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University Admittance Here is Tough
January 14th, 2006
In the US, it is the private schools.. the Harvards, Yales, and others that are tough to get into. In Costa Rica, however, there are only three public universities and those are the ones where the competiton for entrance has become tough indeed.
In fact, there are only three public universities in this country: The University of Costa Rica, The National University, and the Technical Institute of Costa Rica. These schools represent the best there is in Costa Rica education , and apparently the buying public agrees, as ads in La Nacion and other newspapers often include the specification that the applicant must have graduated from one of these three schools. Unlike the US, employment ads here may specify age, sex, schooling and other requirements… in fact, it is not uncommon to have ads even specify weight and beauty requirement. I laugh to think what the EEOC would think… talk about a heart attack!
In a country were the top employers may in fact state they accept only those graduates from a certain school, the pressure is really on to get accepted.
| School | Applicants | Accepted | % |
| UCR | 28,743 | 6,905 | 24% |
| National U | 16,068 | 3,047 | 19% |
| Technology | 11,382 | 1299 | 11% |
| Totals | 56,193 | 11,251 | 20% |
To begin the application process, each student must take exams for entry to one of these schools. After that, they face other processes to further reduce the numbers to what each university can handle. Only 20% of the applicants make the cut. In the table above, you can see just how tough it is!
Filed under Costa Rica, Health & Education, Life in Costa Rica | Comments (4)4 Responses to “University Admittance Here is Tough”
Hmm… quite discouraging. Any stories from people who have made it in?
[…] I think that after a year or so of teaching, I’ll be ready to get my masters in TEFL from the UCR. Hopefully I will get in. From what I hear, the UCR is notoriously hard to get into. But I did pretty well in college, I have great references, and I plan to rock my students’ world. 😛 Hopefully, I’ll be fine. […]
Excellent.
Erin. There are many stories.. success stories.
I’ve met many brilliant ticos and ticas.
Up on this clod of dirt we have a Yale genious who couldn’t figure out why it was winter in S. Africa in June.
He has a masters in business yet bankrupted everything he touched….still is
He is barely literate.
He is also President…..whew !
$$$$$$$$$
[…] I think that after a year or so of teaching, I’ll be ready to get my masters in TEFL from the UCR. Hopefully I will get in. From what I hear, the UCR is notoriously hard to get into. But I did pretty well in college, I have great references, and I plan to rock my students’ world. Hopefully, I’ll be fine. […]