GATE COAP 2024: Registration (Started), Dates OUT, Offer Rounds, MTech Cutoff, Admission Process

COAP full form is the Common Offer Acceptance Portal, initiated in 2017. Candidates with valid GATE scores are required to register at COAP to access the offers by IITs for MTech admission or job offers from the PSUs. COAP provides the platform for the candidates to practice the choices of offers by the IITs/PSUs and allows the candidates to make informed choices.

Every year, the GATE organizing institute of the preceding year acts as the coordinating institute for COAP. The IITs that participate in COAP are IISc Bangalore, IIT Bhilai, IIT Bhubaneshwar, IIT BHU, IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Dharwad, IIT Goa, IIT Guwahati, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Indore, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, IIT Jammu, IIT Jodhpur, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras, IIT Mandi, IIT Palakkad, IIT Patna, IIT Roorkee, IIT Ropar, IIT Gandhinagar and IIT Tirupati.

Candidates can check below some important highlights of COAP:

Before applying for admission to the respective IIT/PSU, candidates have to register at COAP. The registration process for COAP is as follows:

Step 1: COAP 2024 Registration

The candidates have to provide various personal and GATE related details while registering for the COAP. Along with the GATE paper and their “Date of Birth”, candidates have to provide the following details at the time of COAP registration:

• GATE Registration Number
• GATE Paper Code
• GATE Score
• Date of Birth

Step 2: Providing email address and mobile number

After validating the basic information, candidates have to provide a working email address and mobile phone number. The details provided must be correct as all they will receive login ID, password, instructions and all further communication related to COAP registrations.

Step 3: Final submission

Candidates have to submit the GATE COAP 2024 registration form after carefully verifying all the details. They will not be allowed to correct any detail in their COAP registration form after final submission so every detail must be verified diligently before final submission. After final submission, the COAP login ID/registration number and password will be communicated to the candidates.

Flow chart for COAP 2024 Registration and Log-in

Candidates are advised to check the eligibility criteria before COAP 2024 registrations. Applications of candidates who do not meet the eligibility conditions are liable to be rejected. Therefore, all candidates must fulfil all the eligibility conditions:

• The candidate must be an Indian National
• Candidates must have a valid GATE score i.e. qualified in 2024/2023/2022.
• In the case of more than one valid scorecard, candidates must provide the scorecard with a better score or rank.
• Candidates must check the eligibility criteria of the respective institute before applying for it

The admission process via COAP is as follows:

• Register at COAP: COAP registration is an online process. Candidates need to register online on the official COAP portal as per the schedule. Only the COAP-registered candidates can access the offers by the IITs/PSUs.
• Apply to IITs/PSU: Candidates should apply separately to the respective IITs for MTech admission / PSU for the job. While applying to the respective IITs/PSUs candidates have to enter the COAP registration number.
• Rounds of offers: When the round of offers starts at COAP as per the schedule, if you have received any offers then the same will appear in the COAP Dashboard.
• Offer selection: Select the offer of your choice then press (‘Accept and Freeze’ or ‘Retain and Wait or Reject all above and wait’) and confirm it by clicking OK. All offers will be rejected when you select ‘Reject all above and wait’. Press “Freeze Decision” for final submission when you are satisfied. 
• Visit the website of the institute/PSU for admission: After the candidate has selected and finalised an offer at COAP, they have to then visit the official website of the IIT/PSU of which they have accepted the offer and complete the admission process as per their set guidelines and dates.

IITs and PSUs provide their offers to the candidates in rounds. There are around 5 main rounds of offers and 7 additional rounds of offers. The candidates can participate in each of these rounds and practice the choices of offers from their COAP dashboard. The round-wise options available for the candidates in COAP are as follows:

Main rounds in COAP

*No, if you have already used Retain & Wait on the same offer twice. The same offer refers to the program “XYZ” of a particular Institute “ABC”.

Additional rounds in COAP

**Only for those institutes that would like to continue beyond Round 9. *Only if there are no more additional rounds.

Candidates have the following options once they have offers in their COAP dashboard:

Option 1 - 'Accept and Freeze'

This option should be selected if a candidate is willing to accept one of the available offers and does not want to be considered for any other offers from other Institutes, if any. Candidates selecting this option WILL NOT be considered in the subsequent round(s) of admission in any of the participating academic Institutes and PSUs. After clicking the 'Accept and Freeze' option, the candidate should click the OK button to confirm the submission of his/her decision. Subsequently, the candidate should visit the respective Academic Institute's Admission Portal or PSU's Job Portal and follow the procedure as per the instructions on the respective website.

Option 2 - 'Retain and Wait'

This option should be selected if a candidate indicates his/her partial acceptance to any one of the available offers and also would like to be considered for any other offers in other institutes, if any, in the subsequent round(s) of offers. Candidates selecting this option WILL NOT be considered for the other rejected offers in the current round. However, if any higher preferred offer is made in the next round, then the existing 'Retain and Wait' offer will be released. A candidate can choose “Retain and Wait” on the same offer (same institute and same program) only twice. Nevertheless, the candidate will be considered for the subsequent round(s) of admission offered in the participating academic Institutes and PSUs. After clicking the 'Retain and Wait' option, the candidate should click OK to confirm the submission of the decision.

Option 3 - 'Reject All and Wait':

This option should be selected if the candidate is not willing to accept any of the offer(s) of admission/job in the current round. Nevertheless, the candidate will be considered for other preferences, if any, in the subsequent round(s) of admission offered in any participating academic Institutes and PSUs. Please note, that the same offer will not appear in the subsequent rounds as you have rejected this offer. After clicking the 'Reject All and Wait' option, the candidate should click OK to confirm the submission of the decision.

Freeze Decision (After Selecting Option 1, 2 or 3): 

Candidates can select the choice from offers multiple times and press OK to confirm. After making the final choice, candidates have to click the Freeze button to complete the decision-making. Alternatively, the last selected choice of candidates will be frozen at the closure of the rounds. In case a candidate does not select any choice from the offers or does not visit the COAP portal as per the schedule of rounds, then all offers in that particular round will be treated as Reject All and Wait. 

Candidates can check the entire process for different rounds (excluding Decisive Rounds) in the flow chart below:

Candidates can check the flow chart for decisive rounds below:

After selecting an offer of joining / admission with the "Accept and Freeze" option, the candidate should visit the concerned organization's Web Page / Institute's M.Tech. Admission portal for the subsequent admission / joining procedure. The admission / joining procedure should be completed by the candidate within the due date specified by the admitting institute / PSU.

The participating IITs of COAP are as follows:

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