ALMOST 48,000 aspiring Thomasians have applied for the 2025 UST Entrance Test (USTET), which will determine admissions to three UST campuses, the Office for Admission (OFAD) said.
OFAD Director Emelda Dakis told the Varsitarian that the total number of applicants covered UST Manila, UST General Santos (GenSan), and UST Angelicum Senior High School (SHS) as of Oct. 18. USTET applications opened on Aug. 8.
Of the total, about 5,500 applicants will take the first USTET at the Sampaloc campus on Oct. 20. This figure is nearly half of last year’s first batch of 10,000 examinees.
This year, UST has reduced the number of testing areas at the Sampaloc campus to five buildings, down from last year’s nine:
- Main Building;
- St. Raymund de Peñafort Building;
- Albertus Magnus Building;
- Roque Ruaño Building; and
- Benavides Building.
Each classroom will accommodate a maximum of 35 examinees.
Gates 1, 2, and 3 at España Boulevard and Gates 10 and 11 at Dapitan Street are the designated entry and exit points. Gates 2 and 6 along España and Gates 9, 10, and 11 on Dapitan are the designated drop-off and pick-up points.
Campus gates will open at 4 a.m. Building gates will open at 5 a.m. for the morning session and 12:30 p.m. for the afternoon session.
UST retained the P600 application fee for Filipino applicants from local schools, including those attending Philippine schools abroad.
The fee was waived for applicants who had attained the highest honors in Grade 9 (for SHS applicants) or Grade 11 (for college applicants), as well as for children of UST Manila support personnel.
Applicants qualified under Republic Act 12006, or the Free College Entrance Examinations Act, which took effect recently on June 14, were also exempted from paying the USTET fee.
READ: Free College Entrance Exams Act lapses into law
So far, the USTET has been conducted in 20 of the 35 provincial testing centers. Exams at the eight international testing sites are scheduled to begin in January 2025.
At the Sampaloc campus, the USTET will be conducted on five Sundays: Oct. 20, Nov. 17, Dec. 15, Jan. 12, and Feb. 9.
USTET applications will be open until Dec. 31 for college, Oct. 31 for the Learning-Enhanced Accelerated Program for Medicine (LEAPMed), and Jan. 15, 2025 for SHS and Junior and Education High School.
