Thousands Swarmed PUP
Publication Office, PUP Campus Observer, Volume 1, Issue 3, January 2012The University main campus in Sta. Mesa, Manila swarmed with thousands of applicants for the first batch of the PUP College Entrance Test (PUPCET) last Sunday, January 29. The second batch has been scheduled for February 19.
Earlier, Director Elena R. Abeleda of the Admission and Registration Office (ARO) disclosed that the first batch would consist of 17,535 examinees while the second would have more examinees because of the extended application deadline. ARO designated 167 classrooms as testing rooms, with about 35 examinees per room, for both batches.
Ms. Abeleda said the throng of people on campus during the two batches, with a total of at least 35,070 examinees, could easily swell to more than 70,000, assuming that each candidate would have one chaperon.
PUP OIC Estelita Wi dela Rosa welcomed the prospective college freshmen in the midst of ARO’s effort to accommodate those who have been trying to catch up with the extended deadlines for PUPCET application.
As of January 30, according to Ms. Liwanag Maliksi, ARO Mabini Campus Chief, 56,637 PUPCET applicants have successfully registered through PUP iApply 2012, the Web-based PUPCET registration system. Of this number, only 33,123 have paid their application fee, and 31,170 have taken their test permits.
The quota for college freshmen is 8,000. Abeleda and Maliksi explained that the target number of new recruits is limited because of budget constraints.
Those who qualify for enrollment must possess all the university requirements, as well as the college requirements of the degree program of their choice. There are 17 colleges, including the College of Technology that offers nine three-year diploma programs.
Director Abeleda and Chief Maliksi observe that the preferred programs of the applicants are accountancy, computer science, hotel and restaurant management, and engineering.
There are at least 49 four-year and five-year programs being offered by the University’s 17 colleges. Those who are not taken for the four-year and five-year programs or those who lack the necessary requirements, such as high school weighted grade average of 82 percent, are allowed to enroll at the College of Technology. The high school weighted grade average of at least 85 percent, however, is required by some colleges like the Colleges of Accountancy, Computer and Information Technology, Architecture and Fine Arts, and Engineering.
“The examination usually consists of 170 to 180 items, and the cut off score varies every year depending on the performance of the examinees,” Ms. Abeleda said. “Last year, the cut off score was 96 percent,” she added.
Vice President Juan C. Birion, meanwhile, has extended the deadline for PUPCET application until February 9, and the last day of issuance of permit is February 15.
“The extension,” says Dr. Birion, “gives more high school seniors of the less financially privileged families the opportunity to study in PUP. PUP provides quality education at a very low tuition fee, still P12 per unit, the rate it has been collecting since 1979.”