Prof James Tuitoek

NAIROBI: The placement into university programmes is based on two principles: merit and the applicant’s programme choices.

In looking at programme choice, the applicant’s university choice also matters. Some of the most popular university programmes include Engineering, Medicine, Computer Science and Pharmacy.

When a student does well in KCSE, they will most likely list these courses in their application.

Take an example of a student who has obtained a mean grade of A minus and makes choices in the following order: Medicine, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Pharmacy.

Such a combination is risky and the applicant may end up being admitted into a programme that was not listed as any of their choices. It is important to understand how students are placed into university programmes in order for applicants to make smarter choices.

Remember that placement takes into account merit and program choices. Let us assume that there are 320 available slots in Medicine. Students who will have listed Medicine as their first choice will be ranked from the best performing to the least performing applicant.

Let us say that the A minus student is ranked number 325 out of, for instance, 850 applicants who listed medicine as their first choice. The top 320 applicants will be admitted to the Medicine programme.

Although the A minus applicant performed very well, he or she will be locked out of their first choice – Medicine – by a very narrow margin.

In this example, the Medicine programme will have been filled based on applicants’ first choices only.

This applicant will then be considered for their listed second choice, Electrical Engineering, which is also very competitive.

By the time they are being considered for Electrical Engineering it will already have been filled by those who listed it as their first choice.

The applicant will now be considered for their third choice which, by now,  also be filled with first or second-choice applicants. The same applies to their fourth choice.

It is very likely that someone with a B plus will have been admitted to Mechanical Engineering or Pharmacy and the A minus student will have been left out because of their choices.

It would be painful for the A minus applicant to learn that their classmate who attained a B plus was admitted to Mechanical Engineering, while they will have been left out despite scoring a higher grade.

In making choices, calculate your risks carefully. You need to be aware that there are many other applicants, just like you, who have done very well.

In this particular example, a more practical choice combination would be: Mechanical Engineering, B Ed Science, B Science, and Bachelor of Science in Agriculture.

A very bad choice combination by this order is: B Education Science, Medicine, Computer Science and Engineering. When you are making university choices, arrange the choices from the most competitive to the least competitive programmes.

It would be prudent to seek guidance from your school career master before you make your choices.

Many students have the false conception that one can change their programme once they have been admitted into university.

This is usually rare given that one must first qualify for the program and that there must be an available slot in the programme one is applying for.

Some of the frequently asked questions include whether one can revise their programme choices once they have received their KCSE results and whether a student who did not list their choices while in high school can apply to their programme of choice once they have received their KCSE results. The answer is yes, but wait for Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Services to advise.

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