Ustet application goes online

FIRST, it was off-campus enrollment. Now, UST is allowing high school students who want to enter the University to apply for entrance exams online.

Aspiring Thomasians may now register for UST entrance examinations on the Internet with an online application launched last July 1.

Admissions director Mecheline Zonia Manalastas said that so far, more than 3, 000 examinees have used the new system.

“This is to lessen the anxiety of parents,” Manalastas said. “As early as May, there are already parents interested to send their children to UST. This is the answer to their pleas.”

Upon signing in to the “Freshman Application” link on the UST website (www.ust.edu.ph), an application form will appear on the computer screen. The student will have to pass the form together with other requirements (photo, report card, birth certificate) to the Admissions Office and pay the examination fee to get a test permit, Manalastas said.

Thirty-four provincial testing centers may also accept forms and payments from applicants, but not international testing centers, which do not have official UST receipts.

“We see the possibility of accepting payments online, but not for now,” Manalastas said.

The online application system saves time and effort for applicants because students and their parents no longer have to go to UST just to get an application form, she said.

The probability of committing errors is also minimized, she added.

“There are instances when a parent applying for his or her child mistakenly puts his or her name instead of the child’s name,” Manalastas explained.

Even with online registration, hard copies of application forms will still be available because some parents are “unaware of the new method, while others would like to see the campus first before applying.”

New website design

Meanwhile, the Santo Tomas e-Service Providers will unveil a new design for the UST website on August 8, the feast of St. Dominic.

The website will have new layouts to allow easier access to information.

The design team composed of Nico Orillano, Jaime Dolor, Ahnizia Mae Mangalindan, and Allan Paul Valera started working on the new web portal last school year but it was only last month when the public affairs office approved it.

“We thought the project was going to push through during the second semester of last school year because we already received a letter from the Rector’s office approving the project. But the website underwent fact-checking first before the Public Affairs office finally approved it,” said Dolor.

New tabs like “Community Development Donations” and “Research” were added “to emphasize the University’s forte in research.”

The web designers are also working on a “trivial time lab.”

“UST’s history is rich in tradition that is why we are working on a tab labeled ‘This Time in UST History’,” he added.