GATE Counselling – CCMT & COAP Schedule, Procedure, Eligibility, Fee

GATE counselling 2021 will be conducted through two different platforms – CCMT (Centralized Counselling for M.Tech) and COAP (Common Offer Acceptance Portal). Candidates are required to choose the platform for GATE counselling 2021 based on the institute they wish to get admission in. Admissions to IISc Bangalore and all the IITs are done by registering at the COAP.  On the other hand, admission to all the NITs, IIEST Shibpur, and some IIITs and GFTIs is done through CCMT. 

Candidates with a valid GATE score 2021/2020/2019 will be eligible to participate in the GATE counselling 2021. GATE counselling through CCMT will have three regular rounds followed by two special ones. Special rounds for CCMT 2021 will be conducted for filling up of vacant seats in the CCMT participating institutes. On the other hand, for admission through COAP, candidates have to apply on the official websites of different participating institutes individually. Also, along with the registration at different institutes, candidates have to register for COAP. 

Read this article further for complete information on GATE counselling 2021 including stepwise procedure, participating institutes, etc.

GATE Counselling – Common Offer Acceptance Portal (COAP)

Candidates willing to get admission in IITs, IISc Bangalore or take part in the PSU recruitment are required to participate through COAP. Common Offer Acceptance Portal is not an application portal for M.Tech admission; rather, it is a platform where the participating institutes upload their admission offers and the prospective candidates accept those offers. Candidates can find complete details on COAP 2021 below.

GATE Counselling – Important Dates of COAP 2021

GATE counselling via COAP is held through five main rounds and four additional rounds (if the seats remain unoccupied). All the rounds will have a specified schedule. The table below mentions the important dates related to GATE counselling 2021 through COAP.

Important Dates of COAP 2021*

Candidates aspiring for admission to IITs and other institutes can check the tentative schedule of COAP below:

*Each additional round will be treated as a decisive round and candidates cannot choose the option ‘Reject and Wait’ in any of the additional rounds.*Candidates must note that the exact dates for GATE counselling via COAP 2021 will be updated as soon as the IIT-Bombay releases the official information brochure.

**Exact dates will be announced in due time

GATE Counselling – Eligibility Criteria for COAP 2021

Candidates need to register for Common Offer Acceptance Portal (COAP) after the release of the GATE result. Participating institutes and PSU’s upload their respective admission and recruitment offers on the COAP. Candidates are able to register at COAP 2021 if they fulfil the following eligibility criteria.

1. Candidates must secure a valid GATE score in  any of the following academic years for COAP 2021 registration:

• 2021
• 2020
• 2019

2. Candidates must be an Indian National

GATE Counselling – Key Highlights of COAP

1. Candidates have to register for COAP 2021 and the participating institutes of their choice separately
2. No registration fee needs to be paid for COAP registration
3. GATE counselling via COAP will have multiple rounds
4. COAP extends multiple offers to the candidates depending upon their GATE scores in every round 
5. Other than PG admission, COAP is a platform for providing PSU job offerings based on GATE scores

GATE Counselling – Registration Process of COAP 2021

During COAP registration 2021, candidates need to enter some basic details related to the GATE exam they sat for. COAP registration is free for the candidates. However, they are required to pay registration fees to apply for different participating institutes. 

The steps to be followed to register for COAP are as follows:

1st Step – Visit the official website of COAP

2nd Step – Click on the text reading ‘Registration Link’ 

3rd Step – Enter the following details in specified boxes:

1. GATE registration number
2. GATE paper code
3. Score obtained in GATE
4. Name of the candidate
5. Date of Birth

4th Step – Click on ‘Validate’ button

5th Step – Enter the captcha code as appearing in the image

6th Step – Click on ‘Submit to Register’ button

GATE Counselling – Options Available via COAP 2021

Common Offer Acceptance Portal provides three different features to the candidates via the same window. Candidates have to use the features directly or indirectly during GATE counselling 2021. The functions associated with COAP 2021 after the offer has been made are as follows.

