The first round counselling process of GATE 2021 has begun today i.e. on May 28, 2021, from 10.00 AM on the official COAP portal i.e. coap.iitd.ac.in. Candidates who have qualified in the Graduate Aptitude Test for Engineering (GATE) exam in 2019, 2020 and 2021 are eligible to make their most preferred choice for admission to M.Tech program in the participating institutes.
The Common Offer Acceptance Portal allow participating institutes as well as PSUs to place offers for admission/recruitment on the basis of GATE score through the common platform. The counselling process is to be conducted through five rounds. The first round has started today i.e. on May 28, 2021, and will continue till May 30, 2021. Round 2 is scheduled to be held from June 04 to 06, 2021 while Round 3 is scheduled to be held from June 11 to 13, 2021. COAP will conduct the subsequent rounds from June 18 to 20, 2021 and June 25 to 27, 2021 respectively.
It may be noted that the COAP portal is not an application portal for admission to M.Tech through GATE. Instead, candidates can access all the admission/job offers from this portal by registering online. However, they have to apply separately in the preferred participating institute/PSU for admission/recruitment on the basis of GATE score.
The complete procedure for looking at available offers and then making a choice out of the available offers has been detailed by COAP in the official information brochure. While the participating institutes/PSUs can upload their offers on the portal, candidates can select one offer during each round by Accepting & Freezing, Retaining & Waiting and Rejecting and Waiting.
Accept & Freeze – Candidates have to choose their preferred option and if they do not wish to be considered for higher preferences in subsequent rounds, then they have to choose the Accept & Freeze option. In order to confirm their selection, one must submit their selection after clicking on Accept & Freeze. Thereafter, candidates have to apply for admission/recruitment at the respective participating institute/PSU’s official website as per guidelines.
Retain & Wait – This option must be selected and submitted if candidates intend to be considered for higher preferences in subsequent rounds although they are in partial acceptance of the chosen offers in the current round. It may be noted that candidates can only Retain & Wait for a particular offer (same institute and same program) only twice. Furthermore, once Retain & Wait is confirmed for an offer, candidates will not be considered for other rejected offers in the same round.
Reject & Wait – Candidates must select this option and submit their choice if they do not accept any of the available offers in the current round. Although they will be considered for higher preferences in subsequent rounds, the rejected offers in the current round will not appear in subsequent rounds.
Concerned candidates are advised to visit the official website i.e. coap.iitd.ac.in and read all guidelines available in the information brochure carefully before registering and submitting their preference.