Every college student remembers the familiar feeling of taking admissions exams. From carefully choosing colleges, daydreaming about future campus life, to the process of preparing requirements and reviewing for admission tests. With college being the final hurdle before having the chance to work, students give college admissions the utmost importance, especially now that the traditional pen-and-paper tests have come back–the UP College Admission Test (UPCAT) included.
For most Filipinos, UP is one big dream. But to enter the university, it seems like great academic performance is not enough—privilege is also a big factor. A 2018 study showed an “income advantage” in UPCAT passers denoting an inequality of access to higher education.
For an institution that is meant to give opportunity to the marginalized, questions about its fairness surface. It also reveals a perennial problem in the educational state of the country that heavily favors the privileged.
Review
There is an apparent gloom with the comeback of the UPCAT, as, despite the university's efforts, the past admission process received rampant backlash. Oddly enough, the administration’s response is to bring back this famous test that is far from perfect, and not to modify the UPCA.
UPCA was UP’s band-aid solution to continue admissions despite the then-worsening pandemic. It was historical as it was the first time that the university stopped the usage of the five-hour-long admission test in favor of an admission score model.
One of the reasons why UPCAT fails as an admission test is its partiality towards more privileged students. A study about the demographic of passers from 2006 to 2015 reveals that in terms of admission, there is a significant bias towards students coming from richer families.
Although it is unfair to blame UP alone, this problem can be traced back to how education in the country is prejudiced for certain social classes and cultures. Luis Teodoro, a former dean of the UP College of Mass Communication, once wrote an article about the state of post-pandemic education. He stressed that the reason why our educational state is behind other countries is because of the lack of educational attention and support from the government.
Teodoro argued that the lack of classrooms, teachers, books, and equipment eventually led to the current education crisis that has been happening for decades already. The lack of support from authorities is evidenced in public school teachers who often find themselves asking for donations or using their own money just to provide quality education.
Unsupported public school education will only lead to low-quality education and the underprivileged students, who mainly make up the population of these public schools, are the ones to suffer. They often end up in the vicious cycle of poverty just because of the shortage of opportunities that should be available to them, to begin with.
This is the reason why as much as the institution is to blame for not giving slots to the marginalized—it is also important to recognize that these students from lower-income households often come with a big unwanted disadvantage that spawns from the scarcity of government support.
Answer
The task at hand is how to make the UPCAT better despite the conditions we are currently in. For a school in the Philippines of such caliber, UP’s entrance exam falls short of the standards of other schools.
Foreign top-ranking universities go beyond the typical admission exam and high school grade assessment. Princeton asks for a graded written paper, in Harvard there’s a personal essay, and in Columbia, applicants have to answer Columbia-specific questions. Locally, Ateneo also integrates an essay part in their entrance test to ensure that examinees are fit to study there.
Although Ramon Guillermo, a professor at the UP Center for International Studies and a former faculty regent, said that the absence of an essay part or even the consideration of extracurricular activities is not based on the institution’s lack of interest to make the UPCAT better, but rather because of the university’s admission team being understaffed. In lieu of this, Guillermo also stated that there had already been multiple attempts to modify the exam, but with a large number of applicants paired with only a small team of evaluators—it is easier said than done.
To start fixing the test, it is crucial to first give the necessary support to the people who will make it. In this case, what the admission team needs is strength in numbers.
Remedial
In making the UPCAT better, it is essential to also consider the causes of the disparity between the rich and the poor in the educational system.
There is a need for the UP administration to act now to mitigate the disadvantage of poorer students in the UPCAT because the sentiments regarding the socioeconomic population in UP raised some valid points—especially how privilege plays a huge role in admissions. Because of these flaws in the admissions system, UP fails to have a diverse student mix that is representative of Philippine society which goes against its goal to democratize admissions.
What needs to be done is to address the disadvantages of public school students, level the quality of education across various high school types, and improve the provisions of quality education to directly address the issue.
Still, this is not enough excuse to turn a blind eye to UPCAT whose Excellence-Equity Admission System (EEAS) will be put to test again. Especially when data revealed that in terms of first-year performance using the model-based UPG, UPCA passers “are also some of the best in their respective milieu” and that UPCA gave more chances to public school applicants and minorities.
If the administration is keen on implementing the UPCAT, it must recognize its flaws and provide a better version of the EEAS. The current shrinking space for marginalized people in UP should be a wake-up call to the administration to expand their support in improving UPCAT. It should be a staunch reminder of the true purpose of it which is not to be an exclusive gate for rich people—but an equalizer. ●
