Hello,

Yes, a student with CLAT 2026 rank around 12,000 can register for counselling.

However, chances of getting a seat in the top NLUs (like NLSIU Bangalore, NALSAR Hyderabad, WBNUJS Kolkata, NLIU Bhopal) are very low, as their closing ranks are usually below 4,000 for the general category.

For mid-tier NLUs (like NLU Jodhpur, HNLU Raipur, GNLU Gandhinagar, RMLNLU Lucknow), closing ranks generally go up to 5,000–8,000, so it will still be difficult.

Lower-tier NLUs (like NLU Odisha, NUALS Kochi, NUSRL Ranchi, NLUJA Assam, DSNLU Vizag, TNNLU, HPNLU Shimla) sometimes admit candidates with ranks in the 10,000–30,000 range , especially in later counselling rounds or if there are vacancies. State quota reservations can also improve chances.

You can also use our CLAT College Predictor Tool to predict which colleges you can get based on your score and rank.

Hope it helps !