Reasons You Might Not Gain Admission in 2024 - JAMB

I have got a few posts showing you the reasons you’re not yet admitted or you won’t be offered admission eventually.

In a previous article, I showed you how catchment areas can affect your admission decision.

Also, I opened your eyes to the quotas given by the federal government for universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education. In the post, you’re shown the power of seeking admission for science instead of other courses. There also, you could see the power of ratio 45:25:20:10.

In another compilation, I specifically let you know why you are yet to be admitted on the CAPS. Even though that may not mean you’re unlucky finally if CAPS is yet to favor you.

In this post, I’m glad to show you what JAMB has considered as being the reasons most admission seekers may be let down eventually for the year.

The admission board officially announced the three main reasons you may not be admitted. However, the body believed there were more – which I believe my previously linked posts had justified.

In what appeared to be a plea to the board, a disappointed aspirant of the Nasarawa State University, pleaded.

Please JAMB, I'd like to bring to your notice that it saddens me to see that I did not secure admission this year. God knows how bad I read for both my post UTME and I scored over average in my screening into the Nasarawa State University. Please assist me.

Here rather, let’s look at the three official reasons admission seekers may not be admitted this year.

JAMB was quick to reply to him accordingly,

There are many criteria for admitting candidates. The JAMB score and post UTME are just a few. Your O'level is also a major consideration. Perhaps one of these sets you back, never give up. Make proper choice of institution and programme next time.

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Three Reasons You May Not Gain Admission - According to JAMB

1. JAMB Score May Be Too Low For the Proposed Course
2. Aspirants Might Not Meet the Post UTME Cut-Off Mark
3. O’level Results Grades Might Not Be Sufficient

Let’s look deeper into these mentioned points. They might be actually more difficult than they look.

1. JAMB Score May Be Too Low For the Proposed Course

Institutions usually declare the UTME score they require of you before you can be qualified for their post-UTMEs or admission screenings. For example, the University of Ibadan and the University of Lagos say 200 above. University of Ilorin, Adekunle Ajasin University, Federal University Oye Ekiti, etc list courses and UTME scores they want for each. A few others will say 180 and above while our polytechnics and colleges of education may say 120 and above.

However, that doesn’t imply that once you have the cut-off mark for your course, you’re going to be admitted. No! You’re only qualified for the post UTME or screening. I justified this in my post, "Can I Gain Admission With My Lower/Higher Score?"

In a nutshell, candidates will usually need a higher mark than they declared before they can stand a better chance for admission in this very competitive admission setting. 

In fact, JAMB cut-off marks are not enough for admission as there are possibly three cut-off marks to beat before being admitted. That was what this post, Differences in JAMB, School, and Post UTME Cut-Off Marks, was all about.

Hence, JAMB is not wrong to say if you don’t gain admission, it may be due to your lower mark (not necessarily failure) in UTME.

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2. Aspirants Might Not Meet the Post UTME Cut-Off Marks

You might not gain admission due to lower post UTME or screening scores. For some institutions, you’re to write another exam after UTME. This is called “post UTME”. Institutions such as UNILORIN, UI, UNILAG, FUTA, ABU, UNIBEN, etc will definitely test aspirants even if they meet the JAMB scores they want. 

For some institutions such as FUOYE, AAUA, UNIOSUN, ABTU, UNIMAID, LASU, etc, aspirants are only expected to register for their screening exercises. Here, you’re NOT to write any other entrance exams. The schools will admit you based on your total score/grade calculated from your UTME score and O’level subject grades.

In certain other situations, even if you score 350 in UTME but failed post UTME such as in UNILORIN, and UI (never get less than 50%) or OAU (never score less than 25/50), you will still be denied admission notwithstanding.

In other words, your higher UTME score is not enough to guarantee your admission. You have to as well pass and do well in the post UTME or screening. In the case of screening, a lower overall point may weaken your chance to be admitted.

Recommended: Two Names on My Results! Is this a Problem for Admission

3. O’level Results Grades Might Not Be Sufficient

It may appear very obvious that before you seek admission or gain one, you need to have your complete O’level results, yet candidates are not getting things right.

Having 8 subjects out of 9 in WAEC is not the problem. The problem comes when the result lacks one or two important subjects for your proposed course. 

A few of my posts such as the ones listed below may come in handy if one of the subjects required for your course is lacking.

1. Universities That Accept Maths D7, E8, or F9 for Law and Other Courses
2. Universities and Courses that Accept Biology D7, E8 or F9
3. 15+ Universities/Courses That Accept English D7 and E8
4. Universities and Courses that Accept Chemistry D7, E8 or F9
5. Universities and Courses that Accept Economics D7, E8 or F9

Recommended: Can I Edit JAMB Name, DOB, etc. on JAMB Portal?

