A few prospective JAMB candidates have been asking some similar questions that needed to be answered.
- Can I choose the same university as my first and second choice but different courses for the first and second?
- Can I choose a polytechnic as first and second but different courses in the first and second positions?
- Is compulsory to choose the same course where a school is considered as both first and the second?
All these questions are seeking the same answer. This is what this post is here to help you with.
You’re Free to Choose the Same School as the First and Second
I’d once assured you that nothing is wrong with choosing a school as the first and second choice. It’s normal.
However, I warned that it’s nearly impossible to see a school in the second choice to offer you admission (as a second choice candidate).
Therefore, it’s safer to say that even if you choose the same school as your first and second choice, the first choice will eventually matter in the admission process.
But to satisfy yourself, you can still consider that combination notwithstanding.
Recommended: How to Buy JAMB PIN Offline and Online Yourself
Choosing Different Courses for the Same School (in First and Second Choice)
I know what you’re thinking.
You’d believe that if you chose different courses for the same institution – if it doesn’t give you the first course, it should give you a second.
That’s thoughtful.
Yet, it’s not really real!
Candidates should not rely on the position that if you take a competitive course in the first choice, you can take a less competitive course in the second. With this, if you can’t meet the cut-off mark for the first one, the university, polytechnic, or college of education can just give you the less competitive course instead.
I’d once warned that the very purpose of the second choice and other choices, is like a backup. If the first choice school with its course won’t work, you can change the second choice school with its course or another to the first position. This new choice you will be looking up to for admission.
But now that you want to consider a school as the first and second choice, and if for any reason you prefer going for the second course, the best thing is to change the first course to the second choice course instead of relying on it that the school will, by itself, give you the second course.
It’s true that schools transfer candidates from their original courses to other qualified or appropriate ones. Yet, it doesn’t matter whether those students consider the schools in the second choice and the courses they’re transferred to.
In other words, even if you consider the school as the first choice only and the management deems it fit for you to be transferred to another course, it will. Or if a school transfers you, it’s not necessarily because you choose it in the second position to with the less competitive course.
In most cases, candidates that choose the same schools as their first choices with your second course are even more than what the school can offer admissions. Why will they go for you in the second position?
Why will it now give people in the second choice the course at the expense of the first choice candidates?