What Is The Unilag Cut Off Mark For Medicine And Surgery 2021?

The Unilag Cut off mark for Medicine and surgery is like a semi-permeable membrane. 

Try to get in without the necessary features, and you will get filtered out of the way like no man’s business. 

According to a survey we conducted, just 1.4% of all medical school aspirants make it into Unilag’s School of Medicine. 

And you know what that is? A meager percentage! 

Are you preparing to register for this year’s JAMB or thinking of getting admission into the Unilag School of Medicine?

Whichever one it is, one thing is sure; 

Knowing the Unilag cut off mark for Medicine and surgery will ultimately help your admission journey. 

And in MedicsDomain, our goal is to help medical aspirants like you to get into medical school, so we’ve compiled this detailed guide for You! 

In this post, you’ll learn all about cut off marks for Medicine and surgery in Unilag. 

We’ll first start with the basics, explaining the different cut off marks in your admission journey. 

And that’s not all. 

You’ll also get our report on Unilag Medicine cut off mark for the past four years- this will help predict what the next one may look like. 

And yes, one of the exciting things you get to enjoy from this post is that you’ll get a guide to determine your admission fate to the University of Lagos!

If that’s all good, then get yourself set, and let’s get to it! 

University of Lagos: An Overview 

The University of Lagos, Akoka, is one of the best medical schools in Nigeria. It doesn’t is located in southern Nigeria, notably Lags state. 

Since it was founded in 1962, the College of Medicine in Unilag has continued to produce highly-trained doctors who thrive in different aspects of their lives.

One of the exciting things to enjoy is their teaching hospital. 

The Lagos State University teaching hospital (LUTH) is one of the best in the country and arrives with state-of-art infrastructures and medical care equipment. 

You’d surely enjoy studying and graduating from Medicine at the University of Lagos! 

What is the Unilag Cut Off Mark for Medicine and surgery? 

Each year, the University of Lagos, one of the best medical universities in Nigeria, sets off marks for all departmental courses and more so Medicine and surgery. 

This cut off mark is the minimum score below which no medical aspirant will get admission into the school’s College of Medicine. 

And yes, since there are different student performances each year, the cut off marks is always fluctuating. 

Before learning about the previous cut off marks, let’s have a little peek at what cut off marks, on the whole, is about and the types.

The Different Admission Cut Off Marks For Admission

Before you get into the higher institution, you’ll come across the term “cut off mark” a lot. 

Of which, there are three types which you must pass before getting admission. 

Let’s look at all of them below. 

1. JAMB Cut Off Mark 

The Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) is responsible for enrolling students into higher institutions in Nigeria. 

They set the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination UTME, a must for anyone vying to study any university course. 

After everyone has written the examinations for a particular year, they set to cut off marks for the different institutions in Nigeria. 

In 2020, here are the JAMB cut off marks for the tertiary institutions in Nigeria: 

Tertiary Institution

Cut off mark 

University 

160 

Polytechnic 

120

Colleges of education

100

JAMB Cut off mark is the minimum score set by the matriculating body below which no student should get admission into any particular university in Nigeria. 

This means that, even if you score 100% in your post-utme and have a high aggregate, if you don’t have up to 160, you’re not qualified to get into the university.

Now let’s go to the Institutional cut-off marks! 

2. Institutional/School Cut off marks. 

After JAMB must have set their minimum score for admission, the school also sets cut off marks for post-utme aspirants. 

The Institutional cut off mark is the minimum score set by any tertiary institution in Nigeria below which no student should take up the post-utme form for admission. 

For example, in 2020, the University of Nigeria’s cut-off mark is 180, while in Unilag, it was 200.

This means that if a student gets 187, although he/she passed the JAMB cut-off (180), he’ll not be allowed into the University of Lagos, talk less of picking up the post-utme form.

Get the gist?

The JAMB cut-off mark for Medicine and surgery in Unilag is 200. 

Now that’s all cleared, let’s get to the meat of this whole explanation. 

3. Departmental Cut off Marks 

Departmental cut off marks for University admission is where the main deal lies. 

Many aspirants May score somewhat high above other cut off marks like 297, 312, 310, etc. But the departmental cut off mark judges all. 

No matter how high your UTME score is, you’ll not get into medical school if you’re not among the top scorers that year. 

Unlike others, the departmental cut off marks is not a minimum score phenomenon. 

Here’s why; 

There’s a particular quota given to every university in Nigeria to admit medical students. 