Unfortunately, some aspirants believe in having the 5 subjects. Ask them, are they the core ones? If you have both Biology and Agric Science, for example, most schools recognize both as just a subject. In other words, you have either Biology or Agric - not necessarily both. 

The same happens in the case of Economics and Commerce. Most institutions recognize them both as one subject. Another fact you may not know until now is that – OAU doesn’t recognize Commerce for her admission both in SSCE subject or UTME.

This may be the reason you’re left out of the admission list – even though you scored higher in UTME and Post UTME/screening.

Similarly, if you chose institutions using screening instead of post UTME, you may be limited if your SSCE grades are not strong. By being strong here, I mean comprised of As and Bs in the five relevant subjects.

The more your distinctions in the 5 needed subjects the better your chance with institutions such as the Federal Poly Offa, Iree Poly, OSCOTECH Esa Oke, FUOYE, UNIOSUN, LASU, Adeyemi Degree, and a few others using screening exercises.

Recommended: I Scored Low in JAMB, What Can I do Next?

Other Reasons You Might Not Be Admitted

If you check the official response of JAMB as to why a candidate might be denied admission, “there are more factors” than the three mentioned by the board.

Below is a list of such other factors:

1. Candidates Might be Outside the Admission Age Bracket

Generally, you must be 16 by October/December of the admission year before you can be offered admission.

It doesn’t matter if you score 400 in UTME, 100% in post UTME, and acquire 9 As in WAEC or NECO, once you are a day below the admission age (16), you’re out of luck in Nigeria for admission.

Hence, it’s necessary for parents and candidates to be sure they will be rightly 16 or older by October of the admission year. And where things may not favor, consider inflating the age or just wait till next year or the right time.

Recommended: JAMB CAPS Shows 10 O'level Subjects Instead of 9: Solutions!

2. Candidates Might Not Have Done Things Right

One of the areas aspirants are not doing right is the subject combination in UTME. Out of mistake, candidates combine the wrong subjects. For example, I had a candidate who combined Chemistry, Physics, and Biology for Industrial Chemistry. This combination was wrong as Industrial Chemistry was an Engineering course that required Maths and Physics. But because of the way it sounds, you can mistake it for pure science.

Similarly, candidates who combined Economics and Commerce or Agric and Biology (in UTME) may suffer the same fate for certain institutions and courses. For example, if you write Agric and Biology for Agric courses, it’s the wrong combination. It should be one of the two, plus another science subject.

Still, on aspirants doing things wrongly, a few candidates won’t be offered admission because they fail to upload O’level results to the JAMB portal. This usually affects those who used awaiting results while registering for UTME/DE. These candidates might not be aware that they needed to go back to CBT centers immediately after their results are released, they should scan, and upload them to the JAMB portal.

Recommended: How to Prepare For and Pass Post-UTME 

If you’re among such candidates, wave “bye” to admission even if score 500 in UTME or beat your university’s vice-chancellor in the post-UTME. Lol!

Meanwhile, those candidates that believed they have uploaded their results during the JAMB registrations or returned later to do that should check if the results were truly uploaded.

We’ve got cases of candidates who went for their registrations with their results but the CBT centers' attendants didn’t fill in the results for them or what they filled in contained some errors. Those candidates were not aware, having the confidence they’d done it until it was too late. Fortunately, if it's missing or there are errors in the result, you can still edit things if you know right now.

Recommended: JAMB SIM Problem, How Do I Check My Result?

3. If Your Change Doesn't Reflect on the New Institution's List

Similarly, very recently, some candidates who changed their institutions and/or courses might have lost out because their changes didn't reflect on the JAMB portal and they failed to do the first urgent thing for those who changed schools and/or courses.

You see, after effecting changes at a CBT center or JAMB office, the first thing to do was to visit your JAMB CAPS and check "My Choices" section. Here, you will be able to see if your changes had been truly updated to the new institution and/or course. And if not, you would click the "Refresh" button provided on the page to effect your changes.

Imagine the school you changed to could not get your name on its list when JAMB sends it. And that could just be because you miss out on checking your change status on the JAMB portal.

It doesn't matter whether they print the change of institutions/courses slip for you and it's showing your changes or you already have the original JAMB result displaying the changes. Checking the main status on the "My Choices" in CAPS is the real deal. 

If you're affected by this and you're not aware, it may deny you admission even if your merit the offer.

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Conclusion

Gaining admission into any universities, polytechnics, or colleges of education in Nigeria factors in several things. The most obvious of which are UTME score, post-UTME mark, and SSCE grades.

However, other factors including age, uploading the O’level results, and the subject combination had prevented a thousand aspirants from being offered spaces.

If you find any student on campus today, he or she had definitely done things right and has not fallen into the trap of such factors.

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