Sept. 17, 2014, 11:17 p.m. – THE UNIVERSITY produced a lone topnotcher and slipped to 10th place on the list of top-performing schools in the September 2014 licensure examinations for medical technologists after posting a slightly lower passing rate.

UST recorded a 93.30-percent passing rate, with 209 out of 224 examinees making the cut, results from the Professional Regulation Commission showed. Last year, the University placed eighth overall after recording a 95.19-percent passing rate, equivalent to 277 passers out of 291 examinees.

Saint Louis University, University of the Immaculate Conception-Davao, and Lyceum of the Philippines University-Batangas were declared the top-performing schools.

Only one Thomasian, Hanna Clementine Tan, made it to the list of topnotchers. Tan shared the eighth spot with Jason Cuevas Bansuela of Silliman University. Both scored 89.30 percent.

Patrick Joseph Mabugat of the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos led this year’s batch of medical technologists with a 90.90-percent score.

The national passing rate slid to 82.60 percent, with 2,986 passers out of 3,615 examinees. Last year’s passing rate was 83.30 percent, equivalent to 2,276 out of 2,716 examinees. Roberto A. Vergara, Jr.

45 COMMENTS

  1. Do you really know what’s going on with the world of Medical Technology? As far as I’m concerned we UST BS Medical Technology graduates did a pretty great job. Don’t you know that other schools are doing a pre-boards that when a student failed the said examination, their respective schools doesn’t allow them to take the real board exams?, thus having a good rating in the board exams. So that’s why we the MedTech students of our beloved university did a great job, without the usage of quality control we kick off with a 93.30 passing rate. So please have the decency to respect what we did for ourselves and for the University.

    You may not intended to come off offensive but you really did and for doing so. Sana di ka na lang nang criticize kung wala kang magandang Sasabihin. Alam mo ba kung gaano kahirap yung board exam? Hindi di ba? Respeto lang sana. Kasi pinaghirapan naming lahat yun, nag puyat kami ng non stop to make everyone else proud.

    • Can you please cite which part of this MT article shows “disrespect” and criticism”? Which part of the article? I am one of the passers of 2014 MT Board Exam from UST, but I don’t find this article offensive. Varsitarian is just doing their job. Come on, buddy, this is based on facts.

        • So do you. Based on your name, your a med student not a journalism student unless you’ve taken some lessons about journalism so I presume you really don’t know anything about journalism as well and who gave you the power to say “shut up” to a person you don’t even know? You act like you’re some all mighty being which you’re not. So please, have some sense of decency and respect. People can comment are free to say want they want in this site.

  2. you have no idea how hard it is for Med techs to take the exam let alone pass it so you for thinking we didn’t do enough, you for thinking we weren’t good enough.

    • Sinabi bang you werent good enough? The article just stated facts
      E totoo namang bumaba ang passing rate ng ust. Time namin top 6 ang ust. Wag kang masyadong sensitive.

  3. IM NOT a THOMASIAN but seeing a passing rate of that much is enough! your article is immature and not worthy of reading… who wrote this? please delete this and do something worthy to read… tsk2 MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY is not a normal under graduate coarse PUT THAT IN YOUR MIND!!! some of MEDICINE’s 1st year and 2nd year subjects are MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY’s SUBJECTS so please! RESPECT!

  4. it’s news, not an editorial. it’s a reporting of facts. no one blamed the examinees nor did anyone say that they were disgraceful in anyway. this is NEWS about the university’s rank in an exam. shut up, you butthurt students.

  5. Such a shame that you are also a Thomasian.. You don’t know how hard the board exam let alone the schedule and the board takers which mostly are Medicine students who are also having their Shifting Examinations… The way you wrote the freaking article is very annoying.. So yeah.. you for writing this piece of crap..

