Two hundred marks. One hundred questions. No negative marking. Yet your seat depends not on the raw score you collect, but on the closing merit number at the specific institute you want. That closing number is the cutoff. For MAH MCA CET 2026, the State Common Entrance Test Cell will publish cutoffs round by round after results. The centralised admission process (CAP) allocates first-year MCA seats across more than 100 government, aided, and private institutes in Maharashtra. If you have already taken the exam on 30/03/2026 or are preparing for the next cycle, understanding how those cutoff numbers form and move is what separates a well-planned preference list from a hopeful guess. No 2026 cutoff exists yet. But by the time you finish reading this, you will know exactly how to decode official data, what drives the shifts, and how to build a CAP strategy that can survive a competitive year.

What MAH MCA CET Cutoff Actually Means

A cutoff is the last merit score (or percentile) at which a seat was filled in a specific round of counselling. In MAH MCA CET, the CET Cell publishes opening and closing merit scores for each institute, category, and quota (home university, other than home university, all India seats, and minority seats). The exam carries 200 marks, and the merit score in the cutoff lists is out of 200. Two different cutoffs matter to you.

The qualifying cutoff is the minimum score the CET Cell requires to enter CAP. Based on recent trends, general and OMS (outside Maharashtra) candidates should target a raw score of 100+ out of 200, while reserved-category candidates need around 80+. The qualifying bar only makes you eligible. It does not get you a seat.

The admission cutoff is the real contest. It is the institute-wise and category-wise closing merit score that actually secures admission. This number is not set in advance. It forms after each CAP round, shaped by the choices candidates lock, the seats available, and how many candidates withdraw or upgrade. When you see an official PDF with a number like “GO PENH 99.69,” it means the last candidate admitted under the General Open Home University category in that round had a merit score of 99.69 out of 200.

The qualifying cutoff only says you are allowed to sit at the table. The admission cutoff tells you which chair you actually get. These two numbers are rarely close.

What Shapes the MAH MCA CET Cutoff

Cutoffs are not random. Five forces lock together every year.

Exam difficulty and score distribution. A harder paper pushes average scores down, and cutoffs fall. An easier paper compresses top scores, which can push cutoffs up by a few marks even if competition stays the same. The 2023 UPSC prelims swung from 88.22 to 75.41 purely on paper difficulty; MAH MCA CET behaves identically.

Number of candidates and seat matrix. The registered pool for MAH MCA CET recently crossed 38,000+. More candidates with the same seat count push cutoffs higher. Only the seat matrix - published before CAP on cetcell.mahacet.org - tells you whether intake has expanded or shrunk.

College reputation, not branch variation. Since MCA is a single programme, there is no “branch” premium. But institute reputation creates a clear pecking order. VJTI Mumbai, SPIT Mumbai, the Department of Computer Science at Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), and a few well-regarded autonomous institutes such as Government College of Engineering, Aurangabad, consistently see cutoffs that are 10-20 merit points higher than mid-tier private colleges.

Reservation policies. Maharashtra’s reservation framework creates distinct cutoff pools for SC, ST, VJNT, OBC-NCL, SBC, EWS, and other categories. Reserved-category cutoffs are always lower. In the 2025 CAP Round I for Maharashtra seats, the Government College of Engineering, Aurangabad, closed at a GO PENH (General Open Home University) merit score of 93.41, while the GSC (General Scheduled Caste) closing was 80.54, and GST (Scheduled Tribe) 85.39. The exact gap depends on applicant numbers within each category that year.

Counselling round dynamics. Cutoffs soften as rounds progress because higher-scoring candidates who got upgraded elsewhere vacate previously filled seats. The first round shows peak competition. The spot round or round 4 often shows a massive drop. A real example: Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Aurangabad, closed its AI (All India) category merit score at 46.38 in Round 1 of 2025, then 19.15 in Round 2, 12.48 in Round 3, and fell to 9.74 in Round 4. That is a 36-mark slide. If you exited the process after Round 1, you would have missed a seat that later became available at a score a third of the original closing mark.

Actual College-Wise Cutoffs: The 2025 Picture

Before we project 2026, solid 2025 data gives you a realistic benchmark. The tables below use official CAP Round I and Round III closing marks and percentiles. Note that “merit score” is out of 200.

Top Institute Cutoffs - Maharashtra State Seats (Home University, Open Category)

Data drawn from the CET Cell’s published Maharashtra & Minority Seats CAP Round-I 2025-26 PDFs and official institute cut-off lists.

“GO PENH” = General Open Home University. AI = All India. Where AI closing is shown, it represents the closing merit score for candidates from outside Maharashtra who were allotted seats in the All India quota round. The Round III AI data comes from the CET Cell’s published PDF for the 2025-26 cycle.

For the home-state category, top institutes like VJTI and SPIT typically require merit scores above 150 out of 200 and percentiles above 99.5. In 2025, SPIT’s AI seat closed at 99.89 (all-India merit number 31 with a score of 99.8943), and the Pune University Computer Science department closed at 99.37 (merit number 178). A score near 150 often corresponds to a 99.99 percentile, as per the CET Cell’s expected marks-vs-percentile mapping.

