Cut Off Marks for Universities & Schools of Nursing in Nigeria

Not all schools of Nursing require JAMB UTME scores. Typically, schools that only award Registered Nursing (RN) certificates do not ask for JAMB scores, while those offering ND/HND in nursing do require it. Schools like the Nigerian Army College of Nursing Yaba and the School of Nursing at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital have incorporated JAMB scores into their admission criteria. For university-based nursing programs, a JAMB UTME score is essential, with competitive universities often requiring scores of 250 or above. However, most traditional nursing schools manage their admissions through entrance exams and interviews without involving JAMB UTME. Therefore, aspiring nursing students should carefully check the specific requirements of their chosen institutions.

I’ve got some calls from candidates who wanted to obtain schools of nursing forms of certain state-owned or federal-owned institutions. They wanted to know the JAMB Cut off marks for those schools.

I didn’t take it seriously further than to answer them as quickly as possible.

But the question keeps cropping up almost every day since JAMB released the results for admission this year.

This is why I think I must address this on my blog and help more people who can’t reach me on the phone or visit me in the office.

Do You Need JAMB UTME for School of Nursing Admission?

The answer is, "NOT for all schools of Nursing ask for JAMB UTME".

A majority of schools of Nursing, especially those awarding only Register Nursing (RN), won't ask for UTME from their aspirants. Hence, not all schools or colleges of Nursing need specific cut-off marks.

Get this right!

Only schools/colleges of nursing that are awarding ND/HND in nursing are under the control of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). 

For example, the Nigerian Army College of Nursing Yaba Lagos, School of Nursing, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Ile-Ife, and a few others recently added the JAMB UTME score as an entry requirement.

JAMB generally only has all the universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, a few schools of health information management (health-tech), and initiative enterprise institutions (IEI) under her control.

The nursing programme is being administered, majorly, by the Hospital Management Board of the institution of interest and the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria. Hence, you gain admission to a majority of these institutions offering Nursing without passing through JAMB.

If you’ve written UTME and you got a certain score, you wouldn’t need it for nursing admission into schools/colleges of nursing except for the very few already listed and linked above.

Recommended: Nigerian Army College of Nursing Form: Portal, Price, and Closing Date

What of Nursing Program in Universities?

I had differentiated between the School of Nursing and University Nursing in the past. You can check the differences before you proceed.

But in brief here, while a degree in nursing is offered in our universities, Registered Nursing (RN) and ND/HND in Nursing are offered in those colleges/schools of nursing under the hospital management board. While a degree in nursing runs for 5 years, the school of nursing is 3 and 4 years for the RN and ND/HND respectively.

Having said that, to gain admission into a university for a degree (BSN) in Nursing or school of Nursing awarding ND/HND, you will need JAMB UTME, hence a cut-off mark for it.

Universities offering Nursing will draw their cut-off marks. They don’t accept the same score, of course. For instance, while some accept 200 or above in JAMB, some may require up to 250 before a candidate can stand any chance. 

In fact, for any university, I recommend 250 - 270 in UTME before you can be confident about possible admission. This course is crazily competitive.

Check the post UTME adverts of your proposed university to see what they require of you. However, stating 200 and above in the adverts doesn't mean they will take the 200. Admission will only favor people with the highest marks - starting from that benchmark.

Recommended: Can an Art or Commercial Student Study Nursing/Medicine?

Polytechnics Offering Nursing Need JAMB and They Draw Cut-Off Marks

Polytechnics are not offering Nursing as a course, in the real sense of it. Some people mistake colleges of Nursing that awarded ND/HND in Nursing for polytechnics because other conventional polytechnics, truly award ND/HND in their courses too.

Having established that colleges of Nursing offering ND/HND in Nursing are also referred to as polytechnics offering Nursing, the List of Polytechnics/Colleges Offering Nursing in Nigeria explains further.

These schools require their aspirants, as stated in the earlier section, just like other polytechnics and colleges, to obtain the JAMB UTME form, sit for the exams, pass, and meet or beat their cut-off marks before they can be considered for the course.

For example, the Nigerian Army College of Nursing Yaba, Lagos offers ND/HND in Nursing and requires usually 160 and above in UTME before aspirants can obtain its entrance form. School of Nursing, Obafemi Awolowo University, Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife requires 180 or above.

So, for this set of schools offering Nursing too, JAMB is a must.

Recommended: School of Nursing/Health Tech Exams: Objectives or Theories?

How Will Schools/Colleges that Don't Need JAMB for Nursing Admit?

Since they won’t need JAMB, how will schools/colleges of Nursing offer admission then?

The process of admission to the schools of nursing, that won't ask for JAMB, is detailed below:

1. The hospital management will announce sales of their entry forms e.g. UITCH, UNILORIN TCH, FMC Ido-Ekiti, LUTH, School of Nursing Kaduna, FCT School of Nursing, etc.
2. Interested applicants are to obtain their forms online or on-campus (depending on the method being used by the college)
3. After a successful application, applicants will be scheduled for entrance exams/tests (not JAMB but regular entrance exams)
4. Then, the management will draw the cut-off marks. For example, if the test total score is 100, they may demand 60 or above for the candidates that will be qualified for the succeeding interview. The higher your score, the better.
5. Next is the interview which usually takes the form of physical checking of candidates’ O’level results and related credentials together with the oral interactive session.
6. Finally, the admission list will be released in favor of those who passed both the test and the interview.

Recommended: Universities Of Nursing Accepting 150, 160, 170, 180?

Conclusion

While you’ll need to meet up with certain drawn cut-off marks for BSC nursing at Universities and for schools of Nursing offering ND/HND, schools/colleges of Nursing offering general/basic nursing won’t need UTME or any cut-off marks whatsoever.

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