MANILA, Philippines — The University of the Philippines has announced the top 25 passers in the 2024 UP College Admissions Test (UPCAT), entitling them to free tuition and a monthly allowance of P5,250.
UP president Angelo Jimenez said the 25 students, representing the top 0.04 percent of the takers, were the first batch of Oblation Scholars since the UPCAT took a three-year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jimenez said the “remarkable achievement” of the 25 students has set them on a path of greatness as Oblation Scholars are envisioned by the university to “become leaders of the country.”
“No other university has this kind of dominant presence at the national level. So much power to influence where this nation will go. So much power to influence how other Filipinos think. That is the power that will soon be placed in your hands,” Jimenez told the top UPCAT qualifiers during a dinner reception for them at the Executive House in UP Diliman on Sept. 24.
Considered as one of the highest honors achievable in UP, the Oblation Scholarship is a government grant given to the top UPCAT passers.
Scholars are chosen based on their UPCAT scores and University Predicted Grades.
Among the benefits of being an Oblation Scholar are free tuition as well as miscellaneous and laboratory fees. They are also entitled to a book allowance worth P2,250 per semester and a special incentive allowance of P3,000 per month.
UP vice president for academic affairs Leo Cubillan said this gives the scholars the opportunity “to immerse themselves in a culture of research and scholarship with a dynamic community of thinkers, innovators and change-makers.”
Prof. Francisco de los Reyes, director of the UP Office of Admissions, said of the 25 scholars, 20 picked UP Diliman for their undergraduate degree, four in UP Manila and one in UP Los Baños.
Cubillan said the batch would be the first to have an online course on artificial intelligence from the UP College of Engineering.
According to the UP Office of Admissions, the 25 Oblation Scholars bested 108,708 UPCAT examinees.
Only 15.5 percent of the 2024 UPCAT takers were either qualifiers or waitlisted.