Obviously, medical aspirants always exceed the number of quota by unmeasurable amounts. 

Furthermore, more than ten thousands of students apply to study Medicine in Nigeria, but the quota? It’ll be around 50-180, depending on the school.

Now here’s what most institutions do; 

After they’ve gotten the aggregate scores of all applicants for a course, the first sort the highest performance, then enter catchment areas and educationally less developed states. 

If, for example, they need 70 medical students on merit, the 70th highest scores will be shown to the public as the cut off mark for Medicine and surgery. 

This cut off mark is the most crucial and determining factor for admission. So you’ve got to understand what the previous Unilag cut off mark for Medicine and surgery is and what to expect. 

Unilag Cut Off Mark for Medicine and Surgery: Past 5 Years 

2016

2016 was an unusual year for aspirants, no doubt. There was a lot of controversy concerning post-UTME and how schools do use the means to extort students. So, all schools in Nigeria didn’t call for post-UTME tests. 

Here’s how the aggregate was finalized; 

JAMB/8 = 50%

A1 – 8 

B2 – 7 

B3 – 6

C4 – 5 

C5 – 4 

C6 – 3 

So the five total WAEC subjects equals 50%, and the cut off marks were: 

Merit and Catchment 2016 Unilag Medicine Cut off mark
Merit 79.38
Ekiti 75.75
Lagos 76.38
Ogun 77.38
Ondo 77.00
Osun 77.38
Oyo 77.38

2017, 2018, and 2019 were of the same format. Unilag conducted her post-UTME tests for these three years, and the method of calculating the aggregate was as follows; 

UTME- 50% 

Post-UTME- 30% 

WAEC Grades- 20% 

From the above, Jamb/8 gives 50%, Unilag will convert the Post-UTME test into 30%, and for the WAEC grading, A is 4 points, B is 3, C is 2, and D is 1.

Here’s the cut off mark for the different years 

2017

Merit and Catchment areas 2017 Unilag Medicine Cut off mark
Merit 77.03
Ekiti 75.75
Lagos 72.15
Ogun 75.40
Ondo 75.38
Osun 74.28
Oyo 72.78

2018 

This year made history in the University of Lagos medical school as it had the highest cut off mark ever. Here’s it below; 

Merit and Catchment areas Unilag 2018 Medicine Cut off mark
Merit 81.525
Ekiti79.15
Lagos 80.10
Ogun 80.45
Ondo80.35
Osun79.75
Oyo 76.73

2019

Candidates scored high generally, and the Unilag cut off mark for Medicine and surgery this year was also high but a bit lower than that of 2018. Here’s it below;

Merit and Catchment areasUnilag 2019 Medicine Cut off mark
Merit81.375
Ekiti78.075
Lagos 79.525
Ogun 80.325
Ondo 78.125
Osun 79.375
Oyo 79.4

2020

2020 is another unique year that is a record-breaker among others. As you should have known, the Coronavirus pandemic happened, but that caused the UNILAG’s administration to hold her first-ever online post utme screening test (yep, you thought right, all the way from one’s device!) I’m shocked, but this is the highest cut-off mark ever, probably because a lot of medical aspirants smashed their screening test. Here’s it below:

Merit and Catchment Areas UNILAG 2020/2021 Cut off mark for Medicine
Merit 83.35
Lagos 81.075
Ekiti80.475
ogun81.9
Ondo81.4
Osun81.55
Oyo82.525

2021

Merit and Catchment Areas UNILAG 2021/2022 Cut off mark for Medicine
Merit 80.8
Lagos 79.425
Ekiti75.6256
ogun78.925
Ondo77.25
Osun80.275
Oyo79.75

Unilag Cut Off Mark for Medicine and Surgery 2022: What To Expect

Currently, as of the time of writing this post, the cut-off mark for Medicine and surgery in Unilag 2022 is not yet out.

This is because the school hasn’t conducted her post-UTME tests for the year, and admission processes hasn’t also kickstarted.

However, if you’re preparing for JAMB or want a target to aim for, this report below will be super helpful! 

What To Expect 

From the past four years, we found out that the Average merit cut off mark for Medicine and surgery in Unilag is 79.83.

If you want to get into Medicine in Unilag, you should expect the cut-off mark 2022 to be between 77.03-84.0.

And to be on the safe side, you should consider getting around 80, especially if you’re not from Unilag’s catchment areas. 

