How admission works: from JAMB to your admission letter
Getting into a Nigerian university happens in a fixed order. Knowing the order helps you avoid the mistakes that cost students a whole year.
- Register for JAMB (UTME). You choose your course, your first-choice university and your four UTME subjects. Your subjects must match the course — see subject combinations.
- Write the UTME. A computer-based exam scored out of 400. Read what to do on exam day.
- Check your result on JAMB's official e-Facility portal.
- Upload your O'level result (WAEC/NECO) to JAMB if it was not ready when you registered. Admission cannot be processed without it.
- Post-UTME screening. Your university announces its own screening: a test, or an O'level check only, with its own minimum JAMB score. Buy the form only from the school's official portal.
- Aggregate. The school combines your scores into one number using its formula — calculate yours here.
- Merit list and cut-off. Each department admits the highest aggregates until its spaces are full. That is why departmental cut-offs change every year.
- CAPS. Offers appear on JAMB's Central Admissions Processing System, inside e-Facility. You must accept the offer on CAPS — an admission you do not accept is not complete.
- School registration. Pay the acceptance fee and complete registration with the school.
- Print your JAMB admission letter from e-Facility. Keep it safe: you will need it again.
Things that decide admission besides your score
- Merit: the best aggregates in each department.
- Catchment area: many universities keep places for candidates from nearby states.
- Educationally less developed states: federal universities keep some places for candidates from states officially listed as educationally less developed.
- Your O'level: the right subjects and grades, in the number of sittings the course allows.
Common mistakes
- Writing JAMB subjects that do not match the course.
- Not uploading O'level results to JAMB.
- Not accepting the admission on CAPS.
- Buying Post-UTME forms from agents or fake websites instead of the school's own portal.
Official sites for everything above are on the JAMB links page.