CET Cell has released the MHT CET CAP Round 3 cutoff 2026 data for Engineering and Technology admissions for the academic year 2026-27. The Round 3 seat allotment was declared on August 24.
An analysis of the Round 3 data shows that Computer Engineering, Computer Science and allied technology programmes continue to command the highest cutoffs at several of Maharashtra's sought-after institutes. However, the competition varies considerably by college, course, seat type, category and home-university status.
At Pune Institute of Computer Technology (PICT), Pune, the Round 3 cutoff for Computer Engineering was particularly competitive. The GOPENS category recorded a merit rank of 1,017, corresponding to a 99.7621 percentile. The LOPEN category also remained extremely competitive at 99.6657 percentile, while several reserved categories recorded cutoffs above the 99-percentile mark.
The institute's Information Technology programme also remained in the high-percentile range, with the GOPENS cutoff recorded at 99.6230 percentile.
The Round 3 data for COEP Technological University similarly reflects the strong demand for its engineering programmes. For Computer Science and Engineering, the listed category cutoffs include percentiles above 99.5, including 99.9553 for one category. Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering also recorded several cutoffs above the 99th percentile.
This indicates that students targeting the state's most preferred government/autonomous engineering institutions need to remain prepared for extremely high percentile requirements, particularly for CSE and closely related branches.
At Vishwakarma Institute of Technology (VIT), Pune, the Round 3 cutoff for Computer Science and Engineering (Artificial Intelligence) included a 98.5205 percentile for GOPENS. Other categories also remained largely in the high-97 to 99 percentile range. The Computer Engineering (Software Engineering) and Artificial Intelligence and Data Science programmes similarly recorded cutoffs close to or above 98 percentile in several categories.
The cutoff pattern is not uniform across Maharashtra. For example, at Lokmanya Tilak College of Engineering, Navi Mumbai, the GOPENS cutoff for Computer Engineering was 91.6452 percentile, while CSE-related programmes such as AI and Machine Learning and Data Science were around the 90-percentile level for GOPENS.
Similarly, the Round 3 list shows substantial variation between institutions and branches, with some colleges recording CSE-related cutoffs in the 80s or lower depending on the category and seat type. This makes it risky for candidates to judge admission chances solely from an overall percentile.
The most important takeaway is that college, branch and category matter as much as the overall MHT CET percentile. A candidate with a particular percentile may have very different options depending on whether they are targeting CSE, IT, AI/Data Science, Electronics, Mechanical or Civil Engineering.
Candidates should also remember that the official cutoff document reports merit ranks and merit percentiles for individual seat categories. The figures should therefore be read along with the relevant category, Home University/Other Than Home University status and seat type rather than treated as a single statewide cutoff.