UPCAT 2026: Nah, we'll take a pass for now and make the most of a gap year

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/pros-and-cons-of-a-gap-year/. 

What do you think?

Love,

Daddy 

 

 

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"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):