Category-Wise Relaxation - Observed from 2025 Data

Reserved-category cutoffs are consistently lower. The Government College of Engineering, Aurangabad, round I MH seat data shows:

Even within the All India quota, the closing scores drop meaningfully for reserved categories. In lower-tier institutes, the fall is steeper: the Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Aurangabad, saw its Round 1 GSC (SC Home) close at 49.35, while GO PENH AI was 56.55. EWS cutoffs sit just a few marks below General Open, but SC/ST can see a 20-30 mark difference.

The takeaway: your category rank decides your seat, not the universal open category closing mark. When you fill your CAP choices, compare your score against your specific category’s closing marks from the previous year’s PDFs, not just the general cutoff.

Round-Wise Drop in Closing Scores

A real example from MIT Aurangabad (AI category):

The same pattern repeats across many private and lower-tier government institutes. By Round 3 or the spot round, the cutoff can be a fraction of the initial number. However, top government institutes rarely have vacancies beyond Round 2. If your score is borderline for a dream college, staying in the float pool and tracking vacancy reports is the only way to catch a last-minute opening.

How to Estimate Your 2026 Chances

No one can give you an exact 2026 cutoff before the exam. But you can build a defensible estimate using the 2025 data and the official marks-vs-percentile guide.

After the exam, calculate your raw score using the provisional answer key. The CET Cell is expected to release it a few days after the exam on cetcell.mahacet.org. Then compare with the following expected mapping, which is derived from recent sessions:

For reserved categories, subtract the estimated relaxation: OBC/EWS typically 5-10 marks lower than open, SC/ST 25-40 marks lower. But always cross-check with the actual category-wise closing marks from 2025 CAP PDFs on the CET Cell website.

The most reliable method is to take the previous year’s final round cutoff list for your preferred colleges, identify the closing merit score for your category, and add a buffer of 5-8 marks to account for year-to-year swings. If your estimated raw score is comfortably above that buffered number, you are in a safe zone.

CAP Counselling Strategy: Convert Your Score into a Seat

Your score is fixed once results are out. The rest is tactical.

Step 1: Download the 2025 cutoff PDFs from cetcell.mahacet.org. Navigate to the MCA admission portal, find the “CAP Round” archives, and download the Maharashtra & Minority Seats as well as All India Seats cutoff lists. Identify the closing scores for your category and target institutes.

Step 2: Build a three-tier preference list.

• Dream colleges: Institutes whose 2025 closing mark is slightly above your score (up to 5 marks higher). They may become reachable in later rounds.
• Realistic colleges: Institutes whose 2025 closing mark is within or below your score. These are your likely seats.
• Safety colleges: Institutes with closing marks well below your score, ideally from different geographical regions or with strong placement records despite lower cutoffs.

Step 3: Fill preferences in the CAP portal in genuine order of desire. Do not reorder based on what you think you will get. The system allocates the highest preference that matches your rank. Place your true first choice at the top even if it feels like a long shot.

Step 4: Float or slide wisely. If you are allotted a seat in Round I but want a better one, choose “float.” It signals the system to upgrade you automatically if a higher-preference institute opens in later rounds. Only freeze when you are completely satisfied with the seat. The “slide” option is not typically relevant for MCA since there is usually a single programme; still, read the CAP rules for 2026 before locking choices.

Step 5: Do not skip later rounds. The biggest drops happen in Rounds 3 and 4. The same score that looked mediocre in Round I can fetch a decent seat by Round 3. As shown earlier, the MIT Aurangabad AI cutoff fell from 46.38 to 9.74 by Round 4. If you are still without a seat after Round II, register for the spot round if conducted - that is often where the last government-aided seats in less popular locations get filled.

Step 6: Stay document-ready. Upload, verify, and keep scanned copies of everything listed in the next section. An invalid document can void your seat even if your score meets the cutoff.

Documents You Must Get Right

The CAP registration requires a specific set of documents. Missing or expired certificates can push you into the general category and potentially cost you the seat.

• 10th and 12th mark sheets and certificates
• Bachelor’s degree mark sheets and provisional/degree certificate (minimum 50% for general, 45% for reserved)
• MAH MCA CET 2026 scorecard (downloaded from CET Cell portal)
• Maharashtra domicile certificate (for Type A/B candidates as applicable)
• Category certificate (SC/ST/OBC-NCL/VJNT/SBC/EWS) issued by the competent authority, in the prescribed format, and valid for 2026-27
• Non-creamy layer certificate for OBC, valid beyond 31/03/2026, with income below ₹8 lakh
• EWS income and asset certificate (if applicable), also with income below ₹8 lakh
• PWD certificate with 40% or more disability, where applicable
• Aadhaar card or equivalent photo ID
• Recent passport-size photographs

The CET Cell verifies documents at facilitation centres after online registration. Check the official schedule (tentatively late July 2026) and do not miss the verification window. If your caste validity or non-creamy layer certificate is still pending, upload the receipt.