#1 ACCEPT AND FREEZE

1. Candidates are required to select this option if they are willing to accept the offer made by the participating institutes/participating PSUs
2. Once this function is exercised, candidates will not be eligible for further offers
3. After hitting the ‘Accept and Freeze’, candidates have to further click on the ‘submit’ button to confirm the decision made by them
4. Further, candidates have to participate in the admission process of the institute or recruitment process of PSU from which they accepted the offer

#2 RETAIN AND WAIT

1. This option comes into play when a candidate wishes to participate in subsequent rounds and also wants to retain the current offer. In other words, if a candidate is willing to upgrade in the further rounds of allotment, he/she must choose this option.
2. In the subsequent round, the existing ‘Retain and Wait’ offer will be released and the candidate may ‘accept and freeze’ any higher preference OR ‘retain and wait’ any offer OR reject all the offers and still wait
3. After clicking the ‘Retain and Wait’ button, candidates have to confirm the decision by pressing the ‘Submit’ button

#3 REJECT AND WAIT

1. Candidates who are not willing to accept any of the offers in any specific round and wish to wait for the next round must choose the ‘Reject and Wait’ option available in COAP 2021
2. Candidates selecting this option will be considered for the higher preferences in the subsequent rounds 
3. The offer rejected by the candidates in the previous rounds will not appear again. 
4. After clicking ‘Reject and Wait’, candidates have to click on the ‘Submit’ button to confirm the option exercised by them

Candidates must note that in the last round of the GATE counselling of COAP, they will only be left with the ‘Accept and Freeze’ and ‘Reject’ option.

GATE Counselling through COAP – Stepwise Procedure

Participating institutes/PSUs will make offers to candidates in every round of COAP 2021. Candidates have to choose either of the three options discussed above in each round. The detailed procedure for GATE counselling 2021 through COAP is as follows. 

1. Participating institutes and PSUs will make offers to the candidates based on their GATE score
2. If satisfied with the offer, candidates have to choose the ‘Accept and Freeze’ option
3. If the candidate wishes for up-gradation in subsequent rounds, select ‘Retain and Wait’ option
4. There can be instances when a candidate isn’t satisfied with any of the offers made to him/her. In such a case, he/she must choose ‘Reject and Wait’ option
5. If you select the ‘Accept and Freeze’ option, visit the official website of the institute/PSU for which the offer is accepted and follow the prescribed admission/recruitment process
6. For both the other options, candidates have to visit the Common Offer Acceptance Portal in the subsequent rounds

Candidates must note that if they do not choose any of the three options in a particular round or do not visit the COAP portal, the ‘Reject and Wait’ or ‘Reject’ option (as per the criterion in the round) gets chosen automatically.

GATE Counselling through COAP – Round-wise Options Available

As already discussed, candidates will have majorly three options during the GATE counselling 2021 i.e. ‘Accept and Freeze’, ‘Retain and Wait’ and ‘Reject and Wait’. Candidates can check the table below to know the round-wise options available via COAP 2021. 

Willingness Options Available in Specific Rounds

1. *Candidates will be able to choose the ‘Retain and Wait’ option only twice for a specific combination of programmes and institutes. 
2. The last regular round will not have the ‘Retain and Wait’ option as this will be a decisive round. Candidates can either accept or reject an offer. 

GATE Counselling – Participating Institutes via COAP

A total of 21 institutes in India participate in the GATE counselling via the means of COAP. The list of participating institutes in COAP 2021 is as follows. 

List of Participating Institutes in COAP 2021

GATE Counselling – Centralized Counseling for M.Tech (CCMT)

CCMT is a common or centralized counselling platform for offering M.Tech, M.Arch and M.Des admission to the prospective candidates with a valid GATE score. CCMT 2021 is applicable for admissions in all NITs, IIEST Shibpur, some IIITs and some GFTIs For more details on GATE counselling through CCMT 2021, check this article further.

GATE Counselling – Important Dates of CCMT 2021

GATE counselling via CCMT 2021 will involve multiple events. Refer to the table below for important dates regarding CCMT 2021. 

CCMT 2021 Special Round Schedule

*Exact dates will be announced in due time

GATE 2021 CCMT Counselling Dates (Tentative)

GATE Counselling – Eligibility Criteria to Participate in CCMT

Candidates have to satisfy the eligibility criteria for CCMT 2021 in order to participate in the counselling process. The conducting body rejects ineligible candidates during document verification. CCMT 2021 eligibility criteria is as follows 

1. Candidates having a valid GATE score from the following admission years are marked eligible for GATE CCMT Counselling 2021.

• 2019
• 2020
• 2021

2. Candidates having a graduation degree with a minimum of 6.5 CGPA or 60% (55% incase of reserved categories) from a recognized university are eligible to participate in CCMT 2021

Some institutes have their own special set of eligibility criteria. Click here to check the institute-wise special eligibility criteria required to be fulfilled by the candidates. 

