The Most Competitive Nigerian University Courses and Their Cut-Off Marks
By Muntasir • Published Jun 29, 2026 • Updated Sep 20, 2026 • Fields of Study
JAMB set the 2025/2026 national minimum UTME score at 150 for universities, but competitive courses like medicine, computer science, law and pharmacy need a much higher departmental score after Post-UTME screening, over 80 out of 100 on some universities' merit scales.
📩 JAMB's minimum: 150 for universities, 100 for polytechnics and colleges of education, and 150 for nursing colleges as of the 2026/2027 cycle (raised from 140 in 2025/2026).
🎓 At the University of Lagos, 2025/2026 merit cut-offs reached 85.025 for Medicine, 83.425 for Computer Science, 78.225 for Law and 76.4 for Pharmacy.
⏱️ Each university sets its own departmental cut-off after combining JAMB and Post-UTME results.
🏠 Always check your target university's published cut-off list, since it varies from school to school.
Two different cut-off marks
Nigerian admissions run on two layers of cut-off marks, and mixing them up causes confusion every admission cycle. The first layer is JAMB's national minimum score, the floor every university, polytechnic and college must respect. The second layer is each institution's own departmental cut-off, set after combining your JAMB score with Post-UTME screening or your O-level results, and this is the number that actually decides who gets into competitive courses.
JAMB's national minimum for 2025/2026
| Institution type | Minimum UTME score |
|---|---|
| Universities | 150 |
| Polytechnics | 100 |
| Colleges of education | 100 |
| Colleges of nursing sciences | 150 (raised from 140 for 2025/2026) |
No institution admits a student who scores below its category's minimum, though every institution sets its own cut-off higher for popular courses. The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board announced these figures for the 2025/2026 admission cycle . JAMB later raised the nursing colleges minimum from 140 to 150 at its May 2026 Policy Meeting on Admissions, matching the university benchmark for the 2026/2027 cycle.
Why departmental cut-offs run much higher
Competitive courses attract far more applicants than available seats, so universities raise their own departmental cut-off well above JAMB's minimum. The University of Lagos publishes its cut-offs as a merit score on a 100-point institutional scale rather than a raw JAMB score, and its 2025/2026 figures show how steep this gets for the most sought-after courses.
| Course | UNILAG 2025/2026 merit cut-off |
|---|---|
| Medicine and Surgery | 85.025 |
| Computer Science | 83.425 |
| Law | 78.225 |
| Pharmacy | 76.4 |
Medicine tops the list at most Nigerian universities, but computer science now runs close behind it at UNILAG, reflecting how much demand has grown for tech-related degrees. Law and pharmacy stay firmly in the highly competitive bracket too, well above courses that admit at or near JAMB's national floor.
Courses beyond medicine worth watching
Computer Science, driven by demand for tech careers and software jobs
Law, consistently one of the most applied-for courses nationwide
Pharmacy, competitive across nearly every university that offers it
Accounting and Economics at top-tier universities, where high applicant numbers push cut-offs up even though the courses are not capacity-limited the way medicine is
How to check your course's real cut-off
Cut-off marks differ from university to university and change every admission cycle, so treat any figure from one institution as an example rather than a national standard. Before you apply, check your target university's official admission or JAMB portal page for its published departmental cut-off list, and confirm the current JAMB national minimum through your JAMB CAPS profile.