CUET PG Vs GATE: Major Difference, Participating Institutes Name, Counselling Process
Central University Entrance Test Postgraduate 2026 ( CUET-PG )
Admission to the postgraduate degree in India is based on an entrance test or merit. Admission to the institutes or universities offering PG programs is based on CUET PG or GATE. Here, we will about the universities or colleges that offer admission based on CUET PG or M.Tech. Detailed information on CUET PG and GATE is also mentioned here.
Common University Entrance Test (CUET) PG and Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) are two national-level entrance tests. Both exams are conducted for admission to the postgraduate course in universities in India. CUET PG exam is a gateway to Central, State, Government Institutions / Fully funded, Deemed Universities / Private Universities. GATE provide you access to the top engineering colleges in India for M.Tech admission. Many PSUs accept the GATE score for recruitment.
- CUET PG Vs GATE: Major Difference
- CUET PG Vs GATE: Mode of Exam
- College Accepting CUET PG
- College Accepting GATE
- CUET PG Vs GATE: Counselling Process
CUET PG Vs GATE: Major Difference
Let us know about these two exams in detail.
What is CUET PG?
Common University Entrance Test PG is a national-level entrance examination. The National Testing Agency conducts the CUET PG exam once a year. Students who wish to get admission to the PG degree courses need to appear for the test. Admission to science, M.Tech, Language, Humanities, Common, and Acharya domains are based on CUET PG. Students who qualify the entrance test are eligible for admission to the Central, State, Government Institutions / Fully funded, Deemed Universities / Private Universities.
What is GATE?
The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering is national level exam. GATE is conducted by IISc and all IITs on behalf of the National Coordination Board, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education (MoE), Government of India. Students who qualify the entrance exam get admission to IITs, NITs, IIEST Shibpur, IIITs and CFTIs.
Commonly asked questions
The GATE 2026 exam will be held on February 7,8, 14, and 15 in two shifts. The GATE 2026 official website is launched - gate2026.iitg.ac.in. The information brochure is available on the website. The GATE MTech entrance exam 2026 will be held on different dates in two shifts- forenoon and afternoon. Registrations for GATE 2026 started on August 28.
Yes, any candidate who meets the GATE 2026 eligibility will be able to appear for the exam. The criteria include the following -
- Any undergraduate student in 3rd year or higher years of any government approved programme in any of the following disciplines, such as engineering/technology/architecture/science/commerce/arts/humanities are eligible for the GATE.
- Apart from that, the candidate must hold Indian citizenship.
- There is no age-limit or pass percentage to appear for the examination.
- Candidates from Nepal, Bangladesh, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates can apply for GATE 2026.
Candidates can check GATE 2026 exam pattern below -
| Mode | Computer-based test |
| Language of question paper | English |
| Time duration | 3 hours |
| Total number of branches | 30 |
| Sections | General Aptitude and Selected Subject |
| Total marks | 100 |
| Negative marking | Applicable only for MCQs |
CUET PG Vs GATE: Mode of Exam
CUET PG and GATE are conducted as computer based test across various test cities in India. The exam duration of CUET PG is 90 minutes, and for GATE it is 3 hours. Both of them are conducted in multiple phases.
College Accepting CUET PG
Students can check the name of the CUET PG participating institutes on the website, exams.nta.nic.in/cuet-pg/. Here we have mentioned the top 10 university names.
- Assam Down Town University
- Assam Women's University
- Baba Gulam Shah Badshah University
- Barkatullah University
- Centre for Development Studies
- Cluster University of Jammu
- Cluster University of Srinagar
- Delhi Teachers University
- Delhi Technological University
- Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya
Also Read: CUET PG 2026 Participating Institutes
Commonly asked questions
CUET UG 2026 notification was released on January 03. National Testing Agency released the CUET detailed official notification at official website- cuet.nta.nic.in. Candidates preparing for the exam can check the following details on CUET notification PDF:
- Exam dates
- eligibility criteria
- steps to apply for exam
- syllabus
- pattern
- CUET subjects
- score calculation
- normalisation process
- exam centres
- number of univeristies participating
CUET PG application form 2026 was released on December 14, 2025, to provide admissions to postgraduate degree programs like MA, MSc, MCom, MTech, MFA, and other professional degrees like MBA, BEd, LLB, and LLM courses. The last date was January 23, 2026.
Only one application had to be submitted by a candidate. Under no circumstances will candidates be allowed to fill more than one Application Form.
