2022 → 2025: how Kerala CSE last ranks shifted
2026-07-20
How much did the CSE race in Kerala actually change between 2022 and 2025? We joined the official KEAM allotment data for both years and compared State Merit (SM) last ranks for the core Computer Science & Engineering branch at every college present in both datasets — 116 colleges in all. (An honest note up front: 2023 and 2024 files are not available at our source, so this is a two-point comparison, not a year-by-year curve.)
The big picture
Of the 116 colleges, 89 saw their SM last rank move later (loosen) and only 27 tightened, with a median shift of about +2,160 ranks. On the surface, CSE got easier to enter. But the loosening was wildly uneven — and at the very top, it barely happened at all.
The top colleges: almost frozen
| College | 2022 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| CET Thiruvananthapuram | 443 | 482 | +39 (+9%) |
| GEC Thrissur | 831 | 933 | +102 (+12%) |
| Model Engg College, Ernakulam | 1,460 | 1,546 | +86 (+6%) |
| TKM Kollam | 1,523 | 1,804 | +281 (+18%) |
| MACE Kothamangalam | 2,039 | 2,477 | +438 (+21%) |
| RIT Kottayam | 2,641 | 3,719 | +1,078 (+41%) |
| GEC Kannur | 2,925 | 3,974 | +1,049 (+36%) |
| NSS Palakkad | 3,050 | 3,999 | +949 (+31%) |
| SCT Thiruvananthapuram | 3,821 | 5,467 | +1,646 (+43%) |
| Rajagiri, Ernakulam | 4,652 | 4,994 | +342 (+7%) |
CET moved just 39 ranks in three years. Across the traditional top ten the median shift was only about +390 ranks (+20%). The elite tier is essentially inelastic: demand for these seats absorbs whatever the candidate pool does.
The middle: where the real loosening happened
One tier down, the shifts are far larger. College of Engineering Chengannur went from 6,679 to 10,038 (+50%). LBS Kasaragod from 12,581 to 18,634 (+48%). College of Engineering Adoor from 11,762 to 18,350 (+56%). Several private colleges in this band moved even more — St Josephs Pala +64%, Viswajyothi +57%, College of Engineering Attingal +94%. If your rank is between 5,000 and 25,000, the 2025 map is meaningfully friendlier than the 2022 one.
And a countertrend at the tail
Not everything loosened. A cluster of colleges that closed near the end of the 2022 list actually tightened by 2025 — KMCT Kozhikode moved from 57,497 to 30,060, Nehru College from 55,937 to 39,548, Sree Narayana Gurukulam from 56,462 to 39,892. When seats shrink or a college's intake consolidates, its "last rank" can jump earlier even in a loosening market — a reminder that a later last rank is not a quality signal in either direction.
Takeaways
- Old cutoff lists age fast in the middle, slowly at the top. A 2022 list is still a decent guide for the top ten; it will mislead you badly between ranks 10,000 and 30,000.
- Don't extrapolate a straight line. With 2023-24 missing from the source data, we can't say whether the shift was gradual or a single-year jump.
- Watch seat-matrix changes, which drive tail-end colleges' numbers more than demand does.
All figures are SM last ranks for the core CSE branch computed from official allotment data for 2022 and 2025. Cutoffs depend on each year's seat matrix and rounds — verify against the official last-rank publications of the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations (CEE), Kerala at cee.kerala.gov.in before making decisions.