Ateneo High School disappoints?

[jasonVII]

i'm a fil-am, citizen of the USA and currently assigned in south america but on furlough here in 'pinnes. my question to my kababayans concerns my cousin's son's plight. you see, he'll be finishing his senior year in highschool this year. the trouble, which to me seems trivial, is the fact that he failed the entrance examination to the University of the Philippines. now, i understand that UP is a state school and regarded by many to be the best in the country. granted, i can't believe there is no other school in the Philippine that comes close to UP when it comes to academic standards.

why am i saying all these? because my cousin is thinking of sueing Ateneo High School. my initial reaction to the whole thing was to laugh my head off --something my cousin (who's older and happens to be my host) did not appreciate. my nephew isn't even clear as to what his ambitions are, neither did his family research as to what school offered the best course for "this" and the best for "that". i had the feeling their kid's future depended soley on his being able to matriculate in UP.

please enlighten me on this.

[alemrac]

why is your cousin planning to sue Ateneo??

[eureeka]

Originally posted by jasonVII
...there is no other school in the Philippine that comes close to UP when it comes to academic standards.


sue ateneo because he didnt pass the up test? in my opinion, i dont think it was ateneo's fault that made him fail the up entrance test. its your cousin's fault alone! im sure that the school (ateneo) did its part in educating your cousin. it is actually up to the students how they could use it in the so-called real world (or should i say college world).

as for your belief with regards to 'no school better than up,' it's so not true! he still has dlsu, ateneo and ust to choose from.

:angel::angel:

[jasonVII]

two replies so soon! that's one thing i love about the Philippines, the warmth and accomodating nature.

alemrac,

i'm not sure either. let me ask you. does ateneo high school give a guarantee that its senior students will pass the UP entrance test? whoa!!! i don't know of any school in the US with that kind of confidence. if not, i then i think my cousin is just finding words to ease his frustration and disappointment.

to eureka,

please read that particular sentence of mine. i said "i do not believe there is no school..."

all the same, thank you for your replies.

[alemrac]

Originally posted by jasonVII
does ateneo high school give a guarantee that its senior students will pass the UP entrance test?

I don't think so. No high school can guarantee that all their students will pass a certain college. The school can provide the education, but it's up to the student about the learning.

Anyway, from what I heard, UP has a quota for Ateneans. Like they only get the top 15% of the batch or those who got really high on the UPCAT. Ateneans -- please verify. Thanks.

[Mikoid]

Not once in my 4 years in Ateneo High School did they ever guarantee our acceptance into any college. I don't think any high school would be silly enough to set such a guarantee down on paper.

For the record, I was accepted into UP but went to Ateneo.

UP's acceptance standards have a lot to do with the ranking within one's school. It was the only school which asked me to submit my ranking within my batch. And I do know that I was at around the 50% percentile in my AHS batch. 'di kasi nag-aaral... :D

[shashy]

Originally posted by eureeka
[quote]
sue ateneo because he didnt pass the up test? in my opinion, i dont think it was ateneo's fault that made him fail the up entrance test. its your cousin's fault alone! im sure that the school (ateneo) did its part in educating your cousin. it is actually up to the students how they could use it in the so-called real world (or should i say college world).


It is well a known fact that UP only chooses the best students, it is also a fact that there are only a few students who are blessed enough to pass the university's quota!....theres nothing much that you could do about the situation.........but if the kid is really set on UP...assuming that he passed the entrance exam with a 2.5 or higher grade he could apply for a "reconsideration" (some of my friends did that).....I cannot guarantee that he'll pass....but there's nothing to lose...oh! and when he apply for recon. the university would also ask for his bach ranking......and if he does apply pls advice him to choose a "non-qouta" course...coz comsci...business...premed and most of the famous courses are concidered "qouta-course"...(its hard to get in on those courses...especially as a recon.)....

Also Pls tell ur cuz that if he really want to sue Ateneo he would surely not win the case....
and the other Pexrs are right theres Ateneo, La Salle and UST to choose from....maybe they're not the best but they are also considered as top schools in the country...its not the end of the world

[angst]

It's funny why he should sue Ateneo high. No high school can guarantee that you will be able to pass the UPCAT test solely on the fact that you are enrolled in their school. Your admission to UP is based not only on the results of the test but also on your grades.

The question of whether you can go to UP or not depends on your personal abilities and not on your school. Even my school, Philippine Science High School, which is known to have good standards did not have a 100% passing percentage.

[crescent]

i don't think that it is entirely ateneo's fault. i mean, isn't it partly the fault of the kid too? a person could be going to the best highschool, but if he/she is lazy then nothing would happen right? going to a good highschool does not automatically qualify you to be in the best universities. it is through perseverance and hard work that these things are achieved.

i know of one good highschool where only less that 20 students out of 400++ were accepted to UP. in my batch, only 36 of us out of 250++ passed.

[eureeka]

Originally posted by jasonVII
to eureka,

please read that particular sentence of mine. i said "i do not believe there is no school..."

oops sorry! might have gotten blind when i read the sentence.

[pyket]

I am a sophomore in the Ateneo College. I was a student of the Ateneo Grade School, and part of the Honors Class in the Ateneo High School. I was both accepted in UP and Ateneo myself. So with my quasi-qualifications, I think I'll attempt to try to put things in a different perspective.

The Ateneo (in all my 14 or so years of Jesuit education) has never raised itself to the pinnacle of the academic realm. Neither has it said that it was the best (I think overzealous alumni and students are to "blame" for the modern myths, so to speak). The High School has never claimed that Ateneo students would pass UP. It can't even offer the same for its own Ateneo College. There is no such thing as a 100% acceptance rate for any academic institution. UP premed students aren't guaranteed to get into UP-PGH for med, nor are Ateneo business or pre-law students guaranteed to get into the Ateneo Professional Schools. It MAY help, but there is absolutely no guarantee that a student would get accepted to any university.