GATE Counselling – Key Highlights of CCMT 2021

1. A total of 51 institutes participate in the GATE counselling process via CCMT
2. Candidates will be able to mark the preferred choices using the CCMT 2021
3. CCMT 2021 will involve multiple rounds including special rounds 

GATE Counselling – Stages in CCMT 2021

The conducting authority will hold the GATE CCMT counselling 2021 majorly in three stages. Check the CCMT counselling stages below:

1st Stage – Online Registration, Choice Filling and Locking

2nd Stage – Seat Allotment, Seat Acceptance Fee Payment, Documents Uploading and Verification, Willingness

3rd Stage – Online Document Verification and Admission at the Finally Allotted Institute

GATE Counselling – Stagewise Procedure of CCMT 2021

All the three stages of the GATE counselling via CCMT are essential as they play a role in the admission of the candidate in the participating institutes. The stage-wise procedure for CCMT 2021 is as follows.

STAGE 1: ONLINE REGISTRATION AND CHOICE FILLING/LOCKING  

1. Eligible candidates have to register by entering their name and multiple details related to the GATE exam they sat for
2. Candidates have to pay the registration fee of Rs. 2,500 (Rs. 2,000 for SC/ST/PwD) via online mode or through SBI e-challan
3. After the completion of the registration, candidates are able to participate in the choice filling process
4. The choice filling process will provide the features of locking the college and course preferences 
5. The filled-in choices will get automatically locked after the deadline

STAGE 2: SEAT ALLOTMENT, PAYMENT, UPLOADING DOCUMENTS, SUBMITTING WILLINGNESS, VERIFICATION OF DOCUMENTS 

1. Based on the choice filling by the candidates and their performance in GATE, the seats will be allotted to them
2. Candidates can check the seat allotment result via the CCMT login portal at ccmt.nic.in
3. Candidates who are allotted a seat have to pay the Seat Acceptance Fee (SAF) of Rs. 30,000 (Rs. 10,000 for SC/ST/PwD)
4. Once the payment has been made, candidates will be able to download the provisional seat allotment letter 
5. After the payment of SAF, candidates will have to upload certain documents (in Hindi/ English version only) on the CCMT login portal
6. After the SAF payment, the options of Freeze, Slide and Float open up on CCMT login dashboard 
7. If a candidate wishes to be considered for upgradation of all the choices marked by him/her, he/she must choose the ‘Float’ option. Candidates will be considered for other combinations of institutes and courses after choosing a float option. 
8. If the candidate only wishes to change the course in the allotted institute in the subsequent rounds of counselling, then, he/she must select the ‘Slide’ option. Candidates will not be considered for allotment in any other institute if they choose the slide option
9. If the candidate is satisfied with the allotment made to him/her, the ‘Freeze’ option is to be chosen. Candidates choosing the freeze option will not be considered for any of the subsequent rounds of counselling.
10. The verifying officer will check the documents uploaded by the candidates.
11. If the verifying officer is in doubt regarding any document, a query will be raised. 
12. Candidates can respond to the query in order to clear the doubts of the verifying officer.
13. After the verification of the document, an Online Document Verification Certificate (ODVC) will be generated by the verifying officer
14. The ODVC will be verified at the time of physical document verification
15. After the verification of the documents, another willingness option is made available for the candidates, i.e. ‘Surrender and Participate in Next Round’ 
16. Also, candidates will also be given an option of withdrawal

STAGE 3: ONLINE DOCUMENT VERIFICATION AND ADMISSION 

1. The third stage only comes into play after all the regular rounds of counselling are over. 
2. Online document verification is only done for those candidates who are allotted a seat for the first time OR whose institute allotted in the earlier rounds has been changed
3. The candidates who are finally allotted a seat have to pay the balance fee after adjusting the SAF in the institute fee 
4. In case a candidate wishes for participation in special rounds, he/she doesn’t need to pay the balance fee. However, an affidavit will be applicable in such a case
5. If a candidate raises willingness of participation in the special round but doesn’t register for the same, his/her allotment will stand cancelled

Candidates must note that the procedure for all the regular rounds will remain the same as mentioned above 

GATE Counselling – Documents to be Uploaded

In the second stage of CCMT counselling, candidates have to upload certain documents for verification purposes. The online document verification is done to check the basic eligibility of the candidates. Documents required for the online document verification are as follows.

