My boy will surely graduate with honors from his senior high school but has been too busy with his robotics team and had no time to spare to review for the UPCAT—having a copy of The Maroon Bluebook notwithstanding. And with the 2026 UPCAT exam date fast approaching (August 2-3), we'll take a pass for the meantime. (Family background: Our clan has mostly UP graduates and a few dropouts, to which I belong, lol!)
Screenshot of my email to my son:
To make it easier on the eye, click the screenshot to enlarge or read the same email content below:
Dear Kuya,
You may want to consider taking
a gap year: The University of the Philippines is the premier
educational institution in our country, and the UPCAT date is fast
approaching. In that regard, it is best if we are truly prepared for
that test in order to not only pass it, but to qualify for our chosen
top priority course.
Now I'm confident that
you can pass it if you take it this coming weekend, but your chances of
qualifying for the BA Film program of UP Diliman is much higher if you
have spent ample time preparing for the test. We can take the UPCAT only once in our lifetime. And you may want to take it only when you have expended enough time and effort reviewing for it.
Having
said that, you may consider taking the UPCAT next year instead. So what
will happen is, you're going to take a gap year: instead of enrolling
as a freshman college student for school year 2026-27, you will enrol
for SY 2027-28. It's only a one-year delay and we'll make your gap year
fun and productive:
1. Then you'll have an extra year reviewing for the UPCAT.
2.
You can spend the gap year taking short theater and film courses from
reputable organizations like TESDA, etc. (So when you finally enroll in
BA Film come SY 2027-28, you'll have the advantage of knowing more than
your classmates.)
3. You can spend a year doing whatever else you'll find fun. (Going to the gym?)
4. And, if you prefer, maybe earn a little from a side job? (But this should be our least priority.)
And,
finally, come SY 2027-28, you'll enrol in BA Film, College of Mass
Communication, UP Diliman as the most handsome college freshman of the
universe!
Read more about taking a gap year
here (it's common among European students and it's becoming popular
among American students, too): https://post.edu/blog/
What do you think?
Love,
Daddy
+ + +
"A Trifecta For Our Times: two lamentations and a song of hope," my animated poetry collaboration with my son, which is one of my projects as a 2024 International Fellow for poetry of the International Human Rights Art Movement (IHRAM):
