The Danger of Having a High Aggregate Score in OAU’s Post-UTME and not Getting Admitted
Like many other highly competitive schools in Nigeria, OAU’s model for admissions changes every now and then to level up with events, so it’s okay to say OAU does not have a fixed system for determining who gets admitted and who doesn’t. Don’t get me wrong, the Post-UTME system of screening out thousands of applicants is a constant thing and it has proven itself effective over the years, so this is not what I’m talking about when I say OAU does not have a fixed system for determining who gets admitted and who doesn’t; what I mean is that after the Post-UTME has screened out thousands of applicants who couldn’t score the required average mark in the Post-UTME aggregate score to make them earn the “Eligible for Admission” comment, there are still thousands of candidates remaining who would still have to struggle to earn one admission from the mere 10,000 to 15,000 admission spots available in the school every admission session.
To put things in better perspectives, just assume over 100,000 candidates apply for OAU’s post-UTME, about half of them get the “Eligible for Admission” score and only about 15,000 of these eligible-for-admission applicants would be admitted eventually. Now for those who don’t know, this is when it should get clearer to you that having the “Eligible for Admission” doesn’t necessarily mean you have been admitted or will definitely be admitted, it only means you have passed another stage of the screening process. However, the good side of having the “Eligible for Admission” is that even if you don’t pass the next stage of screening—the departmental cut-off screening stage, with some long legs and other resources put in proper places, you may still be squeezed into one department somehow, meanwhile a person with “Not Eligible for Admission” cannot be considered for anything at all no matter how long their legs are. Now, this is where my position that OAU doesn’t have a fixed system for determining who gets admitted and who doesn’t comes in—the departmental cut-off causes a lot of imbalances and inconsistencies in the admission models adopted per admission session, and these create a good number of unfair situations for applicants.
A person who chooses Medicine and Surgery in their UTME and scores the aggregate score of 75% in the Post-UTME screening might end up not getting admitted at all if the cut-off of this department is above 75% while another person who scored 52% for an aggregate score would easily get admitted to other departments with lower cut-off; it just doesn’t look right that a person with 52% score gets admitted while a person with 75% score would have to go try again next year. I want to believe OAU knows that a person who is able to score as high as 75% in their Post-UTME screening has the good potential of performing well in the university, I know this because the school practises a good level of sentiments for OAU students in Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Pharmacy and so on who are failing woefully in these departments, OAU doesn’t make these students have to drop out of school, they make sure they are able to easily transfer to other departments because the worst students in these departments would shine if they are taken to another department; a student getting 40/100 in Medicine and Surgery would definitely get 60/100 if transferred to Economics. So by this, I know OAU is aware high aggregate score promises that the candidate would do well in school, so it is not okay that OAU lets these applicants have to go and try again next year or change their institution to another school.
I am suggesting that OAU sets a certain score line for automatic consideration for another department relating to your initial department should you not have the score that meets the initial department’s cut-off; like if an applicant who chose Medicine and Surgery has an aggregate score of 75% but the cut-off of Medicine and Surgery ends up being 85%, this means this applicant cannot get Medicine and Surgery, but they should automatically be offered admission to a relating department, it is then left to them to accept or reject the offer. No high-scoring applicant should be left stranded after looking forward for months believing their high score would get them something. The OAU’s admission board needs to look into these things.
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