Steps To Take Before UTME To Make Your Score Eligible For Admission

Admission into any university or polytechnic in Nigeria is now tougher than before. No thanks to our population and the limited number of tertiary institutions in Nigeria. According to Wordmeter, the population of Nigeria in 2024 is 227 million. Also, we have 170 universities (Federal, State, and Private) and 179 polytechnics (Federal, State, and Private). These statistics show that the population outweighs the number of polytechnics and universities in Nigeria.

Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has warned all tertiary institutions against illegal admission. This means the number of applicants a school must offer admission must be commensurate to the school’s capacity. Before, a school with a classroom accommodating 100 students will admit one thousand students. That era has gone. All schools now ensure they comply with JAMB policy when admitting students. In fact, all admission is now made through JAMB, either part-time or full-time.

In all this, you may be thinking, what can you do to ensure you are offered admission with your JAMB score? This is why I write this piece to guide you before you choose schools and courses of study.

5 Informed Steps To Land You Admission

• Be Sincere

I have noticed that many applicants need to be more sincere when choosing their course of study. Some courses are very competitive and require high UTME (280) and high Post UTME (80%) scores. Courses like Medicine and Surgery, Law, Nursing, Pharmacy, Accounting, Computer Science, etc, will require you to score high in UTME. These courses attract a high number of applicants yearly. Also, Universities like the University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Benin, UNN, University of Ilorin, Ahmadu Bello University, etc, are schools most applicants want to attend. So, evaluate yourself if you are up to the task for the level of competition in the school you want to attend or the course you want to study. If you know you can’t score up to at least 250 in UTME and 75% in PUTME, please leave some schools and courses alone until you can.

• Capacity Matching

Capacity matching in this context means evaluating your capacity against Nigeria’s available course of study. This does not mean settling for the less; it means you aren’t taking any step that will make you stay at home for years before gaining admission. Honestly, gaining admission to courses like mathematics, industrial chemistry, engineering physics, microbiology, international relations, agricultural science, etc., is less competitive. The reason is that everybody wants to study MBBS because his/her friend wants to do it but knows that he /she is not ready for the competition ahead.

• Change of Course Form

See, the moment you check your UTME result and discover that it is below 200, don’t hesitate to change your course if you know the school you want to attend falls among the most sought-after universities and the course is among those that are competitive. This strategic move ensures you secure admission despite the low JAMB score. If you don’t use the form, let’s say you had 200 in UTME and 65% in PUTME; some schools won’t give you pharmacy because the cut-off mark is 65% in PUTME. However, if you have changed course before the PUTME screening to pharmacy, you will be offered admission to study the course.

• Information about the school

If you are not informed, you may likely be deformed. You need to ask those already in the school to explain the school’s admission process. Not only information, you can ask for guidance on how you can secure admission into that polytechnic or university. Each of the schools is unique, and the approach to admission differs. So, you will need genuine people in the school to put you through. But be careful so that you don’t fall into the hands of fraudsters. Busy bodies are in every school, only looking for their next prey.

• Research for course prospect

Many courses aside from Nursing, Law, MBBS, etc., have good prospects. However, because every one of us still stays glued to the traditional courses, thinking our happiness and life depend on them, some applicants experience delays in progressing academically. Look at all courses available to you, check their prospect, and what can be done after completing your BSc with the course, the available career path in the course, etc. These are what will help you make your decision. Seeing a future in a particular course will help you put in the effort needed to graduate with a good grade.

This article is not to discourage anyone but to inform you of how competitive admission is. Many applicants have had to stay home for more than four years in the name of seeking admission. Most eventually settled for courses that they didn’t like. To avoid this pitfall, ensure you are being realistic with yourself, choice of course, and choice of school.