University of Lagos-UNILAG 2012/2013 CUT-OFF Marks Updates: All You Need to Know About Change of Course forms-Admission Merit List

University admission seasons are full of frustrations and drama. Very few joyful stories ever comes out of it. Those who are qualified to get into our higher institutions are denied because of one reason or the other.

In this post I will like to look at the issues surrounding change of course from one course to another or from one faculty to another within the university system using UNILAG as a model.

I will try to cover the implications, the risks, the cost and then give my opinion and recommendation.

Feel free to do what you want but please be guided by benefit of foresight and hindsight.

DOWNLOAD UNILAG PAST QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 2013/2014 HERE


Why you may Need to change Your Career Course
There are various reasons why you may need to change  your course, some are listed here:

1. you don't meet up to your present course cut-off marks

2. when you feel your chances of getting admission is low

Why you may NOT Need to Your Career Course

 1. if your reason is because you scored higher for the course you choice and need to upgrade- eg you chose IRPM and scored 86 and the cut off mark for accounting is 79, you feel since you actually prefer accounting you should change, this not a valid reason and it is not allowed.

2. you cant change from a lower course to a higher course

3. You can't switch from one faculty to another, except its has education related courses

The Advantages

1. Brighten your admission chances

2. Gives you opportunity to read at least a course in the school of your choice

3. The school will have opportunity to fill those courses that are normally neglected by students- major advantage for the school

4. The pressure on the premium courses like Accounting, Elect/Elect, Medicine and the likes is reduced

5. Gives the students something to hold

6. Can create good students who now discovered that the new course is where they are really gifted and go ahead to become one of the best students from the faculty or department and make a mark in the industry many examples abound.

UPDATE:  UNILAG ADMISSION MERIT LIST-CHECK IT HERE

UPDATE VIEW THE REAL CUT-OFF MARKS 2012/2013 HERE

The Disadvantages

1. You have to chose a lower course and move away from your intended career path

2. You may not like this new course

3. It may change your career destiny. The  available courses are mostly Education courses and some micro courses, although no course is small, but you need to understand our country and the place we are in right now, some course need time to mature in this country.

4. You may do bad in the course because you dont really like the course and your total concentration is not there

5. Complex problems may set in. The students concerned usually feel insecure and inferior in the midst of their friends and fellow students who took the jamb exams together.

6. It causes a lot of tension in families as their are division between parents on the choice of courses.

7. There are unplanned and unforeseen payment and dues that may be involved in the new course, which may not be planned for, this can be an issue in families

The Cost

The form for Unilag last year was N500, if this has been increased is not confirmed yet, but this is  not likely as the university encourages change of course to filled quotas for less disadvantaged courses.

There are other cost which are hidden cost, which you will story experiencing when you get in. Every course has their peculiar cost attached to them, please find out before you make the moves.

The Risks

The risk of change of course are:
1. There is no guarantee that you will gain admission
2. You may not do well in the course as you really were pushed to do the course, usually produce carry-over students
3. Jobs prospect may also be difficult
4. The student may wrongly be influenced as he/she is not happy with the course and may fall victim of bad influence in campus
5. The student may lose out totally from admission
6. These students easily fall preys to admissions fraud and 419, as monies will change hands for "supposed helpers"

When is the Form Sold?

Normally sold in closet- meaning not public knowledge, but usually out in admission office after the released of the Merit list and cut-off points for various departments.

The sales is usually done  within three days, so you need to keep your ears to the ground if you need to.

Examples of change of courses:

In Engineering/Environmental courses, there is no need to do a change as each will be filled up, so you have to just asked to get into the low courses like
MET. & MAT.
SURVEYING & GEO.
BUILDING
QUANTITY SURV.
URB. REG. PLAN.

For Medicine and Science you may change to any of these
PHYSIOLOGY
PHYSIOTHERAPHY
RADIOGRAPHY
CELL BIOLOGY
CHEMISTRY
MICROBIOLOGY
MARINE SCIENCE
MATHEMATICS
BIOCHEMISTRY
BOTANY
PHYSICS
ZOOLOGY
Medical LAB

For Social Science
GEOGRAPHY
PSYCHOLOGY
SOCIAL WORK

You can change to any of the Edu courses
ADULT
BIOLOGY
CHEMISTRY
C.R.S.
EDUC. FRENCH
EDUC. GEOG.
YORUBA EDUC
GUIDANCE & COUNSELLING
MATHEMATICS
PHYSICS
INTEGRATED SCIENCE
ENGLISH EDUCATION
History Education
HUMAN KINETICS
IGBO EDUCATION
ISLAMIC STUDIES EDUCATION

In ARTS, these are choices to change to
EUROPEAN LANGUAGES/FRENCH
EUROPEAN LANGUAGES/RUSSIAN
LINGUISTICS / YORUBA
LINGUISTIC/IGBO
HISTORY & STRATEGIC STUDIES

In all of these the most guaranteed is to changed to any of the education and single major courses.

My Recommendation

If you scored very low and you dont mind reading other courses then you may go for change of course
But if you are determined to read a course of your choice then plan your career and course choice wisely. Prepare for the next year admission and give your best shot.

I do not advise you to change your career destiny because you must get into school, there is no need for that.

Many of these people who took that step are regretting it today. They found out that there are no jobs for the type of course they went out to read in the university, which is why we have more than 30 million able youths who are jobless today in our country.

sincerely, read well and do your best for each course you are going for and with little help you should be able to make it, and if not chose other schools that are not competitive and go the extra mile and read your desire course.

After admission there is no difference between the guy who went to Unilag and UNAB, all are seen as graduates. But the issue I have now is that students dont want to believe this.

He that has an ear let him hear.

Your comments and contributions will be most appreciated and those who have experienced such can give us their stories below.

If this has helped you please help share on facebook and on Twitter, so others can benefit too.

Naijahotjobs Zone Team

DOWNLOAD UNILAG PAST QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 2013/2014 HERE