprise the registration, choice filling and locking, seat allotment, and reporting.
Also read: GATE IIT Bombay Cutoff
GATE 2025 COAP Counselling Dates
The GATE COAP registration 2026 is expected to start in the first or second week of May. Candidates have to register to generate a COAP ID to participate in the counselling. The dates will be updated here once released. Candidates are advised to go through the website for frequent updates. Also, after the declaration of the result, many IITs like IIT Bombay and IISc Bangalore will release their cutoff, which can be helpful for students to strategise their college choices.
GATE 2026 Counselling Eligibility Criteria
The GATE counselling process is done after the result declaration. Respective IIT does not conduct admission counselling. It is done by COAP for IITs and CCMT for NITs, IIITs, and GFTIs. The mode of GATE MTech 2026 counselling is online and done in phases. Candidates must meet the eligibility to attend counselling, which are as follows - They must have qualified GATE and required educational qualification with a minimum passing mark of 60%. Relaxation is offered to reserved category students.
GATE 2026 Counselling Documents Required
While reporting to allotted college, candidates must keep following documents ready for verification
- Provisional seat allotment letter
- GATE 2026 scorecard
- Valid photo ID proof
- Birth certificate
- All education marksheets (from class 12 to graduation)
- Category certificate (if applicable)
- Provisional certificate or degree certificate
- Passport size photograph
- Seat acceptance proof
- Printout of the registration form
- Migration and transfer certificate
- Self-attested photocopies of all the above documents
IIT MTech Admission through GATE 2026 COAP Counselling
COAP portal allows candidates to apply for IITs for MTech programmes. It conducts five main and five additional rounds of counselling for seat allotment.
GATE COAP 2026 Counselling Registration Process
- Visit official website of COAP portal and register using GATE details
- Verify email and mobile number.
- Login and fill details
- Fill and lock choices within deadline
- Wait for allotment results
NIT, IIIT, CFTI MTech Admission Through GATE 2026 CCMT Counselling
CCMT counselling offers MTech admission to NITs, IIITs, and GFTIs. To participate, candidates need to meet criteria for CCMT GATE counselling 2026.
Eligibility to participate in CCMT
- Candidates must have a valid GATE score of 2024/2024/2023
- A minimum of 6.5 CGPA or 60% marks for general and OBC
- For SC/ST/PwD category candidates, minimum qualifying mark is 6.0 CGPA or 55% marks.
CCMT Seat Allotment Process
Candidates have to perform following during CCMT GATE counselling process -
-
Freeze: Accept allotted seat and confirm submission
-
Float: Keep seat but open for better choices in upcoming rounds
-
Slide: Keep seat in same institute but opt for a better specialisation.
Tips for Successful GATE 2026 Counselling
GATE Counselling 2026 FAQs
Commonly asked questions
GATE counselling is done by CCMT and COAP to offer admission to MTech and research programmes. The mode of counselling is online. Stages of GATE counselling are as follows -
- Candidate registration
- Choice filling
- Choice locking and fee payment
- Seat acceptance and downloading the seat allotment letter
- Reporting to the allotted institute for document verification
Candidates who have passed GATE exam can download scorecard. The validity of GATE exam scorecard is three years. It is available from March 27 at GOAPS portal. Candidates use their enrollment ID and password to download.
The GATE 2025 cutoff of computer Science and information technology (category-wise) can be checked below -
- For general - 29.2
- OBC-NCL/EWS - 26.2
- SC/ST/PwD - 19.4
The cutoff is the minimum mark that is required for all candidates to qualify for the exam. IIT Guwahati will announce the GATE cutoff 2026 after the announcement of results.
The expected GATE 2026 exam cutoff may be somewhere around 28-37 for general category, 26 -28.3 for OBC/EWS and 27-31 for SC/ST category. The actual GATE 2026 cutoff will be announced along with the results in March.
GATE Exam
Student Forum
Answered 2 hours ago
No, the GATE 2026 question paper has not been released. The expected release date is last week of February 2026.
S
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 2 hours ago
The difficulty level of GATE question paper changes every year, as different IITs and IISc Bangalore conduct the competitive exam on rotational basis. However, based on the last past 5 to 10 years of GATE paper review, the difficulty level usually remains moderate to tough mostly.
I
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 2 hours ago
There is no one IIT that is consistent with GATE question paper difficulty level. However, based on students and subject experts, it is observed that IIT Bombay and IISc Bangalore has a record of setting the toughest GATE question paper so far. Apart from that, IIT Kanpur is also known for setting d
P
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 8 hours ago
GATE counselling 2026 will be conducted by COAP and CCMT, which will be done by respective IITs and IISc on rotational basis.
- Through COAP, students will be offered admission to IITs
- Through CCMT, students will be offered admission to NITs, IIITs, and GFTIs.
S
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 20 hours ago
GATE EC exam - Electronics and Communication Engineering paper was held on February 15 in the first shift- 9:30 am to 12:30 pm.
U
Contributor-Level 10
Answered Yesterday
Securing 25 marks in GATE is just reaching the qualifying cutoff. For SC/ST or PwD applicants, 25 marks can be average and safe for securing good GFTIs. However, targeting core branches can be impossible.
In addition, 25 marks in Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering can give different results, base
P
Contributor-Level 7
Answered Yesterday
GATE qualification is relatively low compared to other postgraduate engineering entrance exams. On average, acceptance rate falls between 15 - 20%.
Last year, as per statistical report, out of 936019 registered candidates, 747319 candidates appeared, and 8761 students qualified.
Overall, general cu
A
Contributor-Level 7
Answered Yesterday
No, objections cannot be raised after the declaration of GATE results. Candidates can only challenge provisional answer key.
S
Contributor-Level 7
Answered Yesterday
After the declaration of GATE result, the qualified candidates will have to participate in counselling process. It must be noted that, IIT Guwahati does not conduct GATE counselling.
Admission counselling is done by COAP and CCMT portals.
Common Offer Acceptance Portal (COAP) is the centralised port
U
Contributor-Level 10
Answered Yesterday
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati will release GATE provisional answer key 2026 in the last week of February. The provisional answer key will have answers created by authorities. With help of answer key, students will be able to tally their responses and calculate probable scores.
B
Contributor-Level 7
2051 Institutes accepting GATE
IIT Bombay - Indian Institute of Technology
Powai, Mumbai • Public
IIT Delhi - Indian Institute of Technology
Hauz khas, Delhi • Public
- ₹ 70,000
- 2 years
- |
- Full Time
IIT Madras - Indian Institute of Technology
Adyar, Chennai • Public
BITS Pilani - Birla Institute of Technology and Science
Pilani • Private
Result - 19 Mar '26
Is GATE 2026 question paper released?