University of Cape Town (UCT)

Written by Mohapi · Last updated 15 August 2026 · How these figures are checked

If you have worked out an APS and you are comparing it against UCT, stop. UCT does not use an APS, and the number it does use is not on the same scale, or even the same scale as itself, between faculties.

Which subjects count

For the general admission decision, UCT considers the sum of six subjects, excluding Life Orientation, but the six must include English and any subject the programme requires. You cannot drop a required subject in favour of a stronger one.

Faculties vary that. The Faculty of Science, for example, works on the five best subjects including the required subjects, and requires an FPS of 34 points or above.

Five subjects in one faculty, six in another, on scores out of 600 or 800 or 900. This is why a generic calculator, including the one on this site, cannot give you a meaningful UCT number. Use UCT's own guidelines for the faculty you are applying to.

The NBT is compulsory here, not conditional

This is the difference that catches people who have only read about UP, where the NBT is triggered by a subject mismatch.

At UCT, all undergraduate applicants who are normally resident in South Africa or at school in South Africa must write the National Benchmark Tests. Not some. Not those with a gap in their subjects. All of them.

There is a wrinkle worth understanding: some faculties use your NBT results in the admission decision and some do not. The Faculty of Science, for instance, does not fold NBT results into its points calculation, but applicants are still required to write the tests. So "my faculty does not score the NBT" is not a reason to skip it.

Book early. Sittings are limited, they fill, and an unwritten NBT is a straightforward way to have an otherwise strong application set aside. Details are at nbt.ac.za, and UCT's own page is here.

Meeting the score is not an offer

UCT is among the most competitive universities in the country and it admits far fewer people than apply. An FPS at or slightly above a published threshold makes you eligible for consideration in a pool where many applicants are well above it.

If UCT is your first choice, apply, but treat a second and third application elsewhere as part of the plan rather than as an admission of defeat.

Per-programme FPS thresholds are published by each faculty and are revised each cycle. They are not reproduced here beyond the Science figure quoted above, which came directly from UCT material.

Where UCT is

UCT sits on the slopes of Devil's Peak in Cape Town, across Upper, Middle and Lower Campus, with the health sciences faculty at Groote Schuur and other sites around the city.

Two practical consequences. The campus is steep, which matters if you have a mobility issue and is worth asking about directly. And Cape Town accommodation is expensive and scarce, so the housing question needs planning at the same time as the application, not after an offer.

Applying

• Apply directly to UCT. It is not part of the CAO.
• Book your NBT as early as you can. It is compulsory for South African applicants regardless of faculty.
• Check the FPS rule for your specific faculty, since the subject count and the scale both change.
• Residence and funding are separate applications with their own deadlines.

Application fees and closing dates change per cycle and are not stated here. Confirm on the UCT site.

Who UCT genuinely suits

• Academically strong learners with consistent results across the subjects their faculty requires.
• Anyone aiming at a research career, given UCT's postgraduate depth.
• Students who can plan and fund Cape Town accommodation, or who already live there.
• Applicants organised enough to sit the NBT well before deadlines.

What people get wrong when applying to UCT