UP is indeed a difficult school to get into. The UPCAT is long and tedious. It's moderately difficult enough to be able to "weed out" the students that don't make the passing grade. But there is ANOTHER system that UP uses to ensure that students who do pass are of top caliber. I believe UP does have regional quotas. You can look at it positively or negatively (I think this is another story, so I won't expound); needless to say, only a particular number of students will get accepted from a particular region/school. (Or UP must accept this particular number of applicants from a particular REGION.)

What am I trying to say here?

A student who doesn't get accepted into UP is not equivalent to a student who "failed" the UPCAT. It doesn't mean that one failed the test because he just wasn't accepted into the University. He/She may just have didn't do as well as others. A UP-applicant has to COMPETE with tens of thousands of students all around the country to get in. And there are a lot of smart people out there to compete with. You may have done well in the exam, but there may be a LOT MORE who did BETTER than you did, thus "pushing you down" in the quota ladder.

Your cousin may just be frustrated. I can understand his feelings. But I just hope he sees that the Ateneo (although it does have its own share of faults) isn't ultimately to blame. Nor is he, if he truly did his best. It just means that there are a lot of people who did better than he did. Simple. I was part of the Honors Class in my time, and not all of us were accepted to UP. Out of 40, I think only around 14 of us were accepted. In our batch of around 550++, only 60 (that's a liberal estimate) were accepted. A lot of us were in the same position as your cousin. He'll get over it. It doesn't spell "doom" for whatever career he chooses.

Tu comprends? :) :) :)

[genmadrigal]

Originally posted by jasonVII
i'm a fil-am, citizen of the USA and currently assigned in south america but on furlough here in 'pinnes. my question to my kababayans concerns my cousin's son's plight. you see, he'll be finishing his senior year in highschool this year. the trouble, which to me seems trivial, is the fact that he failed the entrance examination to the University of the Philippines. now, i understand that UP is a state school and regarded by many to be the best in the country. granted, i can't believe there is no other school in the Philippine that comes close to UP when it comes to academic standards.

why am i saying all these? because my cousin is thinking of sueing Ateneo High School. my initial reaction to the whole thing was to laugh my head off --something my cousin (who's older and happens to be my host) did not appreciate. my nephew isn't even clear as to what his ambitions are, neither did his family research as to what school offered the best course for "this" and the best for "that". i had the feeling their kid's future depended soley on his being able to matriculate in UP.

please enlighten me on this.

Sue Ateneo coz their son didn't pass the UPCAT? This is the stupidest idea I've ever read here in PEx.

[Pepe]

Sorry to say this but the mere fact that your cousin is bent on suing Ateneo for this failure to get admitted to UP makes it very clear that he is indeed stupid and does not deserve to be a part of UP! Please do tell us where your cousin ends up -- curious enough to know what university accepts him. hehehe

[cretinous00]

pepe,

his cousin did not fail this year's upcat. his cousin's son did. and if he has the b__ls to sue ateneo high, that cousin of his must be rich!

[dudutt]

The main reason why it is so difficult to enter state-subsidized UP-Diliman is due to its VERY LOW TUITION FEES compared to that of equally HIGH standard Philippine universities like La Salle or UA&P - which makes it very attractive & affordable to all Philippine HS grads (public and private).

State subsidized UP-Diliman is CHEAP but it offers a VERY HIGH QUALITY college education - therein lies its mass appeal to poor provincial HS grads as well as exclusive HS grads.

Other universities may also be CHEAP but are not of very good quality.

La Salle, Ateneo & UA&P on the otherhand are VERY EXPENSIVE but offers VERY HIGH QUALITY college education.

Its simply a question of too many HS applicants (from the A, B, C & D classes) competing for the very limited college slots in UP-Diliman.

If FINANCES is your problem, you needn't be intimidated by the very high tuition fees of DLSU-Manila since La Salle gives a lot of full scholarships to financially handicapped but bright HS applicants. In fact around 20% of all DLSU-Manila college students are on scholarship.

[eagle_the_king]

Originally posted by dudutt
The main reason why it is so difficult to enter state-subsidized UP-Diliman is due to its VERY LOW TUITION FEES compared to that of equally HIGH standard Philippine universities like La Salle or UA&P - which makes it very attractive & affordable to all Philippine HS grads (public and private).

State subsidized UP-Diliman is CHEAP but it offers a VERY HIGH QUALITY college education - therein lies its mass appeal to poor provincial HS grads as well as exclusive HS grads.

Other universities may also be CHEAP but are not of very good quality.

La Salle, Ateneo & UA&P on the otherhand are VERY EXPENSIVE but offers VERY HIGH QUALITY college education.

Its simply a question of too many HS applicants (from the A, B, C & D classes) competing for the very limited college slots in UP-Diliman.

If FINANCES is your problem, you needn't be intimidated by the very high tuition fees of DLSU-Manila since La Salle gives a lot of full scholarships to financially handicapped but bright HS applicants. In fact around 20% of all DLSU-Manila college students are on scholarship.

I think that all universities offer scholarships. The Ateneo, UP, UST, UA&P, and la salle all have scholarship programs.

[MIRON]

MANY ATENEANS FAIL THE UPCAT! That is not something new. Your cousin is not the only one. The only person to blame is himself because sometimes when being an atenean gets into your head you think that you can conquer the world. Some people are not that good when it comes to exams but are articulate when you talk to them. It depends on the person not where he came from. We use to say madali ang exam sa UP pero mahirap makapasok, mahirap ang exam sa Ateneo pero magagawan ng paraan makapasok. (If you're from Ateneo that is)