1. Proof of date of birth (Class 10 mark sheet/birth certificate)
2. Valid photo ID proof
3. Class 12 mark sheet
4. Mark sheets of all semesters of the qualifying exam
5. Degree or provisional certificate
6. GATE 2019/2020/2021 scorecard
7. Category certificate
8. Undertaking by the candidate on OBC-NCL status in the prescribed format
9. PwD Certificate (if applicable)

GATE Counselling CCMT – Online Document Verification Certificate 

After the verification of the documents, officials will issue the Online Document Verification Certificate (ODVC). Candidates will be able to download the ODVC after accessing the official candidate portal of CCMT 2021. The ODVC certificate will include the following information:

1. Personal details of the candidate
2. Details of the institution and programme allotted
3. Details of seat acceptance fee
4. Willingness (Float or Slide or Freeze) exercised by the candidate
5. STATUS of document verification.

Candidates must preserve their ODVC for future references. However, the verification officers also do the physical verification of candidates’ documents. 

GATE CCMT Counselling – Special Rounds

After all the regular rounds are conducted, the conducting body hosts special rounds to fill the unoccupied seats in the participating institutes. Candidates have to go through the registration and choice filling again for the special rounds. If the candidate is allotted a seat in any of the special rounds, the earlier allotted seat will be automatically cancelled.  

The following kinds of candidates can participate in the CCMT special rounds:

1st Type – Candidates who did not register for the regular rounds of the CCMT 2021 are eligible

2nd Type – Candidates who participated in the regular rounds of CCMT are also eligible, irrespective of the withdrawal

3rd Type – Candidates who participated in the regular rounds but did not get any allotment through CCMT 2021

4th Step – Candidates who participated in the regular rounds of CCMT 2021 but got their allotment cancelled during the document verification process 

GATE Counselling – Merit List Preparation

A merit list is prepared for the allotment of seats through CCMT considering the valid GATE scores of 2019/2020/2021. There can be instances when two or more candidates have a similar score. Following criteria will be used for the determination of merit in cases of ties:

• Candidates who are participating with the GATE 2019 score will be preferred over the others.
• If both the candidates appeared for GATE in the same year, the participant having better GATE marks is considered.  
• If the tie still persists, the All India Rank (AIR) of the candidate is considered.
• If the tie is still not broken, the date of birth of the candidates is considered. The candidate who is older is considered for a better merit position.
• If any of the above methods aren’t successful in breaking the tie, merit is decided based on a random number. A random number is generated for both the candidate, the candidate with a lower random number is awarded a better merit position.

GATE Counselling – CCMT Cut Off

The conducting NIT will release the opening and closing ranks for CCMT 2021 after the conclusion of the process. The CCMT 2021 is yet to be conducted. However, candidates can visit the official website of CCMT (ccmt.nic.in) to check the CCMT cut off from past years. 

Click here to check the CCMT cut off over the official website. 

GATE Counselling – Physical Verification of Documents

While reporting at the allotted institute, candidates will have to carry a certain set of documents for physical verification by admission authorities. The physical document verification will only lead to awarding the final allotment letter to the candidate. Documents to be carried for physical document verification are as follows.

1. All the documents uploaded during the online document verification during the CCMT 2021 counselling
2. Proof of payment of Seat Acceptance Fee (SAF). 
3. Original Migration certificate of Institute/University last attended 
4. Original Conduct Certificate from the Institute/University last attended 
5. Original Transfer certificate from the Institute/University last attended 
6. Printout of the registration form and the locked choices downloaded from the CCMT portal, duly signed by the candidate. 
7. Provisional Seat Allotment Letter (PSAL) of the finally allotted seat in Round-3 downloaded from the CCMT portal, duly signed by the candidate. 
8. Online Document Verification Certificate (ODVC) downloaded from the CCMT portal after successful Online Document Verification, duly signed by the candidate.
9. One set of self-attested photocopy of all the original documents mentioned in point 1 and a print out of Seat Acceptance Fee acknowledgement proof. The original documents mentioned in point 1 and 2 will be returned to the candidate after verification.
10. Three passport size colour photographs

GATE Counselling – Types of Fees in CCMT 2021

Candidates participating in the CCMT regular or special rounds will come across certain types of fees i.e. seat acceptance fee and the registration fee. Candidates can check the amount of fees to be paid during CCMT 2021 below.

GATE Counselling – Participating Institutes through CCMT

Following are the 51 participating institutes of GATE CCMT for M.Tech., M.Arch. and M.Des admissions.

CCMT Participating Institutes 

GATE Counselling – FAQs

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