2025 cut-off marks: math and physics, engineering and medicine, the highest
More than 62,000 people have applied for university admission, but only 58% have been selected as their first choice.
BarcelonaMathematics and physics, aerospace and computer engineering, and medical degrees continue to lead the ranking of the highest university entrance exams in Catalonia for another year. The highest grade of all was once again that of the simultaneous degree in mathematics and physics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), which rose to 13.370 points out of a total of 14. The same degree, from the University of Barcelona (UB), followed closely behind, with a entrance exam grade of 13.170 points. These degrees offer very few places (20 at two different universities, 40 in total), which is why access to them is so difficult.
If we look at the degrees offering 40 or more places, in 2025 the list is headed by the Bachelor's Degree in Aerospace Technology Engineering + Master's Degree in Aeronautical Engineering, taught at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) with 60 places available and 14 places available. This is followed by Medicine at the UB Clínic Campus, with a cut-off mark of 12.850 for 200 places available; Medicine at the UB Bellvitge Campus, with 12.650 and 100 places; Medicine at the UPF, with 12.650 also and 64 places; and Mathematics at the UPC, with a cut-off mark of 12.644 and 75 places.
On the other hand, among the degrees requiring a lower cut-off mark, some social studies and language courses are being repeated, such as those in tourism, philology, philosophy, archaeology, and anthropology. In all of these areas, the cut-off mark does not exceed 5 (the minimum mark), indicating that the relationship between supply and demand is unbalanced and that places remain unfilled. The cut-off mark for students is determined, on the one hand, by the results obtained in the Baccalaureate average, and on the other, by the results of the PAU university entrance exams they took in June.
The 60,000 application barrier has been surpassed
2025 has seen a record number of pre-registrations. For the first time, the number of students enrolled in one of the seven Catalan public universities and the University of Vic-Central de Catalunya has surpassed the 60,000 mark. Specifically, a total of 62,328 students have applied for a place at one of these institutions. This is 8.4% more than last year: 57,400 students applied then.
Of the total number of pre-registrations, 77% (48,157) have managed to enter one of the study options marked as possible and have already been assigned a place. But not all will be able to study what they most desired: only just over half, 58% (27,927 students), have been admitted to the university degree they had chosen as their first option.
Regarding the profile of applicants, there has been an 8.22% increase in the number of students from university entrance exams (PAU) and also from Advanced Vocational Training Courses (51,783 students in total). This year there have also been more university graduates (5.4% more) who have decided to continue studying another degree, and the group of students who have passed the exam for those over 25 and 45 years of age has increased by 2.92% compared to last year (810 students).
Most in-demand degrees and centers
The ranking of the most popular programs is also very similar to last year's. Among the university degrees most in-demand by students as their first choice are those related to the health sciences, such as medicine, dentistry, psychology, and nursing. In the social sciences, the most popular degrees are business administration and law, and in the case of engineering and architecture, architecture studies stand out.
Meanwhile, the centers with the most applications from students seeking a degree, according to the Department of Universities, are these:
Check out all the cut-off marks here:
UNPORTAL and ARA offer you the opportunity to check the cut-off marks, along with the updated list of university courses offered next academic year by the 12 Catalan universities (the 8 participating in the pre-registration system and the 4 not participating).
You can search by cut-off mark, by keyword, or through the course selector, applying a division, if appropriate, and a cut-off mark. You'll see the minimum grade required to access each degree in the first July assignment.
