JAMB: Why 1,456 Candidates Who Scored 300+ Were Not Offered Admission

The reappointed registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Professor Ishaq Oloyede has revealed that a total of 1,456 candidates who scored 300 and above out of the possible score of 400 in the 2020 UTME were unable to secure admission.

He made this known at the 2021 admission policy meeting where he disclosed that only 3,492 out of the 4,948 applicants who scored 300 and above have gained admissions into higher institutions.

Why High-Scoring Candidates are Denied Admission

RNN had reported that no fewer than 679 candidates who score 300 and above were not offered admission in the 2019 UTME despite their high scores. The number seems to have increased according to the 2020 UTME statistics.

» Just 25,000 Spaces for Medicine but Over 400,000 Candidates Applied — Oloyede
» 2021 JAMB Cut-off Mark May Go As Low As 50 – Oloyede
» Even If You Score Zero, You Should be offered Admission to these courses
» List of Nigerian Universities That Accept Below 180 JAMB Cut Off Mark

Professor Oloyede highlighted wrong O’level subject combination; low post-UTME screening score; wrong UTME subject combination; and failure to accept admission offer as some of the reasons why candidates who scored high marks were not offered admission.

He further stated that some candidates are denied admission due to multiple applications, failure to register or absence from post-UTME screening, mismatch of catchment institutions, and failure to upload O’level to JAMB portal or Post UTME Screening Portal.

RECOMMENDED: 5 Things You Must Do After Checking Your JAMB Result

Studying Medicine

Interestingly, 1,085 of the 1,456 candidates who scored 300 and above but were denied admission applied to study Medicine.

However, JAMB faulted that the reason some of them were denied admission was that they failed to include Mathematics in their UTME subject combination.

Meanwhile, JAMB revealed that only about 551,553 candidates have been offered admissions out of the 925,762 quotas that were allocated for admissions for the 2020/21 academic session. There is hope that the figure would increase before the end of the 2020 admission process on October 29.