If you have been searching for "BULSUCET" and finding nothing official, that is because no such test exists. Bulacan State University's entrance examination is the Bulacan State University Admission Test (BSUAT) — and confusingly, the same BulSU page that names it BSUAT also refers to it as ATBulSU further down. Two abbreviations, one test, one university, and a lot of people searching for a third name that was never real.
The naming is the smallest of the things worth knowing. The bigger ones: BulSU sets grade floors before you even sit the test, and passing the test does not admit you — it puts you on a pre-qualifiers list that then goes through the College Deans for interview and screening.
This guide covers the requirements, the grade thresholds, the multi-stage screening, and the separate graduate route. For the university's location, contacts and profile, see our Bulacan State University page.
Who runs it, and what they actually do
BulSU's admissions function sits with the Office of Admissions and Orientation Services (OAOS), and the university describes its job in three parts that are worth separating:
- It evaluates the credentials of all applicants to determine their qualifications to take the university entrance examination. So there is a screen before the screen.
- It administers the BSUAT on all applicants for enrolment to the different academic programmes.
- It submits the list of qualified applicants to the Office of the President for approval.
That third step is not decoration. Admission at BulSU is a recommendation that goes up for approval, not a score that clears automatically.
The grade floors
BulSU published grade requirements that vary by programme type, and these gate the application rather than the test result:
| Programme type | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Courses with board examinations | 85% general point average or higher |
| Non-board courses | 83% GPA or higher |
| Bachelor of Industrial Technology | GPA may be lower than 83%, but with no failing grades |
| Continuing Professional Teacher Education (CPTE) | Transcript of records of any completed four-year course |
| Grade 7 entry | Form 138 (report card) of Grade 5 with final rating |
That 85% floor covers a lot of BulSU. Nursing, Criminology, Accountancy, the engineering programmes, the education programmes and Psychology all lead to licensure examinations. If your senior high school average sits between 83% and 85%, the practical effect is that the non-board programmes are open to you and the board ones are not — which is a planning fact, not a rejection, and it is better to know it before you pick a first choice.
The Bachelor of Industrial Technology carve-out is genuinely useful and rarely mentioned: it is the one route where BulSU explicitly allows a lower average, on the condition that nothing is failed. BulSU runs BIT with specialisations across automotive, computer, drafting, electrical, electronics, electronics and communication technology, food processing, mechanical, HVACR, mechatronics and welding technology.
What you submit
BulSU's published application requirements are short:
- Two recent 2x2 ID pictures with a white background. BulSU states that computer-generated pictures are not allowed — meaning a printed digital composite rather than a studio photo. This is a real rejection reason, not a formality.
- One photocopy and one original of either a certificate of grades or a transcript of records.
- For college freshmen specifically: the Grade 11 certificate of grades for the first and second semesters.
Note what BulSU asks for at this stage is a certificate of grades, a document your registrar issues, rather than the report card you were handed. Request it before the window opens rather than during it.
Note also what is not on the list at application: no PSA birth certificate, no good moral certificate, no medical clearance. Those belong to enrolment. Our college admission requirements in the Philippines guide covers the enrolment-stage document set most institutions converge on, and Form 137 vs Form 138 explains which school record is which.
The stage most applicants do not know exists
This is the part of BulSU's process that changes how you should read your result. BulSU's published schedule for releasing results runs through six distinct stages:
- Turnover of results to the Pre-screening Committee.
- Turnover of pre-screened results to the College Deans for second verification.
- Retrieval of verified results from the College Deans by the OAOS.
- Publication of results for pre-qualifiers, also posted online.
- Interview and screening by the College Deans — a window of several days.
- Retrieval of final results from the College Deans, then publication of results for qualifiers, also posted online.
So there are two published lists, weeks apart, and they mean different things. Being a pre-qualifier means your score cleared and your file is now in front of a Dean. Being a qualifier means you are in. People who see their name on the first list and stop checking miss the interview.
BulSU has run this on separate calendars for the Main Campus and for satellite campuses, with the satellite sequence starting roughly a month behind the main one. If you are applying to Bustos, Hagonoy, Meneses, Pulilan or Sarmiento, the Main Campus calendar is not yours.
Transferees, shifters, second-degree coursers and returnees
BulSU handles these as four separate categories, not as a single "transfer" process, each with its own application form and its own submission link, announced by the OAOS.
