Beyond the tech and engineering race, the University of Lagos has also published cutoff marks for three programmes that quietly shape some of Nigeria’s most essential professions: Medical Laboratory Science, Mass Communication and Physiotherapy. The figures were released by university management on 16 September 2026, the same day as the wider rollout of cutoff marks covering faculties across the institution.
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Medical and Laboratory Science, domiciled in the Faculty of Health Professions, carries a merit cutoff of 75.075, a score reflecting the intense competition for a field that sits at the heart of Nigeria‘s diagnostic and public health infrastructure. Catchment scores for the programme are Ekiti 66.525, Lagos 71.55, Ogun 73.425, Ondo 71.625, Osun 74.35 and Oyo 69.875.
Notably, Osun State’s catchment figure of 74.35 sits closer to the national merit cutoff than any of the other five states, meaning Osun candidates gain relatively less advantage from the catchment system than candidates from states such as Ekiti.
Mass Communication, housed in the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, carries a merit cutoff of 74.6, positioning it just below Physiotherapy and Medical Laboratory Science in overall competitiveness. Its catchment scores are Ekiti 64.275, Lagos 72.45, Ogun 73.025, Ondo 71.9, Osun 70.775 and Oyo 71.725, with Ekiti offering by far the most generous reduction from the general merit mark among the three programmes covered.
Physiotherapy, also in the Faculty of Health Professions, requires the highest merit score of the three at 76.0. Its catchment scores are Ekiti 72.75, Lagos 67.4, Ogun 75.375, Ondo 74.7, Osun 73.675 and Oyo 72.3, with Lagos offering the steepest discount from merit among the six states listed for this programme.
As with other faculties, catchment scores are typically set lower than the general merit cutoff and apply only to candidates from states within the university’s designated catchment zone, giving them a modest cushion during the admission process, though as the figures above show, the size of that cushion varies significantly from state to state and programme to programme.
University officials say the figures, directed at prospective students, parents, guardians and the wider public, mark the formal opening of the 2026/2027 admissions cycle, the moment when a year of UTME preparation either clears the bar or sends candidates back to the drawing board.
The release follows earlier UNILAG announcements covering Nursing Science, Theatre Arts, Electrical Engineering, Law, Pharmacy, and Medicine and Surgery, part of a broader, faculty by faculty rollout of cutoff marks across the university’s full range of undergraduate programmes.
Taken together with the Computing, Informatics and Engineering figures released the same week, UNILAG’s cutoff marks paint a picture of a university where competition is rising across the board, from the laboratories of Medical Science to the newsrooms shaping Mass Communication graduates, and the engineering workshops training Nigeria’s next generation
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