CollegePune — Best Colleges in Pune

Cutoff for Engineering Colleges 2026 — MHT-CET & JEE Percentile Guide

The 2026 cutoffs do not exist yet, and any page claiming otherwise is guessing. Closing percentiles are produced by the CAP rounds themselves — they are the outcome of who applied, what the seat matrix looked like, and how candidates filled their option forms. They publish after each round, not before. What can be said usefully in advance is how the mechanism works and what the historical pattern has been, which is enough to plan properly. MHT-CET percentile determines your position for the roughly 85% of seats allotted through state CAP; JEE Main covers the 15% All-India quota. Within a college, Computer Science closes highest, then IT and AI/Data Science, then E&TC, then Mechanical, Electrical and Civil — and the spread between the top and bottom branch at a single college is typically ten to twenty percentile points. Between rounds, cutoffs fall. A Round I closing percentile is always the highest for that seat; by Round III the same seat may have closed several points lower as candidates freeze elsewhere and vacancies open. That movement is the reason not to panic after Round I, and the reason to understand freeze, float and confirm before the allotment arrives rather than after.

⚡ Quick Answer

2026 cutoffs publish only after each CAP round concludes — they are outcomes, not thresholds set in advance. MHT-CET percentile covers roughly 85% of seats through state CAP; JEE Main covers the 15% All-India quota. Cutoffs fall from Round I to Round III as candidates freeze elsewhere. Plan using the last three years of official State CET Cell round-wise data for your branch, category and Home University status.

How a Cutoff Is Produced

  1. 1.Every registered candidate is ranked by MHT-CET percentile within their category and Home University status.
  2. 2.The seat matrix for each college-branch-category combination is published before option filling.
  3. 3.Candidates submit ordered option forms listing college-branch pairs.
  4. 4.The allotment algorithm assigns each candidate their highest-ranked option still available at their position.
  5. 5.The percentile of the last candidate allotted to each seat type becomes that round's published cutoff.
  6. 6.Candidates who float or do not report create vacancies, and the next round's cutoff is generally lower.

Historical Pattern by Branch

BranchRelative CutoffDirection of Trend
Computer ScienceHighest at every collegeRising steadily
Information Technology1–2 points below CSERising
AI & Data ScienceClose to CSERising fast
E&TC4–8 points below CSEStable
Electrical8–14 points below CSEStable
Mechanical10–18 points below CSEBroadly stable
Civil15–22 points below CSESoft

Category and Seat-Type Effects

  • •Reserved-category cutoffs run materially lower than the general category and have their own seat matrices — compare within your own category, never against the general figure.
  • •Home University seats (SPPU region for Pune candidates) close differently from Other Than Home University seats at the same college.
  • •TFWS seats have their own cutoff and must be opted for at the option-filling stage, not claimed afterwards.
  • •EWS, defence, PWD and other special categories each carry separate matrices and cutoffs.
  • •Institutional and management quota seats fall outside CAP entirely and do not follow these cutoffs.

What to Do With Your Percentile

  1. 1.Download the official round-wise cutoff PDFs for the last three years from the State CET Cell site.
  2. 2.Filter to your branch, your category and your Home University status — this is the only comparison that means anything.
  3. 3.Group colleges into reach, realistic and safe bands relative to your percentile.
  4. 4.Build the option form with all three bands represented and enough safe options that you cannot end unallotted.
  5. 5.Before Round I allotment, decide in advance what you will do with freeze, float and confirm for each plausible outcome.
  6. 6.If Round I disappoints, float rather than freeze — cutoffs generally fall in later rounds and freezing ends your participation.

📋

MHT-CET

85% of Seats

🇮🇳

JEE Main

15% All-India Quota

📉

Falls

Cutoff Trend by Round

📊

10–20 %ile

Branch Spread per College

Loading colleges…