Most DLSU admission guides answer one question: how to take the DCAT. That is a fraction of the picture, and it is not the part that costs people a year.
De La Salle University runs three separate undergraduate admission routes — first-year college, transferee, and second undergraduate degree — with different eligibility rules, different exams, different calendars, and different people making the final call. This guide covers all three, with most of the weight on the two that are barely written about anywhere. For the DCAT itself, its testing dates and its format, see our DLSU entrance exam guide. For the university's general profile, our De La Salle University Manila page has it.
First: work out which route you are actually on
This is the single most consequential decision in a DLSU application, and it is not up to you.
DLSU's definition is broad: transferees are students who have enrolled in and/or completed any college-level, vocational, or specialised training course at another college, university, or vocational institution. The follow-on sentence is the one to read twice — applicants who have officially enrolled in any post-secondary degree or certificate programme after completing high school are classified as transferees and are therefore not permitted to apply as frosh, even if applying to first-year level.
So one enrolled term at a local college, one TESDA-style certificate programme at a vocational institution, one false start you dropped out of — any of those moves you out of the freshman lane. You do not get to reset by simply applying as a new student, and DLSU can invalidate an application for false information, with permanent debarment from any level of study at the university as a stated consequence.
| Route | Who it is for | Exam | Terms with an intake |
|---|---|---|---|
| First-year college (frosh) | Grade 12 students and graduates who have not taken any college course | DCAT | Term 1 |
| Transferee | Anyone who has enrolled in any post-secondary programme elsewhere | DLSU Transfer Admissions Test, plus an interview | Terms 1, 2 and 3 |
| Second undergraduate degree | Holders of a completed bachelor's degree | No entrance test listed; interview required | Terms 1, 2 and 3 |
First-year college admission
DLSU's own eligibility list for the freshman route covers four groups: a Grade 12 student expected to graduate at the end of the current academic year; a Grade 12 graduate from a local or foreign school in an earlier year who has not taken any college course, who must upload a Declaration as a New Student Form; a passer of the PEPT, ALS or NFE A&E programme certified eligible for tertiary admission under DepEd regulations; and a current Grade 12 student or graduate holding SAT, AP, IB Diploma or Certificate, or A Level results that meet DLSU criteria, all subject to evaluation.
Three mechanics of the freshman application that people trip over:
- You rank three programme choices, first, second and third. DLSU states the ranked selections guide the admissions decision.
- Nothing changes after you submit. Programme selections cannot be changed once the application is submitted, and the application form itself is locked. Corrections to personal details go through DLSU's service request ticket portal, not a resubmission — and DLSU explicitly tells applicants who forgot a document not to create a second application profile, but to open a ticket instead so the file can be linked manually.
- Minors can apply. Unlike the transferee and second-degree routes, an applicant under 18 may create an Archers Hub account provided they upload a signed Acknowledgement and Consent Form from a parent or legal guardian.
Testing runs on campus in Manila and Laguna, at a long list of provincial host schools from Tuguegarao to General Santos, online with a compulsory mock session beforehand, and through a separate "Animo Lane" sitting at DLSU Manila. Provincial application windows close earlier than the general one — sometimes by a month — so a provincial site is a decision to make early, not a fallback.
If you are choosing a double-degree programme through the College of Liberal Arts or the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business and School of Economics, note DLSU's own clarification: you receive two full degrees, typically in five years, and tuition is set at a combined rate rather than simply doubled.
Transferee admission: the strictest route
DLSU publishes four eligibility criteria, and they are absolute rather than indicative.
- An overall grade point average of at least 85% or its equivalent.
- No failing marks in any subject — and DLSU specifies that this includes unofficial withdrawals or drops that appear as failures on the official transcript.
- No incomplete grades remaining. Any INC listed on the transcript must be completed and fully reflected in the final transcript before the application deadline.
- A minimum amount of prior study: at least one full semester at a semestral school, at least one full term plus midterm grades from the current term at a trimestral school, or at least two full terms at a quarter-system school.
On top of the grades, DLSU requires transferees to pass both an entrance examination and an interview conducted by the Associate Dean of the college as a mandatory condition of admission. The test is the DLSU Transfer Admissions Test, scheduled on its own dates, not the DCAT.
The 20% credit cap
This is the number that decides whether transferring is financially sensible.
DLSU may grant credit for courses taken elsewhere, but the total credited units cannot exceed 20% of the total units required for your chosen programme at DLSU. Final evaluation and accreditation is done by the Associate Dean of the college — and only after you have been accepted into the programme.
Read that sequence carefully. You accept an offer without knowing what carries over. On a typical four-year curriculum, a 20% ceiling means the large majority of what you already paid for and passed will be repeated. Anyone weighing this move should work through the arithmetic in our college transferee guide and the practical steps in how to transfer schools in the Philippines before submitting anything.
