Following the declaration of the GATE 2026 results by IIT Guwahati on March 19, the centralized admission season for postgraduate engineering programs has officially commenced. IIT Roorkee, the coordinating institute for this year, has activated the Common Offer Acceptance Portal (COAP) 2026 at coap2026.iitr.ac.in.
What is COAP?
It is important for aspirants to understand that COAP is not an application portal for M.Tech programs. Instead, it serves as a “Common Window” for candidates to view and make decisions on admission offers from all participating Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore. Additionally, some Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) utilize this portal for recruitment based on GATE scores.
To secure an admission, a candidate must perform two distinct actions:
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Apply separately to the M.Tech admission portals of individual IITs (e.g., IIT Madras, IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi).
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Register on COAP to see and “lock” the offers made by those institutes.
Important Dates & Round Schedule
The COAP 2026 registration opened on March 27, 2026, and will remain active throughout the counseling season. The portal will conduct a total of 10 rounds of offers. The first five rounds are the “Main Rounds,” while Rounds 6–10 are “Additional Rounds” to fill remaining vacant seats.
| Round | Date Window (Offers & Decisions) |
| Round 1 | May 11 – May 13, 2026 |
| Round 2 | May 17 – May 20, 2026 |
| Round 3 | May 24 – May 27, 2026 |
| Round 4 | May 31 – June 03, 2026 |
| Round 5 | June 05 – June 10, 2026 |
Decision Options: Accept, Retain, or Reject
When an offer appears on the dashboard, candidates must choose one of the following:
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Accept & Freeze: You accept the offer and will not be considered for any further rounds or better choices.
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Retain & Wait: You keep the current offer but want to wait for a better preference in the next round. Note: You can only “Retain & Wait” the same offer twice.
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Reject & Wait: You decline the current offer and move to the next round hoping for a new one.
Eligibility and Requirements
Candidates with a valid GATE score from 2024, 2025, or 2026 are eligible to register. During registration, you will need your GATE Registration Number, Date of Birth, and a valid Email/Mobile Number. There is no registration fee for COAP.
Experts advise students to monitor the individual IIT application deadlines carefully, as many institutes (like IISc and IIT Madras) have application windows closing in mid-to-late April. Missing the individual institute application means you will not receive an offer on COAP, regardless of your GATE rank.