The University of Southeastern Philippines screens applicants twice, and the first screening happens before you are allowed anywhere near the entrance test. You file an online application with documents, wait seven days, and only then find out whether you qualify to sit the USeP Admission Test (USePAT). That structure trips up applicants who think of the test as the starting point.
This post sets out both gates, the standing requirements for every applicant category, and the specific things USeP does not release.
Gate One: Qualifying to Take the USePAT
USeP publishes a three-step procedure for undergraduate admission covering Grade 12 senior high school applicants and transferees.
Step 1 — Register and upload
Registration goes through USeP's online admission portal. You submit clear scanned copies of:
- Permanent Record in Grade 11 with a grade point average of at least 85 percent
- A recent passport-size ID picture with name tag
- PSA-authenticated birth certificate
- Income Tax Return, or a Certificate of Low Income of parents or guardians from the barangay
- Transcript of Records with GWA — transferees only
- Solo Parent ID, if the applicant is a solo parent
USeP asks applicants to note the registration code the system assigns on first access. That code is how you log back in later to see your application result and, eventually, your official result. Losing it means answering security questions to recover access.
The university also warns that applicants must clearly identify themselves as either senior high school or transferee when filling out the form, and that any misrepresentation means denial of the admission application.
Step 2 — Check back after seven days
Seven days after filing, you log in again at the same registration link to view the result of your application — not the test. If you are found qualified to take the test, you download the Permit to Take the Test from the system, print it, and attach a recent passport-size ID picture with name tag.
Step 3 — Report to your assigned testing centre
You present the hard copy of the Permit to Take the Test, with the photo attached, to the room examiner at the scheduled date, time and testing centre.
USeP runs testing centres across its campuses and units — its published schedules have covered Obrero, Mintal and Tagum-Mabini among others, with different sitting patterns per centre. Our entrance exam requirements checklist covers the documents most Philippine universities want at this stage and how to get them certified in time.
Gate Two: The Composite Result
USeP does not admit on the raw test score, and it will not give you the raw score at all. Its own wording:
The official result received by the applicants is the only information that they can get. This result is a product of a criteria that include the USePAT Standard Score, Senior High School General Weighted Average (GWA), and the Academic Track that matches the chosen priority course.
Three things follow.
Your senior high school GWA is part of the admission decision, not just the application filter. It appears at both gates.
Your senior high strand matters. The criteria include whether your academic track matches your chosen priority course. An applicant with a strong test score applying from a mismatched track is not being assessed on the same footing as one whose track lines up. This is worth knowing at Grade 11, not at Grade 12 — see our comparison of senior high strands and job demand if you are still choosing.
You cannot appeal a number you never see. There is no raw-score release and no published cut-off.
Results are viewed by logging in to the registration portal with the passcode printed on the USePAT permit, and printing the document if you are a candidate for admission. USeP tells applicants to monitor its official website and Facebook page for the announcement of the release of individual results.
If you do not get your first choice
USeP has published a route for this. Within a specific period, qualified applicants who were not admitted to their first priority programme may seek admission to other offered programmes, subject to slot availability and further evaluation by the college concerned. Programmes still open are posted on school premises and on the university website until slots are filled.
Shifting after enrolment is possible but restricted: only after the first semester of the first year in the programme, and subject to the receiving college's admission requirements and slot availability.
The Standing Admission Requirements
Separately from the USePAT process, USeP publishes a standing set of admission requirements by applicant category. It notes two framing rules first: admission requirements for each course are prescribed by the college concerned and approved by the president, and the university may close admission for students or programmes whenever the availability of faculty and facilities warrants. That is a live constraint, not boilerplate — a programme can simply not open.
Freshmen, baccalaureate degree programmes
- High school final grades of not less than 85 percent in mathematics, science and English, or approval of the dean
- Passing the entrance examination and interview conducted by the college
- Medical certificate from the university physician
- Birth certificate, original and photocopy
- Passport-size picture with name tag
Freshmen, diploma, certificate and associate programmes
- GPA of at least 83 percent, or approval of the dean
- Passing the entrance examination and interview
- The same medical certificate, birth certificate and photo requirements
Note the difference: the degree route asks for 85 percent in three named subjects, the sub-degree route asks for an overall 83 percent. Note also that both routes name an interview conducted by the college as part of admission, which sits alongside the USePAT rather than replacing it.
Transfer students
Transferees may be admitted provided that:
- They have obtained an average of 2.0, 86 percent, B or better in all collegiate academic units earned outside USeP
- They complete no less than 50 percent of the units required for the course at USeP
- Admission is on probation until the required courses taken outside are validated or repeated
The validation rule is strict and time-bound: an admitted transferee must validate all subjects offered for advanced credit at a rate of at least 15 units per semester within a period not exceeding four semesters from the date of admission. USeP states that failure to comply is sufficient ground for cancellation of registration privileges. A transferee also may not enrol in a subject whose prerequisite, taken elsewhere, has not been validated or repeated.
Documentary requirements for transferees: copy of the transcript of records, certificate of eligibility to transfer, certificate of good moral character from the former school, medical certificate from the university physician, passing the qualifying examination and interview, birth certificate original and photocopy, and passport-size picture with name tag.
USeP allows that any or all of these rules may be set aside in exceptional cases on the recommendation of the Committee on Admission or the dean concerned. Our guide to transferring schools in the Philippines covers what to secure from your current school before you approach a receiving university.
