Because admission now runs through CUET-UG, what a TISS undergraduate applicant faces is the national test's structure rather than an institute paper: a computer-based test with a general aptitude component and subject-specific components chosen by the candidate, conducted by the National Testing Agency in multiple shifts and languages at centres across India. TISS states which CUET-UG subjects and languages it will consider for each bachelor's programme, prepares a merit list from those scores, and then completes institute-level verification and counselling for selected candidates. The programmes concerned are social-science oriented rather than technical, covering fields such as sociology, economics, political science, social work and rural development at the Guwahati and Tuljapur campuses. The definitive list of accepted subject combinations, and the weighting applied to them, is published by TISS in its undergraduate admission notification each year.

Applicants must have passed the class 12 or equivalent examination from a recognised board, or be appearing for it in the year of admission, with the result produced before admission is confirmed. The social-science bachelor's programmes are not restricted to a single school stream, but candidates must have taken the CUET-UG subject and language papers that TISS specifies for the programme they want. Minimum qualifying marks, if any, along with category relaxation, reservation rules and any age-related condition, are those stated in the TISS undergraduate admission notification and in the CUET-UG information bulletin for the year, and should be confirmed there before applying.