  6. As med tech students, you should do your job in your board exams. As journalist, the writer just did his job to write about the results, fair and square. Your comments just show your immaturity. if you really did do your best, you would not be affected by this article. And if you are a rational being, you would understand that this is the best possible way to write this article. None should be sugar-coated. I bet, you won’t say anything bad if you aced the exam… Because, for sure, Varsi would fairly report that. Stop being stupid. If you want to believe in lies, don’t read the facts.

    • If you think that we did not do OUR JOB, then go take the board exams. Let’s see how you’ll do. We do not want you guys to sugar-coat it, just a simple Congratulations will do.

      • It’s so funny that majority of the people who read the article didn’t know how to read news. I don’t care whether you’re still a student or an alumnus/alumna of the university but the news was so easy to understand. I can’t believe you guys are asking for a “congratulations” or an acknowledgement of what you have accomplished! Really? And comparing courses?!

        And seriously? Underestimating mass comm and journalism courses?
        I’m sorry but I believe that respect is given only to those who deserve them. AND YOU BETTER RESEARCH ABOUT HOW TO WRITE AND READ NEWS.

    • It is not an issue of med tech students wanting to be mollycoddled by the writer. It is an issue of acknowledging the hard work of the board takers who have done their best to give the university honor and only having this condescending article to show for their efforts. Would you call this journalism when the writer did not even see fit to include the view of one of the board takers? Would you say that the students who failed the board did not do their best? You, of all people, should know that there are two sides to every story and this article does not show even an inkling of what it’s like to be a med tech student. Is the best way of writing articles being blind to the stakeholders involved? I don’t think so. These are the facts, yes, but they are not the only available facts and your article failed to show the whole picture.

      • I have read many past V articles on UST’s performances in various licensure examinations. Most, if not all, include some form of commentary from the colleges or departments involved. There is none in this article. I agree with Rational Being’s comment. The writer should have investigated what caused the “slippage” in rank he mentioned and added this dimension to the report, because this article, as it is, leaves but a poor impression of the Department of Medical Technology and of the University as a whole, without even bothering to explore the underlying circumstances involved. Yes, the article is unbiased, but it is also sorely unbalanced.

        • You should understand that this is breaking news. The articles you compared it with were published in print, making it more in depth. If you look at other breaking news abt board exams, there were no comments or interviews from admin or other sources either.

    • As a Thomasian alumna/student, you should do your best to honor your co-Thomasian! Not bring their spirits down. If you think our comments show immaturity, then probably your article is more likely to be JUNK! Yes we really did our best, and by the way, are you a journalist? If so, talo kapa ng mga med techs sa pagiintindi ng article?? yan na nga lang ginagawa niyo di pa magawa? Mas maappreciate namin if yung topic mo starts na “Once again, a topnotcher from UST”. It might bring our spirits up lalo na sa mga hindi pumasa! You forgot the 3c’s? one of them is Compassion! Compassion ba ang pagbibring down ng spirits ng mga takers?? And please, dont compare Journalism with Medical Technology. Halata naman diba? Respeto lang. yung article kasi ang bastos. Tapos published pa to sa buong UST.

  7. You don’t know the hardship these people had experienced. Jumbling between the Med Tech Boards and Medicine Shifting Exams isn’t as easy as you writing this article.

  8. You don’t know how hard it is to be in UST Medical Technology program. I bet isa ka sa mga nagapply and failed! Or maybe nakapasok ka kaso binagsak ka kasi hindi mo kaya! You don’t have the right to publish articles like this because you are only a journalist. In behalf of my good friend who landed on 8th place, we are so sorry if we have disappointed you. But I feel much more sorry for you because you don’t know how to appreciate our efforts. Did you know that she is currently in UP Medicine? And many takers are currently in Medicine too. GRABE KA. Journalism ka na nga lang, hindi kapa magaling diyan. Anyare? Maawa ka sa magulang mo. magtinda ka nalang ng balot sa kalsada baka maappreciate pa ng mga tao yun. I wish you best luck.

