JAMB Gave Reasons Candidates With 280 And Above Were Not Offered Admission
During the JAMB policy, there was important information that the Registrar of the Board shared with the stakeholders and the members of the public. Sometimes parents and guardians do wonder why their children were not been offered admission despite high scores in UTME. Having a high score in the examination is not a guarantee as other requirements must be met for one to secure a place.
Prof. Ishaq Olarewaju Oloyede gave six reasons why some candidates were not offered admission despite scoring above 250 or 280 in UTME.
The first reason he gave was that some of the candidates did not have O’level results. He called those sets of candidates “trier candidates”. The truth is that even if you score 400/400 in UTME, you can’t be offered admission into any school in Nigeria because O’level is very compulsory and at the core of the admission process.
Another reason he stated was the inappropriate O’level subject combination. Every course in the university has its respective O’level subject combination. For example, if you want to study engineering in the school you must have credit in Mathematics, English Language, Physics, Chemistry, and one other relevant subject. You can’t study engineering without physics or medicine without biology,
Low Post UTME score is another reason that was mentioned by the Registrar. He noted that some of those candidates scored 30% in the screening. Post-UTME is a way tertiary institutions vet candidates to be sure they wrote UTME without external aid. It sounds unbelievable for a candidate who scored 290 in UTME but failed to score at least 50% in PUTME. If such things happen, it means the candidates engaged in malpractice to attain such a high mark.
UTME combination deficiency is another major issue that was raised. You may have a high score but if your UTME combination doesn’t align, you won’t be offered admission. For instance, if you want to study medicine, the subject combination is Math, English, Biology, and Chemistry but yours was Math, English, Chemistry, and Physics. Even if you score 400/400, you won’t be offered admission.
Absent from post-UTME screening was also identified as a reason. Once you don’t partake in the screening organized by your institutions, you can’t get an offer.
Lastly, he noted a mismatch of catchment institutions. He said you come from Ogun and you decided to go to the University of Ilorin, once you are not on the merit list, you are lost because you are not catchment nor from an educationally disadvantaged area. I have discussed an issue related to this and you can read it here. This happens to be one of the most common issues with candidates who score high in UTME. It is always better to pick a school from your state or within your catchment area.