CUET PG 2026 counselling process will be conducted by the participating universities separately. The majority of the CUET PG 2026 exam participating universities will be conducting their counselling process online. Candidates have to visit the official websites of participating universities to get information about the CUET PG 2026 admission process. Based on last year's dates, it is expected that the CUET PG counselling 2026 will begin by June.
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College Accepting GATE
GATE score is accepted by IITs, NITs, IISc, GFTIs and many government and private universities.
| List of IITs Accepting GATE Scores |
List of NITs Accepting GATE Scores |
List of IIITs Accepting GATE Scores |
| National Institute of Technology Tiruchirapalli | IIIT Hyderabad | |
| National Institute of Technology Rourkela | IIIT Bangalore | |
| National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Suratkal | IIIT Delhi | |
| Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur | National Institute of Technology Calicut | IIIT Allahabad |
| Indian Institutes of Technology Kharagpur | National Institute of Technology Warangal | |
| National Institute of Technology Durgapur | ||
| National Institute of Technology Silchar | ||
| National Institute of Technology Delhi | ||
| National Institute of Technology Agartala | ||
| IIT ISM Dhanbad | National Institute of Technology Hamirpur |
Also Read: GATE 2026 Participating Institutes
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CUET PG Vs GATE: Counselling Process
The counselling of CUET PG and GATE takes place in May / June. It is conducted online. Students who qualify in the examination can participate in the online counselling process for admission to the participating institutes. Students are allotted courses and colleges based on their rank in the respective exam. Students have to confirm their admission by paying the seat acceptance fees after the allotment.
M.Tech admission counselling for IITs is done through the COAP portal, and for NITs, IIEST Shibpur and some IIITs, GFTIS M.Tech / M.Arch / M.Plan program admission is done through CCMT. There is no centralised counselling portal for admission to the colleges accepting CUET PG score. Check the exam website for detailed information.
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Student Forum
Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered 4 days ago
With 59 marks out of 300 in CUET PG 2026 as a General Category student, securing a seat for MA English in top-tier Central Universities like DU, JNU, or BHU is highly unlikely.
For a General category student, 180+ is considered a "Good Score" for MA English, while below 100 typically limits options
S
Contributor-Level 8
Answered a week ago
CUET PG 2026 Answer Key has been released on the official website. The last date to send objections was April 14. Candidates should know that at first, the CUET PG 2026 provisional answer key is released and after considering the objections, the NTA will release the final answer key.
N
Contributor-Level 6
Answered a week ago
The candidates should note that there will be 157 subjects in the CUET PG application form. The National Testing Agency can add the number of subjects in case the participating Universities add new courses.
The candidates will be able to opt for 20 subjects in one application form.
Contributor-Level 9
Answered a week ago
The National Testing Agency will release the CUET PG 2027 exam information bulletin in December 2026. With its release, the CUET PG 2027 application form will also be available for the candidates.
S
Contributor-Level 6
Answered a week ago
No, CUET-PG is not a mandatory entrance exam for Universal SkillTech University. Candidates who want to apply for BTech admissions can do so with other entrance exam scores such as MH-CET, CAT and XAT as well.
However, appearing in one of these aforementioned entrance exam is mandatory for Universal
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 3 weeks ago
JNU cutoff 2025 for the CUET PG entrance examination was concluded with the release of the final round of cutoffs for various All India categories.
For the General AI category, the MA in Philosophy course had an overall cutoff range of 84.33. On the other hand, for the OBC AI category, the cutoff ra
N
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 3 weeks ago
Yes, you could get into JNU with a score of 60 if you belong to the General AI category. The JNU CUET PG cutoff 2025 for this category ranged from 27.33 to 99.33 for various PG-level courses.
Students can refer to the table below to know which courses they can avail with a 60 score, as per the last
N
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 3 weeks ago
Jawaharlal Nehru University Cutoff 2025 for the MA courses was released for various All India categories.
For the General AI quota, the last round cutoff ranged from 32.33 to 99.33, wherein MA in Hindi came out as the most popular course. On the other hand, the MA in Persian was the least sought-aft
N
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 3 weeks ago
Ajay Kumar Garg Engineering College offers admission to MCA programme based on CUET-PG scores followed by UPTAC Counselling. Aspirants with CUET-PG rank between 1 and 750 can also get tuition fee waiver.
N
Guide-Level 15
Answered a month ago
BHU MA cutoff 2025 was released for admission in various fields, like Mathematics, Mass Communication, Conflict Management and Development, etc. For the General AI category, the overall cutoff ranged from 5 to 253. As per the last round, the toughest MA course was MA in Psychology, with the cutoff
N
Contributor-Level 10