  9. I took the same exam. A few years back. And i was already taking up medicine when i took the boards. Back then ust was at top 6. With 96.something percent passing rate.we know you tried. We all did. But everything stated here are just facts. So a couple more from your batch failed. Di naman ibigsabihin di nyo pinaghirapan yan. Hindi yan criticism. Its just facts.

  10. It is a writer’s right to choose however he wants to write about something. However, this article wasn’t written “fair and square”. Have you even researched on how many MT alumni took the boards who are ALSO in Med School? Both freshmen and sophomore med students took the exam. I bet there were more than 50 of us who took it while taking tons of exams in different med schools. You have any idea how hard was that? You are VARSITARIAN. You’re supposed to be the face of UST. Why not show some appreciation that we have made it to top 10? I mean, how many MedTech schools are there? How many of the faculties in UST have consistently produced a 90+% passing rate? There were about 4k who took the exam, we made it to the Top 10. That’s big. You could write all you want but an article about making it to the top 10 in the board exam with a lot of students who are also post grad students shouldn’t sound demeaning at all.

  11. I don’t get it. Can’t see what’s wrong with the article. These are facts. Hindi sya editorial so I don’t think the writer could add something to make you guys feel better. Wala din naman sya sinabi that belittles the takers. It’s just a comparison of this year’s result with last year’s.

  12. It’s been lovely reading MedTech students/alumni rage over this article, saying the writer “judged them” and “criticized them”.

    Proud MedTech students, glorifying their four-year course and seemingly unparalleled minds, couldn’t even read a news properly. Couldn’t even distinguish a subjective article from objective article.

    The article stated FACTS. Can you please reread the article again?

    Do you all want congratulations? Banners? Streamers? People kissing the pavement you walk on?

    The article showed neither respect nor disrespect. It presented facts. Stats. Not one statement here even concluded that 93.3% passing rate drags the UST name in the mud.

    “BUT IT’S HOW YOU SAID IT!! HOW THE ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN BLEH”

    Hilarious. You think your comments and opinions about the article are flawless because of the likes you garnered in FB? Or when a co-MedTech agrees passionately with you when you said this article lambastes your major?

    Here we are laughing because 20-something graduates don’t know how to read a news article and demanding to be respected.

  13. 1. UST ranked 8th last year, and now it’s in the 10th. UST slipped bec it went down two places lower.
    2. The word “lone” means solitary, unaccompanied. There is only one topnotcher from UST, which is true. What could you have said? That there were two?
    3. There was no part in the article where it criticized, as you all have claimed. It never said “you who took the exams, and the rest of the med tech community, are incompetent”
    4. The article did not even congratulate those who passed. That’s because no news article ever congratulates. It only reports.

    Given the chance, how would you have written the article? Bec if you want to write it as how you wanted it to be–complete with praises, congratulations and all–then you have mistaken the news as PR machinery which, evidently, it is not.

  14. Med Techs dont rank high as much because top students or a big chunk of graduates go to UST Med. Its either they can’t focus for the Med Tech board exams, or they don’t take it at all. THOUGH, I know at least 2 people in UST Med who became Med Tech Top 1 in the past 7 years. This is also what’s happening in the College of Rehabilitation Sciences’ PT and OT. BUT, this it’s entirely a different scenario with UST Nursing. They top the Nursing boards WHILE they are in UST med school. Writers and Varsi should be aware of that. – MT and MD alumnus

  15. It’s not sugar-coating. It’s putting sensitivity into words. I strongly believe there are much better words that can be utilized in this article that would make every reader feel at least okay, if not better. This article was written in a manner that generalized BSMT batch 2014, therefore referring ALL examinees – topped, passed and failed.

    Think about the people who had rooted for these students; how would the professors feel after reading this article? How would the parents and friends, who were so proud of these students for making it, feel after reading these very insensitive words from basically a stranger to these examinees? For most students, this has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience, shouldn’t we help them keep it that way? Instead of using words such as “slipped” and “lone topnotcher”, encouraging words are more seemly to this celebratory occasion.

    I mean, come on! 93.30% passing rate! We ought to have a celebration to that, right?