Upper classmen, cross-enrollees, former students
Upper classmen submit a clearance duly signed by the concerned authorities, plus the student handbook or college passbook with the scholastic record signed by subject teachers.
Cross-enrollees may not be admitted without a written permit from their own dean or registrar stating the total units for which the student is registered and the subjects they are authorised to take at USeP.
Former students who have since entered another institution must submit an official transcript from that institution before being considered for readmission, and anyone with outstanding financial obligations to the university must secure clearance first.
Foreign students
Foreign students must meet the same academic standards required of Filipino students and are subject to evaluation by the Commission on Higher Education. USeP will consider the substantial equivalent of courses completed against those it prescribes, where the courses were taken at an institution of recognised standing.
Missing Documents Later
USeP's registrar publishes a point that matters more than it sounds. Students are sometimes allowed to enrol on a promissory note when a requirement is not yet in hand, and the university flags this as the usual reason a student later cannot request academic records.
The documents involved are:
- Form 137-A from high school or senior high school
- Honorable Dismissal or Certificate of Transfer Credentials
- Official Transcript of Records copy for USeP, for transferees
- Certificate of Good Moral Character
- PSA-authenticated birth certificate
- PSA-authenticated marriage certificate, for married female students
- Two recent 2x2 photos and mailing stamps
Form 137-A and the official transcript are requested school to school, not carried by the student, so a former school that does not respond leaves the record incomplete. USeP issues a follow-up letter authorising the student to hand-carry these documents to speed release. Our Form 137 and SF10 guide explains that process from the student's side.
The Legal Frame USeP Cites
When explaining why it maintains entrance requirements despite free tuition, USeP points to two instruments.
Republic Act 10931, the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act of 2017. USeP cites Section 4 in support of its position that it may set admission requirements, and cites Section 8 in telling unsuccessful applicants that a student loan programme exists for Filipino students enrolling in SUCs, LUCs, private HEIs and TESDA-registered TVET programmes.
CHED Memorandum Order No. 105, series of 2017, on the policy for admission of senior high school graduates to higher education institutions from AY 2018-2019. USeP quotes the closing clause: in the exercise of an institution's academic freedom, Grade 12 graduates may enrol in any higher education programme "subject to the admission requirements of the admitting higher education institution."
That is the correct reading. Free tuition under RA 10931 changes what you pay, not whether you qualify. Our free tuition universities guide sets out what the law actually covers.
What USeP Does Not Publish
Cut-off scores, raw scores and standard scores. USeP states outright that the official result is the only information an applicant receives. There is no published threshold for any programme.
The current application window and test schedule on the admission page. The page at the university's /admission/ address carries an announcement from 2021 as its most recent item, and the announcement content sits in an image. The registration portal itself is a JavaScript application that renders nothing readable without a browser session. In practice USeP announces the USePAT application and registration window through announcement posts and its Facebook page. Its published pattern for one cycle opened registration in late October and closed at the end of January, with testing running from January through March across centres — but the university sets those dates fresh each cycle, and it has stated flatly on at least one occasion that there would be no extension of the registration deadline or examination schedule.
Programme quotas. USeP says a programme can be closed when faculty and facilities warrant, but does not publish per-programme slot counts in advance.
A published USePAT fee. No test fee is stated on the admission pages reachable from the university site. Confirm with the admissions unit.
Test coverage. There is no published subject breakdown, item count or section timing for the USePAT.
Practical Order of Operations
- Check your Grade 11 permanent record GPA against the 85 percent threshold before doing anything else. That is the gate on the application, not on the test.
- Get the PSA birth certificate and the income documentation early. These are the items that delay applications, not the academic records.
- Register as soon as the window opens and write down the registration code.
- Diary the seven-day check. The Permit to Take the Test only exists inside the portal, and you have to print it.
- Choose a priority course that matches your senior high track, because the match is part of the criteria.
- If you do not get your first choice, watch for the posted list of programmes with remaining slots rather than assuming the cycle is over.
For the programme list itself, see our separate breakdown of courses offered at USeP, and the directory profile for the University of Southeastern Philippines carries the location and contact details.
Sources
- University of Southeastern Philippines, "Prospective Students" — standing admission requirements for freshmen, upper classmen, transferees, cross-enrollees, former students and foreign students — https://www.usep.edu.ph/prospective-students/
- University of Southeastern Philippines, "USeP Admission Test (USePAT) for A.Y. 2025-2026" — the three-step application procedure, the document list, the seven-day check, the Permit to Take the Test and the registration-code reminder — https://www.usep.edu.ph/blog/2024/10/14/usep-admission-test-usepat-for-a-y-2025-2026/
- University of Southeastern Philippines, "Frequently Asked Questions" — how official results are accessed, the composite criteria, the second-priority route, shifting rules, the RA 10931 loan provision and the CMO 105 s. 2017 citation — https://www.usep.edu.ph/frequently-asked-questions/
- University of Southeastern Philippines, Office of the University Registrar, "USeP-OUR: Frequently Asked Questions" — undergraduate admission requirements and steps, and the lacking-requirements document list — https://www.usep.edu.ph/oasr/faqs/
- University of Southeastern Philippines, Admission page and USePAT Online Registration portal — https://www.usep.edu.ph/admission/