If you’re a JAMB aspirant and looking for a target to set, then this would be a great one: 

  • JAMB: 320+
  • WAEC: 3A’s and 2B’s
  • Post-UTME: 30/40

Then your aggregate will fall around 80. However, understand that this is just an estimate. 

Does it mean that lower scores won’t get in? Of course no. But it’s merely a target for medical aspirants in Unilag!

Now that you’re informed about the cut-off marks for Medicine and surgery in Unilag, let’s move over to the things that affect the scores yearly.

Also read: How to Gain admission with Low JAMB score in 2021

Factors that affect Unilag Cut off mark for Medicine and surgery. 

Like in other universities, the departmental cut off marks always fluctuates. 

If you check through the past four years cut off marks for Unilag, you’ll find that they either increase or decrease with each year.

But why is this so? 

Let me explain; 

1. Student’s Academic Performance 

One of the significant factors that affect Unilag’s cut off mark each year is how well students perform.

Think about the UTME results. Are they more people scoring 300 and above than last year?

What about the post-UTME tests? How was the performance? Did more students get high scores than last year?

If the answer to all these questions is yes, you should expect the Unilag cut off mark for Medicine and surgery to be high and vice versa.

2. Number of Aspirants Applying 

People who fail to get into Medicine in any institution in Nigeria are not dumb. But one of the hindrances is the population of applicants. 

Imagine if Unilag was to select 100 from 1000 students. Will the cut off mark be the same as if they’re to choose from 10,000?

Absolutely not! 

If the number of aspirants who wrote the post-UTME is higher than that of previous years, expect an increase in cut off marks.

This is because they’ll select the top scorers first, and chances of high cut off increase with population.

Key takeaway: Higher number of applicants for Medicine in Unilag leads to a higher cut-off of the mark and vice versa.

3. Catchment Areas Affect Unilag Cut off mark for medicine and Surgery

I’m sure that you must have heard that students not from southern Nigeria won’t get admission into Unilag. 

This statement isn’t right, and you’re going to understand everything about how catchment works at the University of Lagos.

Most universities’ admission quota consists of three parts; Merit, Catchment areas, and Educationally less developed states. 

The merit, like the name, is based on top performance and nothing more. 

If they’re a lot of high scorers in a particular year, you should expect the merit cut-off mark to be high because those students are the major factors determining the score.

Let’s take the 2016/2017 academic session as a case study; 

From the picture above and JAMB information, 7,222 students in 2016 applied for Medicine and surgery in Unilag.

But in the end, the number of students admitted from UTME was 100.

So, the ratio of merit to catchment to ELDs is 45:35:20.

So out of the 100 students, they want to admit, 45% will come from merit, and hence the 45th highest scorer will be used as the cut off mark for Medicine in Unilag.

The catchment which we want to explain better will take up 35%, that is 35 students.

Catchment areas for admission are states that more preference for entry into any institution.

In this area, Unilag ceases to use performance to admit, but instead looks at these catchment areas:

  • Lagos 
  • Ekiti
  • Ogun 
  • Ondo 
  • Osun
  • Oyo 

So the next 35 people will be the highest scorers from these six states above. 

If you’re not a southerner and want to get into Medicine in Unilag, you’ll need to be among the merit (Top 45% of quota).

If not, sorry, as there’s no chance again, especially when you’re not from the catchment areas. 

Get the gist? 

Key Takeaway: The Unilag cut off mark for Medicine and surgery also depends on the catchment. It’s lower for students from Lagos, Ogun, Ekiti, Osun, Ondo, Oyo. 

What Next After Unilag Cut off Mark for Medicine and Surgery

Now that you’ve learned all about the Unilag cut off mark for Medicine and surgery, what’s next?

If you’ve written the post-UTME, the next thing to do is to subscribe to our blog below and keep on checking this post to know the latest.

Are you preparing for JAMB? Perfect! We’ve given an estimate of the scores to target in both your UTME and Post-UTME. Now go ahead, and train hard to those targets.

Was this post helpful? Let’s interact using the comment section like below. We can’t wait to see you reach your medical career dreams! 

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Anaso Emmanuel
Anaso Emmanuel

My name is Anaso Emmanuel and I’m the founder of MedicsDomain; an SEO Expert, Content Writer and an Enthusiastic learner. To the outside world, I’m an ordinary Medic but secretly I use this blog to help aspirants get into medical school, provide insightful guides and connect with others like me.