Two features of how BulSU has run these are worth planning around. First, they are announced rather than continuously open — an advisory goes up, the window opens, and it can be a matter of days. Second, BulSU's own wording is blunt about compliance: applicants who fail to follow the instructions in the guidelines will not be entertained and will automatically be deemed to have forfeited their application.
If you are weighing a move into BulSU against staying where you are, our college transferee guide covers the credit-loss arithmetic and the outbound paperwork that has to happen at your current school first.
Graduate School: a different test, a different calendar
BulSU's Graduate School runs its own admission entirely, on a trimester cycle rather than a semester one, through the Graduate School Admission Test (GSAT).
The published sequence per trimester is: online application opens, requirements are submitted through the application platform over roughly a month, an on-site examination is held a few days after the window closes, results are released, and a one-time online interview is scheduled by the programme chair or an assigned professor.
The requirements are keyed to where you graduated and what you are applying for:
- BulSU graduates — original and photocopy of the relevant transcript: bachelor's for first-time master's applicants, master's for second-degree master's applicants. Doctoral applicants add a certificate of employment and a photocopy of the thesis approval sheet, which BulSU requires for all doctoral programmes except the Doctor of Public Administration.
- Non-BulSU graduates applying for the first time — original and photocopy of the transcript from the last school attended, bearing one of these remarks: "For Evaluation purposes", "For Graduate Studies / Further Studies", "Graduated", or "Honorable Dismissal / Transfer credential".
- Transferees into a master's or doctoral programme — original and photocopy of the corresponding transcript bearing "Granted Honorable Dismissal", "Granted Transfer Credentials", "Valid as Transfer Credentials" or "For Evaluation purposes".
Two programme-specific rules matter for education applicants. For the MAEd, applicants must be graduates of an aligned education programme; if not, they must have completed at least 18 units of Continuing Professional Teacher Education with a transcript marked for evaluation or further studies, have passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers, and have at least two years teaching related subjects. For MAEd Guidance and Counseling, applicants must have finished a related programme or have at least two years of related work in guidance and counselling.
The transcript remarks requirement is the one that sends people back to their old registrar. A transcript issued "for employment" will not be accepted, and getting it reissued with the right remark takes as long as getting it did the first time.
What BulSU does not publish
- No BSUAT passing score, and no per-programme cut-off.
- No test coverage, item count or duration for the BSUAT on its admission pages.
- No application or testing fee stated on the admission requirements page.
- No published weighting between the BSUAT result and your grades in the Deans' screening.
- No stated quota per programme or per campus.
- No published criteria for the Deans' interview.
Figures for BSUAT length, item counts and cut-off scores circulate widely on tutoring and listicle sites. None of them is BulSU's. Where a number is not on BulSU's own page, treat it as hearsay from past examinees.
Timing and campuses: check yours, early
BulSU's application and testing calendar is re-issued each cycle and differs between the Main Campus in Malolos and the satellite campuses. The university also lists separate enrolment links per campus, which is a fair signal that campus is a real administrative boundary at BulSU rather than a location detail.
Programme availability differs too. BulSU publishes a university-wide programme list across its colleges, but a course appearing on it does not mean it runs at the campus nearest you. Our guide to courses offered at Bulacan State University covers the full list and where the gaps are.
Do not plan around any date you read anywhere other than BulSU's own announcements page, including here. And because BulSU is a state university, the cost side is worth understanding before you commit: our CHED free tuition guide covers what free higher education does and does not cover, and free tuition universities in the Philippines lists the other state institutions worth an application in the same cycle.
Sources
- Admission at BulSU — the Office of Admissions and Orientation Services, the Bulacan State University Admission Test (BSUAT), and the staged release of results for Main and satellite campuses, Bulacan State University (archived capture of the university's admission page)
- Admission Requirements — application requirements and the grade requirements by programme type, Bulacan State University (archived capture)
- Undergraduate Programs — the programme list by college, including the Bachelor of Industrial Technology specialisations, Bulacan State University (archived capture)
- BulSU's Guidelines on Admissions for Shiftees, Transferees, Returnees and Second Undergraduate Degree Takers, Office of Admissions and Orientation Services, Bulacan State University (archived capture)
- Graduate School — Admission: the Graduate School Admission Test (GSAT), application sequence and requirements by applicant type, Bulacan State University Graduate School
