KUCCPS CEO Mercy Wahome during the release of the 2026 placement results at the at the Edge Convention Centre, College of Insurance in South C, Nairobi, July 8 /SCREENGRAB
Thousands of candidates who sat the 2025 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination competed for just 702 Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) vacancies, making medicine the most competitive university course in this year's placement cycle.
Data released by the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) Wednesday shows medicine attracted 6,500 applications against a combined capacity of only 702 slots across public and private universities.
The figures mean that about 5,798 applicants missed out on securing a place to study medicine through KUCCPS and would only be able to pursue the course through self-sponsored admission, where available.
Speaking during the release of the 2026-27 placement results at the Edge Convention Centre, College of Insurance in South C, Nairobi, KUCCPS chief executive officer Mercy Wahome said competition for the programme remained exceptionally high because the race for medicine attracted a significant proportion of the country's top-performing candidates.
"The question then is how do we determine who gets medicine?" Wahome asked.
She explained that placement is based on a performance index derived from candidates' cluster subject scores, with applicants competing on their performance in Mathematics, two sciences and a language subject.
"We look at the cluster subjects; Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology and a language. The students then compete in those four subjects. The students get a cluster weight and then the weight is what is ranked from the first to the last student, who is number 6,500," she said.
Once candidates are ranked, KUCCPS allocates them according to each university's approved capacity.
If a university has capacity for 100 students, the first 100 candidates on the ranking list are admitted to that institution before placement moves to the next university.
"So there is no university that will have the same cut-off as another university," Wahome explained.
According to KUCCPS, 1,535 of the applicants who sought to pursue medicine were among the 1,936 candidates who scored an A plain in the 2025 KCSE examination, while another 3,328 had attained an A- (minus).
Overall, 270,508 candidates attained the minimum university entry grade of C+ and above, representing 27.4 per cent of the total candidature, while 717,028 candidates, or 72.6 per cent, scored C plain and below.
Of the 1,931 candidates who attained an A plain, 1,860, representing 96.3 per cent, applied for placement through KUCCPS.
Among the 9,259 candidates who scored A-, 8,667, or 93.6 per cent, submitted applications.
The B+ grade had 23,748 eligible candidates, of whom 20,911, representing 88.1 per cent, applied.
A total of 42,029 out of 49,805 candidates with a B grade submitted applications, translating to 84.4 per cent.
Among the 80,128 candidates who scored B-, 65,410, or 81.6 per cent, applied through KUCCPS.
Of the 103,858 candidates who attained C+, 78,017 submitted placement applications.
"For the students who got C+ and above, we can account for 81 per cent, which is a good number," Wahome said.
She said the remaining 19 per cent could have opted for alternative career pathways, including joining the disciplined forces, enrolling in self-sponsored programmes or pursuing studies abroad.
The KUCCPS chief also pointed to encouraging performance in technical subjects, saying 85 per cent of students who took technical subjects in secondary school attained C+ and above.
"This aligns very well with the new Competency-Based Curriculum, where we want to see more technical courses undertaken, and the performance looks good," she said.
The technical subjects include Aviation, Drawing and Design, Electricity, Woodwork, Building and Construction, Power Mechanics and Metal Work.
However, Wahome expressed concern over the performance in science subjects, which continue to affect placement into science-based degree programmes.
She said only 13 per cent of candidates who took Chemistry attained C+ and above, while Biology recorded 17 per cent.
Mathematics and General Science each recorded only 19 per cent of candidates attaining the minimum university entry grade.
The weak performance in the sciences, she noted, presents a growing challenge because universities have substantial capacity for science-based programmes but too few students meet the minimum admission requirements.
"We had over 300,000 capacities. Some capacities will remain unfilled and a good number of these capacities are in the science subjects, so it's a challenge," Wahome said.
