Get to know about the latest updates and changes to the Maharashtra B.Arch Admission for 2026. Find information about the cutoff trends, counselling dates and eligibility for premier architecture colleges.
Getting admission into a reputed architecture college in Maharashtra needs to be done through the Centralised Admission Process (CAP). The admission process is conducted by the State Common Entrance Test or CET Cell. All the information provided here helps you understand the latest changes to the admission landscape in 2026. It also provides a full breakdown of the admission process to help you gain admission into the best architecture college.
Changes in the 2026 Admission Landscape
The Council of Architecture (CoA) and DTE Maharashtra have created a 50/50 system of weightage only for the 2026 academic cycle. Therefore, the merit rank will now be calculated according to the pointers mentioned below:
- 50% will be considered from your Class 12 aggregate
- Remaining 50% will be considered from NATA 2026 or JEE Main Paper 2 Scores
According to experts, overlooking the importance of Board marks on the basis of 2025 trends can have the opposite effect. It is important to note that even a 2% difference in your HSC scores can move your existing rank by 200 or 300 on the state list of Maharashtra.
NATA/JEE Main 2026 Expected Cutoff Trends
Usually, official cutoffs are released when Round 1 of CAP is finished. However, the historical data from 2024 and 2025 provide a glimpse of the target scores for the most sought-after institutes. These have been mentioned clearly in the table below:
Institute Name | Target JEE Main P2 (Percentile) | Target NATA Score (Out of 200) |
|---|---|---|
BKPS College of Architecture, Pune | 145+ | 97.8+ |
Rachana Sansad, Mumbai | 155+ | 98.5+ |
Sir J.J College of Architecture, Mumbai | 165+ | 99.2+ |
VNIT Nagpur | N/A (JoSAA) | 99.5+ |
Strategic Analysis of Home University vs. Other Universities
When appearing for an exam in the state of Maharashtra, it is important to remember that 70% of the seats are reserved for students from the Home University (HU) area. The remaining 30% of the seats are reserved for students from Other Than Home University (OHU) .
Why is it important?
The main reason for this distribution is due to a higher cutoff requirement, which is around 5 to 10 marks higher for NATA.
CAP 2026 Registration Process: A Guide
The following points are useful in explaining the steps with which you can sit for the CAP 2026 Registration process:
- Visit the Maharashtra State CET cell site for registration, which will start in July 2026.
- Use the E-Scrutiny mode to verify your documents faster, including the Domicile certificate and the NATA/JEE scorecard.
- Then check the provisional merit list for any discrepancies in the marks or category fields.
- While filling the college choices, remember to add “Safety”, “Target” and “Dream” colleges. It maximises the chances of getting selected by any of your selected colleges.
FAQs
The level of difficulty of the JEE Main entrance examination is moderate to high, but the NATA examination difficulty level is easy to moderate.
Candidates must secure at least 70 points out of a possible 200 in order to pass the NATA exam, with a score between 120 and 150 being considered good.
The National Aptitude Test in Architecture popularly called as NATA is a national-level entrance examination conducted for providing admissions into B. Arch programmes across the top architecture colleges of the country. This entrance exam is conducted by the Council of Architecture (CoA) in three phases and is a computer-based test.
Bachelor of Architecture commonly known as B Arch is a 5 year degree programme which costs, on average, between INR 2,00,000 and INR 8,00,000 LPA, making it slightly more expensive than other comparable programmes.
For BArch Admissions in Maharashtra, candidates must clear JEE Main or NATA with 50% or higher aggregate in the 10+2 examination or equivalent. To get admission into IITs, candidates must clear the JEE Advanced exam followed by AAT.
The candidates who have completed their Class 12 or equivalent exam in the Science stream (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics) can apply for BArch admission in Maharashtra. They can secure admission into the course through entrance exams such as JEE Main, NATA, CUCET, AAT and MHT CET.
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