    • Oo bakit? look it up no. 2125
      FU Bakit ikaw may board exams ka ba?
      Is your chosen profession requires a licensure exams?
      Ang hinihingi lang naman namin na sana magpakita naman kayo ng konting respeto kasi pumasa kami yun lang, Medyo masakit kasing makita mo yung pinaghirapan mo maliitin ng ibang tao, SINO KAYO PARA HUMUSGA? Pinapaaral mo ba kami? Pinapalamon mo ba kami?
      Isipin mo na lang kung Ikaw yung na sa kinakatayuan namin ano mararamdaman mo? Kaya sana respeto lang sana, di naman namin kayo minamaliit ah. At tska di mo ba alam na ang course ng BS Medical Technology ang pinaka mahirap na 4 year course sa buong mundo? At ano ang journalism? Mass comm? Hindi sa pag mamayabang pero wala pa yang inaaral niyo sa kalingkingan ng inaaral namin at ginagawa namin.

      • I wouldn’t go low as you by comparing my major to others.

        No one challenges the difficulty of your major. Seriously what is with the ‘judging’ thing. No one made a judgmental comment besides you.
        Bruh, you’re great and all and congratulations for passing the Boards, but seriously this is frustrating. The article delivered facts. Just. Facts.

        But seriously: “At tska di mo ba alam na ang course ng BS Medical Technology ang pinaka mahirap na 4 year course sa buong mundo?”

        There goes empirical basis down the toilet. That sounds like a line straight from a satirical article, by the way.

      • It is saddening to think that someone like you passed the board examinations. I understand that you did your best but with this comment of yours, you have proven that you are indeed unworthy of being called a THOMASIAN Medical Technologist. We were trained for four years to not only be competent in our field but also imbibe the values the University upholds. Who are you to judge someone from another course?! So what if we have a licensure examination!? That does not give you the right to say that our course is harder than theirs.

        I, myself, am a board passer and despite being hurt by the article; I acknowledge its validity. It is FACT that the passing rate is lower. It is FACT that there is only one Medical Technologist in the top 10 from UST. It is FACT that the writer did not try and insult or disrespect anyone. Truth really hurts sometimes and if you can’t say anything good, then just keep quiet.

        I am sorry to the people who read his comments and to the others who just bash. Those aren’t the best this university can offer.

      • Nahiya naman ako sayo, Nikko Pantoja. Ang galing galing mo naman, board passer ka sa pinakamahirap na 4-year course sa buong mundo. Siguro natapos mo na lahat ng 4-year courses kaya alam na alam mo yang pinagsasabi mo. Buti di ka mayabang noh? Matalino na, humble pa! Ganyan si Nikko Pantoja!

      • Hindi ba panghuhusga yung “At ano ang journalism? Mass comm? Hindi sa pag mamayabang pero wala pa yang inaaral niyo sa kalingkingan ng inaaral namin at ginagawa namin.” Ngayon, SINO KA PARA HUMUSGA?

      • Sana respeto na lang din kasi ginagawa lang ng tao yung trabaho niya. SINO KA PARA HUMUSGA? Nag-aaral ka ba ng journalism to know its fundamentals and ethics? DI MO NGA MINAMALIIT ANG JOURNALISM KAYA SINASABI MONG WALA ITO SA KALINGKINGAN NG MED TECH E.

        YOU DON’T KNOW JOURNALISM, AT PARA LANG PO SA KAALAMAN MO NAPAKARAMING MANUNULAT ANG HINDI GRADUATE KASI THEY DON’T DO IT FOR THE MONEY NOR THE ——- LICENSURE EXAM.

        HINDI BASIHAN ANG LICENSURE EXAM PARA MASUKAT ANG KAKAYAHAN NG ISANG MAG-AARAL.

