MAT Eligibility 2026: Who Can Apply for the September Exam

The short answer

Any graduate can write MAT. Your degree can be in any stream — BA, BCom, BSc, BBA, BE, BCA, anything — as long as it is from a recognised university. Students in the final year of their degree can apply too. There is no age limit. And there is no limit on the number of attempts. That is the whole eligibility rule, in plain words.

So if you are sitting with the question “am I even allowed to write MAT in September 2026?”, for most people the answer is yes. What actually needs your attention is the small print — the degree rule, the final-year condition, and the registration deadlines that are now very close. Let us go through them one by one.

The degree rule: any stream, recognised university

AIMA, the body that conducts MAT, asks for one main thing: graduation in any discipline from a recognised institute or university. It does not matter whether your degree is in commerce, science, arts, engineering or computer applications. A BCom graduate and a BE graduate stand at the same gate.

Notice what is missing. The eligibility rules do not list a minimum percentage for writing the exam. But be careful with this. Writing MAT and getting admission are two different steps. Many B-schools set their own conditions on graduation marks when they admit students. So MAT will let you into the exam hall — but always read the admission rules of the specific colleges you want, because those rules are set by the colleges, not by AIMA.

In your final year? You can still apply

Final-year students from any stream can apply for MAT. This is the part that surprises many students. You do not need the degree certificate in your hand to register for the exam.

Two practical things follow from this. First, a college will still want your degree completed before you actually join the MBA course — so treat this rule as permission to write the exam, not permission to relax about your final-year marks. Second, plan your timing. A September 2026 score reaches colleges well before the 2027 admission season, which is exactly when a 2026-27 final-year student needs it. Writing MAT now, while your college syllabus is still fresh, is easier than writing it a year after you stop studying.

No age limit. No attempt limit.

There is no age restriction for MAT. Working professionals in their late twenties or thirties can apply the same way a fresh graduate does.

There is also no cap on attempts. MAT is held four times a year — February, May, September and December — and you can appear as many times as you want. Your best score is the one you use. If you want the full picture of how attempts and score validity work together, our guide on MAT attempts and score validity walks through it, including the one-year validity rule that decides which admission cycles your score can serve.

The dates that decide everything right now

Eligibility matters only if you register in time. For the September 2026 session, the schedule looks like this:

The registration fee is ₹2,300 for one mode, and ₹4,000 if you take both PBT and CBT. Taking both gives you two chances in the same session, and colleges consider your better score. Whether that is worth it for you depends on your preparation level and your budget.

The five free choices inside the form

One more thing sits inside the registration form that students rush past: you can select up to five management institutes to receive your MAT score, free of cost. This is not a formality. These five choices are how your score reaches colleges without extra effort or extra fees. Spend twenty calm minutes on this list before you submit the form, not twenty seconds at the payment page.

Eligible is not the same as ready

Here is the honest part. Clearing the eligibility bar takes a degree. Clearing 600 out of 800 takes preparation. If you register today, you have under four weeks to the PBT and about five weeks to the CBT. That is short, but it is workable if the weeks are structured — a diagnostic mock first, then focused work on your two weakest sections, then full mocks scored out of 800.

If you want that structure built for you, our live MAT batch runs online on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings, so you can join from anywhere in India. Every class is recorded, and e-books, mocks and mentorship are included. The live batch is ₹14,000; a recorded-only option is ₹5,000. The structured route is our MAT online coaching for 600+. And before you decide anything, look at what past students have actually scored — our results are here, including a MAT high of 771/800, with 9 of 10 students crossing 600.