AGAIN, the results have spoken.
UST continues to underscore its billing as the top private academic institution in the country, producing three more topnotchers in the July 2008 Nutrition-Dietetics, Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy licensure examinations.
Thomasians Frederich Christian Tan, Kristel Anne Ayroso, and Kriszel Gatdula topped the Nutrition-Dietetics, Occupational Therapy, and Physical Therapy exams, respectively.
Tan led five Thomasians in the top ten of the Nutrition-Dietetics exam with a score of 85.10 percent.
UST chalked up a 94-percent passing rate as 46 out of 49 Thomasian examinees passed, reaffirming the College of Education’s new status as a Center of Excellence. The national passing rate was 52 percent with only 273 out of 523 takers passing the exams.
Thomasians Enrico Cembrano (84.65), Manelie Cruz (84.10), Venus Laforteza (83.40), and Leah Espiritu (83.30) occupied the third, fourth, fifth, and seventh places, respectively.
Meanwhile, Ayroso led 25 other Thomasians in the Occupational Therapy board exams, grabbing the first spot with an 81.60-percent average.
Eight other Thomasians entered the top ten roster, which UST shared with four University of the Philippines (UP)-Manila graduates.
Juan Vicente Manuel Goncero (80.80), Aira Alondra Uy (80.40), and Jan Ryan Yee (80.20) placed second, third, and fourth, respectively. Quennie Monzon (79.40) landed at sixth place.
Jaymee Antollena Flores (79.00) tied with Anne Loreinne Daulat of UP-Manila at eight place, while Katherine Grace Reyes (78.80) took the ninth spot.
Thomasians Mizzie Mae De Vera and Dahlia Lumawig both earned 78.60 percent to round up the top ten list.
In the Physical Therapy licensure exams, Gatdula finished first with an 85.40-percent rating. She shared the top spot with Bernadette Cid of UP-Manila.
Jocelyn Sheila Gajudo and Michael Caezar Ong posted an 84.70-percent mark each to tie for fourth place.
Kris Bernadette Alcedo (83.95), clinched the sixth place with Juan Carlos Rodriguez of San Juan de Dios Educational Foundation, Inc.
Martha Louise Alleje (83.75) grabbed the eight spot. Gary Martin Abano and Maria Michaela Valenzuela placed ninth with identical 83.50-percent ratings.
UST was hailed as the top performing school with more than 50 examinees in the Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy board exams with ten or more examinees. The passing rates were 98 and 84 percent for Physical and Occupational Therapy, respectively. The 48 percent national passing rate was the combined results of the Physical and Occupational Therapy board exams where 439 of 909 examinees passed both tests.
Dean Jocelyn Agcaoili of the College of Rehabilitation Sciences expressed satisfaction with the performance of Thomasians in the board exams, but regretted that not all graduates passed the exams.
“I am always hoping that more than dominating the top ten, (our college would aim for) a 100 percent passing rate (in both exams),” Agcaoili told the Varsitarian.
Of the 53 Thomasians who took the Physical Therapist board exam, only one failed to pass. Five of the 31 Occupational Therapy board exam-takers also did not make it.
Six bests
Six Thomasians filled most of the slots in the top ten of the August Physician licensure exams.
Gentry George King led the 245 new Thomasian doctors, finishing third along with UP-Manila’s Janice Jill Lao at 87.42 percent.
UST graduate Paolo Villanueva and Nemencio Ronquillo Jr. of UP-Manila tied for fourth place with an 87.17 grade.
Allan Louie Cruz (86.92), Philip Antiporta (86.58), and Ma. Cristina Briones (86.42) placed fifth, sixth, and seventh, respectively, while Grace Ann Nicolas placed tenth with 86 percent average.
Marlon Garcia of the Far Eastern University-Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation topped the physicians exam, registering a 88.75-percent mark.
UST was named the second top performing school with 100 or more examinees, notching an average of 95 percent, next to UP-Manila’s 98 percent.
Fourteen out of 256 Thomasian examinees failed the test.
The national passing rate was only 60 percent as 1,513 of 2,506 passed the exams.