  16. Initially, this article rubbed me the wrong way. Being a board passer, it seems to imply that we didn’t do our best as a batch hence the lower passing rate and the lone topnotcher as compared to last year. Then, I started acknowledging that this is Varsitarian. This is where journalists are trained thus they can’t do anything less than construct an unbiased article. This was written with less maliciousness that what we’re trying to believe. I know that my experience as section editor in our highschool newspaper is not at par with college journ but still, I’m sure that this article was merely written in such a way that it will deliver accuracy by comparing this year’s result to the previous one. True that it doesn’t sound kind and congratulatory, but I believe that it’s doesn’t intend to mock us in anyway.

    What I don’t agree with is that fact that some people call us stupid and immature for being angered by this article. We’re at the peak of our success so when we feel like our hardwork is being trampled on, it’s human nature to be annoyed. Spur of the moment maybe. So tone down your judgemental comments towards us, because you don’t know what it feels like to take that board exam.

    Anyway, I would rather send my congratulations to my co-Thomasian RMTs. We did our best! <3

  17. I recommend that the Varsitarian should make an erratum for this article. It should be filled with praises for the medtech board exam passers, because apparently praises are magic and they can raise the passing rate and the number of passers, and return the University to its 8th place spot.

    I recommend that the Varsitarian, from this point on, to post articles regarding board examinations full of praises so that it may increase the chances of passing for the next year. Because apparently studying for the board exams do not matter anymore and praises power up the minds of Thomasians to help them be able to answer these exams.

    I recommend that the Varsitarian, from this point on, to praise all the passers of every board examination because hardwork is simply not enough to prove that a student is diligent, and being famous and being praised and being validated is more important than all the hours they have put to studying.

    I recommend that the Varsitarian never post anything that sounds negative and anything that may or may not insult/criticize someone, because apparently Thomasians are too close-minded and weak to accept the truth and let it mold them to become better students.

    I recommend that the Varsitarian, from this point on, to always add colorful and comforting adjectives to their articles because apparently students need all the support they could get against depression from all the schoolworks and assignments and projects that they should do because college is for YOLO and never for studying anything meaningful.

    I recommend that the Varsitarian, from this point on, should have classes on Basic English and always have a thesaurus so they would never run out of colorful words to say in their articles, because the world should remain colorful and positive and all negative things should be removed. Even if they are real and factual and statistical in nature, if they are negative-sounding in any way, the publication should remove them.

    Unicorns are eternal.

    • Addendum to the above:

      I /STRONGLY/ recommend thoroughly researching the circumstances behind the facts before writing a news article, because reporting both sides of a story fairly and equally is an essential task every good journalist must always keep in mind and fulfill at all times.

      Unicorns are nonexistent.

      (I commend you for coming up with that wonderfully-written piece of hilarious satire. Unfortunately, you, as well as several others who commented in the same vein, have greatly missed the point. Peace!

      Sincerely,
      Just Another Thomasian Who Once Dreamed of Becoming a Journalist, RMT)

  18. UST soars to 10th place in med tech boards

    A THOMASIAN became a topnotcher while the University ranked 10th place on the list of top-performing schools in the September 2014 licensure examinations for medical technologists after posting a “line of 9” passing rate.
    UST recorded a 93.30-percent passing rate, with 209 out of 224 examinees making the cut, results from the Professional Regulation Commission showed.
    Last year, the University placed eighth overall after recording a 95.19-percent passing rate, equivalent to 277 passers out of 291 examinees.
    Even though the passing rate this year is lower, medical technology students gave their all in the board exams despite some of them taking up Medicine at the same time, because that takes a lot of effort and intelligence.
    One Thomasian, Hanna Clementine Tan, made it to the list of topnotchers. Tan shared the eighth spot with Jason Cuevas Bansuela of Silliman University. Both scored an exemplary 89.30 percent.
    Patrick Joseph Mabugat of the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos led this year’s batch of medical technologists with a 90.90-percent score.

    Congratulations, Thomasian passers!

