How to Get Admission into Nigerian Universities (2027 Guaranteed)

Looking for ways to get university admission in Nigeria just with JAMB without knowing or bribing anybody?

See how to get admission into Nigerian universities without runz or connection but just with JAMB and no matter your tribe or religion.

• Also see: HOW TO GAIN ADMISSION WITHOUT JAMB

Let’s correct a common misconception first.

Is Nigerian university admission bias?

No. Universities in Nigeria do not discriminate in their selection of candidates for admission.

They all want to admit the best students who will go on to achieve great things and make the school proud.

So, why will they reject you due to religion or tribe if you prove to have the potential of making them proud in future?

Rather than discrimination, their selection is just based on available spaces, number of applicants and how well you satisfy their requirements for that course.

General Nigerian university admission requirements

Every university has its own admission requirement, but they are not so different.

JAMB UTME candidates:

• Must be 16 years old or above. 
• Must have O’Level credits in the required subjects and at one or TWO SITTINGS.
• Must choose the university as their 1ST/2ND CHOICE IN JAMB.
• Must meet or exceed the JAMB CUT-OFF MARK for the course. 
• Must possess the correct O’Level and JAMB SUBJECT COMBINATION for the course.
• Must participate in the Post UTME or SCREENING. 
• Must meet the departmental cut-off mark for the course.

Extra requirements exist for Direct Entry candidates.

How to get admission into Nigerian universities with JAMB

Satisfy the above requirements and you already have a good chance of getting into tough universities like UNILAG, UI, UNIBEN, UNN, ABU, OAU, UNIZIK.

But your chance is still slim because thousands of other applicants will also satisfy the same requirements and compete with you for the limited admission space.

So how can you increase your chances of getting university admission in Nigeria?

1. Obtain higher O’Level grades

Universities will always ask you to upload your O’Level result on JAMB portal before they consider your application.

This is because they assign points to each of your grade in the 5 required O’Level subjects and the total points decide how qualified you are for that course compared to other applicants.

For instance, here’s a sample O’Level grading system:

Each university has its own but the score for each grade is often similar. 

A minimum of ‘Credit’ is acceptable in all Nigerian universities as a general requirement.

But you can see from the grading system that ‘Credits’ have low points which means higher competition because thousands of other candidates will have them too.

So be among the few with DISTINCTION or MERIT and if you must have credit, stop at C4.

• See HOW TO OBTAIN HIGHER GRADES IN WAEC WITHOUT STRESS

If your O’Level is already out and not that strong, back it up with JAMB UTME.

2. Score higher in JAMB

Nigerian universities divide JAMB scores mercilessly when calculating their departmental cut-off mark.

For example, UNILAG fix their JAMB CUT-OFF MARK at 200 but will divide it by 8 for your departmental cut-off.

200 ÷ 8 is just 25 points.

Add that to the total point of your O’Level and you may not even reach 45, leaving you at the mercy of Post UTME.

And what if your preferred UNIVERSITY DOES NOT CONDUCT POST-UTME?

Will your 45 points from O’Level and JAMB meet the departmental cut-off for courses like Medicine, Law or Engineering?

Can you now see that just meeting the JAMB cut-off mark does NOT really boost your chances of admission, it just qualifies you for Post UTME or screening.

But exceeding that cut-off is where your admission starts to become guaranteed.

In fact, don’t just exceed the cut-off mark, exceed it by far, especially for medical, law and engineering courses.

These courses always very competitive with the highest cut-off marks in top and popular universities.

We researched the best JAMB score for these competitive courses, assuming you have A’s and B’s in O’Level:

You will have to score higher than these recommendations if you have more or only ‘Credits’ in your O’Level.

• See HOW TO SCORE HIGH IN JAMB WITHOUT STUDYING HARD

3. Score high in Post UTME

If your university does not conduct Post UTME, they’ll use just your O’Level and JAMB score to decide whether to admit you or not.

In that case, skip this Post-UTME tip on how to get admission into Nigerian universities and jump to number 4.

But you’re in luck if your university does Post-UTME because a good score will boost your total points.

Depending on the university, Post-UTME questions are either English, Maths and General knowledge or all the subjects you did in JAMB.

The scores are often over 30, 50, 100 or 400 and then divided again before being added to your points.

We recommend you obtain at least three-quarter of the total Post UTME score for a better chance of admission.

• See HOW TO SCORE THE HIGHEST IN YOUR POST UTME SCREENING

You can still be admitted with scores lower than the recommended for O’Level, JAMB and Post-UTME.

It all depends on the available admission space compared to the number of applicants and what those applicants scored compared to yours.

4. Consider university popularity

A university that gets several thousands of applicants every year is a popular university.

And most POPULAR UNIVERSITIES IN NIGERIA always have more applicants than their space can admit.

Just look at the number of applicants for these universities:

And UNILORIN admitted only 18.7%, UNIMAID 32.2%, UNIZIK 24.2%, while UNILAG admitted just 16.9%. 

Can you see the margin?

Popular universities get way more applicants than their admission quota can carry, which is why they’re always strict in their selection.

While less-popular universities barely get enough applicants, therefore give admission easily.

So if your academic strength is not equal to the strictness of admission in popular universities, just consider a less-popular alternative.

• See LIST OF LESS POPULAR UNIVERSITIES THAT OFFER ADMISSION EASILY

The course you studied is more important for employment than the University you studied it in.

5. Consider course competition

A course is competitive when a lot of candidates are applying for that same course.

This is why courses like Medicine, Law and Engineering are always the hardest to get because everybody wants to study them.

And since no university has the capacity to admit everybody, they will raise that course cut-off mark to disqualify many.

• But why insist on “Medicine & Surgery” when other less-competitive medical courses will still make you a Doctor?
• Or why Law when there are other law courses that’ll still make you a Lawyer?

There’s nothing wrong with going for a competitive course, just be sure your academic strength can handle the tough requirements for that competitive course.

Otherwise, consider a similar but less-competitive alternative and your admission is almost guaranteed.

See this combination of course competition and university popularity to measure your admission chances.

• See LIST OF LESS-COMPETITIVE COURSES IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

The grade you graduated with is as important as the course you studied, so a 1st-class Biochemist would be considered more than a 3rd-class Medical Doctor.

6. Know the catchment areas and ELDs

Every state and federal university has their own catchment areas with lower cut-off mark and an extra 35% chance of admission for indigenes of some states.

What is catchment area?

The catchment area of a university is the location of that university plus other the surrounding states.

For example, UNIBEN has the following states as her catchment areas:

• Akwa-Ibom
• Bayelsa 
• Cross-River 
• Delta
• Edo
• Rivers

Indigenes of a university’s catchment area enjoy lower cut-off mark, even for competitive courses, and an 80% chance of admission into that university.

So, an applicant of UNIBEN who is also an indigene of Bayelsa has an 80% chance of getting admission into UNIBEN.

While applicants outside these UNIBEN catchment areas have just 45 percent.

What about ELDs?

Educationally-Less Developed States (ELDs) are those states where education is least popular.

Indigenes of ELDs also enjoy lower cut-off mark with 65% chance of admission, especially into federal universities.

Some southern states and many in the North fall under this category.

The tip here is to consider universities within or around your state of origin.

But if your state is not an ELDs or catchment area of the university you desire, their admission is still possible for you via merit.

7. Make the merit list

GOOD LUCK.

Do you have something to say on how to get admission into Nigerian universities with JAMB? Comment below.