Unical Matters team have decided to educate us on some things concerning Unical admission, especially those of you that are applying for UNICAL for your first time.
Before UNICAL admission is given, there are many factors that are considered before a person can see his or her name on the admission list, especially the merit list. One of such factors is the "CUT OFF MARK FACTOR".
UNICAL normally have different cut off marks prior to and during her admission session every year. I mean, some of these cut off marks comes before admission begins and some others, during the main admission.
UNICAL cut off marks can be divided into (2) broad types, namely:
1. General/Pre Admission cut off mark
2. Departmental/Main admission cut off marks.
Let us now look at some hidden facts about UNICAL cut off marks.
GENERAL CUT OFF MARK
This general cut off mark is the cut off mark that UNICAL normally release before the main admission every year. It is the cut off mark that every UNICAL aspirant MUST attain before he or she proceeds to buy UNICAL admission screening form. However, this cut off mark varies each admission season. This change in the general cut off mark is normally determined by the following factors:
1. JAMB benchmark for Universities
2. Average JAMB-UTME Performance of no. 3 below
3. Number of candidates that made UNICAL their most preferred institution.
This implies that, the higher the average mark of the total number of candidates that chose UNICAL, the higher their general cut off mark and vice visa which inturn must not go below the JAMB Benchmark for Universities for that year. It is pertinent you know that, since 2015 till date (2017, 2018 and 2019 excluded), UNICAL general cut off mark has always been 180 with over 30,000 applicants, competing for a little admission space.
In a clear sense, UNICAL general cut off mark was 160 last year, and only those who scored 160 or above in JAMB-UTME were qualified to pick her screening/post utme form.
DEPARTMENTAL CUT OFF MARKS
Please, I will advise you pay much attention to this very part. This departmental cut off mark is the main cut off mark that plays the major role in UNICAL admission, especially on merit.
DIVISION OF DEPARTMENTAL CUT OFF MARKS
In UNICAL admissions, Departmental cut off marks are categorized in the following way or method:
1. Merit cut off marks
2. Locality cut off marks
3. Educationally Less Developed States Cut off marks
Now, let us look at them one after the other.
MERIT CUT OFF MARKS
A merit cut off mark of any department in UNICAL, is simply that cut off mark that, once attained or above it, you must be admitted on her 1st admission list. For instance, in 2017, the merit cut off mark for Medicine & Surgery was 291. Now, believe me dear, many people then had the average of 294, 295, 300+ etc. So, anybody that falls within this range, their names must appear on the merit list, irrespective of their state of origin provided they met the SSCE requirements of that department.
LOCALITY (CATCHMENT) CUT OFF MARK
By definition, catchment areas are the geographical areas served by an institution. To break it down a little bit, we can also say the geographical areas in which an institution is located. Every Federal Government universities in Nigeria have their own catchment areas that they primarily serve which comes with special admission considerations.
Now, if you happen to hail from any of the locality states, UNICAL use to go to market, cook and prepare delicious and unique cut off marks for you people. For instance, in the same 2017, Medicine & Surgery merit cut off mark was 291 as I said earlier, but the locality cut off marks of the above states was 279.
So, assuming that you are from Akwa Ibom State and your average is 280, if you see your name on the admission list, bear in mind that you were admitted based on catchment area cut off mark, and not merit cut off mark.
SEE ALSO: HOW TO BUY ADMISSION IN UNICAL
EDUCATIONALLY LESS DEVELOPED STATES
The acronym for this is ELDs. In a bid to ensure a uniform development of the country’s educational sector, the Federal Government, over 25 years ago, formulated a policy of granting some preference to candidates seeking admission into universities across the country, from states that are termed educationally less developed.
Most states of the north, and a few ones from the South-South and Southeast fall in this category. E.g Cross River, Ebonyi, Kano, Sokoto, etc.
One good thing about this set of people's cut off mark is that it is usually low. I mean, relatively low. For instance, In 2017, medicine & surgery merit cut off mark was 291. The locality cut off mark was 279, but guess what dear? The cut off mark for ELDs for Medicine & Surgery was 276.
Last year, each locality and ELD states were assigned a unique cut offs which were relatively lower than the merit cut off matk. I.e; the locality cut off for Cross River State is different from that of Uyo and so on. These cut offs are set based on the average JAMB-UTME and Post-Utme performance of students from each of these states.
In a nutshell, admission into the University of Calabar is defined in areas of merit, catchment area and educationally less developed states.
Merit gets 45 per cent, 35 per cent is for catchment area and 20 per cent goes to educationally less developed states. 60% of candidates offering science related courses will be admitted while 40% of candidates offering arts related courses will be admitted. This simply means that more candidates applying for science related courses will be admitted than those applying for Arts related courses.
Finally, Having said all these, I want to remind each and every one of us herein that God has the ultimate and final say in everything. Sometimes, it doesn't really matter whether your from Locality area, ELDs or a relative to the VC, but the grace of God. May this grace locate you this year so that your mouth will be filled with laughter. Never you give up, no matter how you think UNICAL admission is.
Never you lose hope because of what people say about UNICAL. Only do your best, believe in yourself, be determined, do your best and leave the rest to God almighty.
As they said Money answereth all things, if you are really in need to study a course in Unical and you are not sure of getting Admission, Unical Matters can put you through if You have the money to spend
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