The offer can be withdrawn after it is made
DLSU's Admissions and Scholarships Office reserves the right to deny or cancel an application — even after all initial requirements have been submitted — if the final transcript of records discloses any failing grade, any unresolved incomplete grade, an unofficial drop appearing as a failure, or a cumulative GPA below 85%.
In other words, the transcript you submit at application is provisional. Your current term still counts against you. A transferee applicant who coasts through their last term at their old school can lose an offer they already hold.
Finally, acceptance into the preferred degree programme is contingent on slot availability and the programme's capacity for the specific term applied for, and DLSU states that the ultimate admission decision rests solely with the College through its Associate Dean. Meeting every published criterion is a floor, not an offer.
Second undergraduate degree
The eligibility bar here is short but tight:
- The first bachelor's degree was completed no more than three years before application.
- No failing grades in any subject during the first degree.
- A minimum cumulative GPA of 2.500 in the first degree.
Every applicant is interviewed by the College Associate Dean, who makes the final admission decision, and admission depends on whether slots are available for second-degree intake at all. Two conditions apply after you are in: shifting to a different programme is not permitted, and to stay enrolled you must not receive any failing grades in your first trimester.
Where your first degree came from changes everything
DLSU splits second-degree applicants into two populations with materially different deals.
| Graduates of De La Salle system schools | Graduates of other schools | |
|---|---|---|
| Credit for prior coursework | Up to 50% of the units required by the DLSU programme, evaluated by the Associate Dean after admission | None. The full curriculum must be completed, including General Education, PE and NSTP |
| Additional grade requirement | The general criteria above | Final GPA of at least 85 or equivalent in the first degree, no failing grades |
| Minimum enrolment | Continuous active enrolment for at least six consecutive trimesters | Not separately specified |
| Academic honours at graduation | Not eligible, regardless of academic performance | Eligible, subject to the University's standard rules |
That table is the whole decision for many people. A Lasallian graduate finishes faster but cannot graduate with honours. An outside graduate repeats everything but keeps honours eligibility. Neither is obviously better; they are different trades, and DLSU makes you pick without negotiation.
Note also the age rule: for the transferee and second-degree routes, only applicants at least 18 years old may use the "Sign Up as an Applicant" option, because signing up means agreeing to the University's terms and privacy policy. Younger applicants register through a parent or legal guardian.
The calendar: a trimester, not a semester
DLSU runs Terms 1, 2 and 3, with classes starting in September, January and May respectively. Two consequences for applicants.
First, deadlines will not line up with other universities. DLSU publishes a separate undergraduate admissions calendar per route and per term, each with its own application period, testing date, results date, confirmation period and enrolment date. A deadline you read for a semester-based school tells you nothing about DLSU.
Second, three terms is not three chances at being a freshman. The frosh entry point DLSU publishes is Term 1. It is the transferee and second-degree routes that genuinely run three intakes a year — a real advantage if you are in either of those categories, and irrelevant if you are not.
The published pattern has been a roughly month-long application window per term for transferees and second-degree applicants, with the freshman window opening mid-year and closing at the end of September. Do not plan around those months from here. Read the live admissions calendar on DLSU's undergraduate admissions page, because DLSU itself lists several downstream fields as "TBA" until close to the date.
Results, confirmation, and the step people forget
Offer and rejection letters go to the email address registered on your Archers Hub application. DLSU does not commit to a public results date in advance; its calendar has carried "TBA" against results and confirmation for open cycles.
Being offered a place is not the end. DLSU publishes separate confirmation guides and document checklists — one set for first-year college, another for transfer and second-degree applicants — with their own confirmation period on the calendar, followed by enrolment. Missing the confirmation window is a self-inflicted way to lose a place you earned. Download the checklist for your route as soon as an offer lands, not the week the window opens.
Tuition is paid per term under one of three payment plans DLSU offers: full payment, two instalments, or three instalments. Since DLSU bills three times a year rather than twice, the annual arithmetic does not compare cleanly to a semester school — our DLSU tuition fee guide works through it, and Ateneo vs La Salle tuition sets it against the obvious alternative.
What DLSU does not publish
Worth naming, because the absence is real and no blog should be filling it in:
- No peso application fee on the public pages. The amount appears inside your Archers Hub application.
- No DCAT subtest breakdown, item count or timing.
- No advance results date for most cycles — the calendar says TBA.
- No list of which programmes have transferee or second-degree slots in a given term. That is answered by the College, term by term.
- No pre-admission credit evaluation. The Associate Dean evaluates units only after you are accepted.
Where DLSU has not published a number, we have not supplied one. Ask the Admissions and Scholarships Office directly, and take the answer in writing.
Sources
- Undergraduate Admissions — routes, admissions calendar and confirmation guides, De La Salle University
- Undergraduate Admission for DCAT Application — eligibility, testing venues and application FAQs, De La Salle University
- Undergraduate Admission for Transfer Application — criteria, credit transfer policy and admission authority, De La Salle University
- Undergraduate Admission for Second Undergraduate Degree Application — criteria and general policies, De La Salle University
