KUCCPS explains why some A plain students missed medicine courses
By Valerian Khakayi, July 8, 2026The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) has explained why some students who scored an A plain in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination failed to secure places in medicine programmes.
Speaking during the release of the 2026 placement results on Wednesday, July 8, KUCCPS Chief Executive Officer Dr Agnes Mercy Wahome clarified that admission to medicine is based on competition among applicants rather than KCSE grades alone.
According to Wahome, the placement agency does not determine the cut-off points for medicine courses, but instead the applicants’ performance and competition for the available slots determine the final cut-offs.
“We do not set the cut-offs for the students; the students set the cut-offs by how they compete per programme,” Wahome said.
She noted that medicine remains one of the most competitive university programmes in the country, attracting thousands of applicants every year despite the limited number of available spaces.
For the current placement cycle, she said universities collectively had a capacity of only 702 medicine slots across both public and private institutions. However, demand for the programme far exceeded the available spaces.
“Medicine has been an issue where students feel they got an A, they got an A minus, and they have not been able to get the programme,” she said.
“We had 702 capacities in all the universities; these are both public and private universities, and when we look at the students who applied, those who had an A plain were 1535.”
According to her, 1,535 students who scored an A plain applied for medicine, representing more than 80 per cent of all candidates who attained the grade. In addition, another 3,328 students with an A- also applied for the programme.
In total, about 6,500 students sought admission to medicine, competing for just 702 available places.
How students qualify
She explained that successful applicants are selected through a ranking system based on cluster subjects rather than overall KCSE grades alone.
The four cluster subjects used for medicine placement are mathematics, chemistry, biology and one language subject. Each applicant is assigned a cluster weight derived from their performance in these subjects.
“So the question is how then do we determine who gets medicine? So we will look at the cluster subject; the cluster subjects are mathematics, chemistry, biology and a language,” she explained.
Students are then ranked from the highest to the lowest cluster weight before being allocated to universities according to the available capacity.
“Then the students compete in those four subjects, those that now form the cluster subjects; the students get a cluster weight, and then now the weight is what is ranked from the first to the last student, who is student number 6500,” Wahome added.
Additionally, Wahome explained that once a university reaches its approved capacity, the last admitted student’s cluster weight automatically becomes that institution’s cut-off point.
“Then we cut it off per university, so if a certain university has 100 students’ capacity, then the number 100 forms the cut-off,” she added.
She further clarified that because universities have different capacities and attract different numbers of applicants, each institution ends up with its own unique cut-off point.
“So there is no university that would have the same cutoff as another university,” Wahome clarified.
The clarification comes amid concerns from students and parents after some candidates who attained A Plain grades missed out on medicine courses despite their outstanding KCSE performance.