  19. Given the chance to rewrite this article as I wish, I would retain the existing facts as they were, and investigate the factors that may have contributed to UST’s rank going down two places in the recently-concluded board examination. In the process, I would learn that most of the examinees are currently taking up Medicine, and braved the whole ordeal of taking the board exams on a government-designated fixed weekend sandwiched in between their week-and-a-half-long shifting (preliminary) examinations in med school – which shouldn’t have coincided with the board exam in the first place had UST not shifted the academic calendar a month later than usual. That would probably explain why this phenomenal drop in standing has never occured in the past.

    But of course, this is all but pure conjecture on my part. I am neither a journalist nor the editor of the campus paper, after all.

    I am, however, fully aware of the numbered facts that you have kindly listed for everyone’s benefit. They are all correct, in fact. However, it is precisely because this article is a news report that fair research on all aspects involved in the story is warranted. There is nothing wrong with the figures – it’s just that the story behind the figures also needs to be written. Surely, every journalist must know this.

  20. This has already caused an uproar and reading the comments has been fun. I would like to thank you for the entertainment.
    To the writer, congratulations on making yourself even more famous by writing a BIASED article regarding the standing of UST in Medical Technology licensure exams. You CLEARLY know that this is not showing two sides of the story at all.
    To recent RMTs, behave as professionals and not bash on this article anymore, do not make him any more famous by stepping down to his level.

  21. Have read this article and found nothing wrong with it. I have also read previous articles regarding the licensure exams and they are crafted the same – THEY ARE BASED ON FACTS. The writer have just presented what transpired on the board exams and compared it with last year’s results. I don’t know where the outrage is coming from but a little re-reading does help though.

  22. Funny how people reacted to this article. The writer just stated facts in his article, which is of course expected from a “news” article. I was disappointed with the results considering UST Med Tech, which is supposedly one of UST’s strongest programs, failed to get 100 per cent passing, or dominating the top 10. Why should the writer congratulate such a mediocre passing rate when UST is expected to have performed better? Don’t tell me there are better Med Tech schools out there with lower tuition fees, and UST Med Tech is just all hype.

    This article should serve as a wake up call for UST admin to choose quality over quanitiy. Taking in so many students has an effect to the quality of education and quality of graduates the school produces, seriously.

    Anyway, to the passers, congratulations. To the flunkers, stop being defensive and whiners. Review harder instead, and if you are taking up Med (as others have used as an excuse), then learn which to priorize: passing the boards, or going on with your med studies.

  23. I don’t understand why some med tech board takers are upset over this. I’ve taken the boards too, and yes, while I was in my first year of med school. I know it’s not easy. But what’s all the outrage about? Nasa med school ka kaya bagsak ka sa boards? If you weren’t ready, don’t take the boards. Simple. Akala mo ready ka pero bagsak ka pa rin? Move on. Getting angry at an article that did nothing but state facts is wasting your time. Mag-aral ka na lang kaya?

    And please, don’t compare majors with other people. Pinapahiya mo lang sarili mo.

  24. As far as I can see, there are no derogatory words that were thrown to MedTech and its board exam. If we read again, all are facts and technically, the school did slip on the ranking. HEY, please eliminate such emotional SHITS. Be reasonable and critical.

    Board exams were never made to claim superiority than other degrees. AD HOMINEM you dude.

  25. Maybe these RMTs just want to be praised because of their hardwork. they won’t be acting like this if the article was written fairly. Based on my readings, I agree that what is in the article is TRUE and a FACT, but the only problem is that the writer focused more on the “not so good side”, which, made a bad impression to the takers. I salute you board takers. I understand how hard it is in your place.

    I think I get it why they’re so angry. The so called “People can write freely in this site” is the problem. Varsitarian is the University’s newspaper and published universitywide. Maybe it made them feel bad because like what I’ve said above, the writer focused more on the “not so good side”. Maybe it brought their ego down.

    So as a conclusion, please stop the fight. Apologize. For the writer, apologize to the takers because you failed to congratulate them. And to the takers, apologize to the writers because you failed to comment them professionaly. Assuming that the bashers are already professionals.

    One for UST

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