FAQs

The projected prolonged threat of the COVID-19 situation will not allow the administration of the University of Santo Tomas Entrance Test (USTET) during the current application period, as it imposes health risks to both our applicants and the University staff.

Instead, admission to UST for the AY 2021-2022 shall be through the University of Santo Tomas Admission Rating (USTAR). The USTAR is a composite score derived from several data points largely from the academic performance and record of the applicant.

Click here to apply https://ustet.ust.edu.ph/.

Conducting the USTET online has several challenges, both on the part of the applicant and the University. 

• The USTET takes hours to administer. Maintaining internet connection for that long would be difficult for many. Moreover, it disenfranchises many applicants who do not have continuous access to the internet.
• Assuring the integrity of the test results is difficult since we would not know how applicants will be answering the questions without a proctor monitoring them. Installing online proctoring software is impractical and only adds cost to both the applicants and the University. Also, it would disenfranchise the many applicants who do not have the means to purchase them.

The accepting academic units (Faculties, Colleges, Institutes, and Schools) shall set an USTAR cut-off score for their programs.  Programs may have different cut-off scores depending on the level of competency they require of their students especially considering that many of them are CHEd Centers of Excellence, CHEd Centers of Development, or PAASCU Level IV.  You qualify to the program you applied for if your computed USTAR reaches the cut-off score set by the academic unit for that program. 

An applicant may apply to any program regardless of their track or strand.  It must be remembered, however, that the Senior High School tracks and strands are preparatory course work to the courses in college.  Applicants whose Senior High School track or strand is aligned to the program they are applying for shall have an advantage over applicants coming from a different track or strand.  Nevertheless, we recommend that you apply to the program that you truly aspire for regardless of your track or strand.  

Are students of General Academic Strand (GAS) in a disadvantage?

Not necessarily, because we shall also look into the individual subjects an applicant has taken in preparation for their college program.  If their electives are aligned with the program they are applying for, their USTAR will be higher than others’.

Yes.  This is why several data are requested in your application.  All these data, including your school’s past performances in the many years of the USTET shall be taken into consideration.

(This is the reason why the USTET is administered. The USTET provides an evaluation of all applicants using a standard measure that determines an applicant’s cognitive aptitude and academic competencies based on what is expected of an incoming college or senior high school student of the University. But because of the risks brought about by the pandemic, we are suspending it for now.)

The USTAR looks at all of the information submitted by the applicant.  It is the applicant’s consistency of performance that will qualify them into the program they apply for.  One or two grades, whether it is higher or lower than was expected, shall not be the determining factor whether one will qualify or not.  This is the reason why we require the academic performance record of the applicant in the past two years.