It is taken into account to enter the public university system in Spain. It is calculated for each student, according to his or her academic results during the last two years of high school. Since 2017, it can be "raised", by obtaining points obtained either by taking additional exams or by valuing certain subjects more than others (to the most interesting of the 2).
If you have been looking for information about higher education in Spain you will probably have already read a lot of information, some of which is true but there is also a lot of "nonsense".
Let's put the real information on the "nota de corte":
- The grading in the Spanish educational system is on 10 points while it is on 20 points in France.
- In France, obtaining the baccalaureate automatically gives access to university: it is, in the texts, the first university diploma (the baccalaureate juries are all chaired by a university professor).
- In Spain, the diploma that is "equivalent" to the baccalaureate does not give access to university: it is just the diploma that marks the end of the secondary education cycle.
- To study in Spain, in a public university, the number of places offered and the students' requests will be taken into account.
- If a university offers 100 places to study veterinary medicine, all applications will be ranked from the best to the worst. The score of the 100th application, i.e. the last student to register, will be the famous "nota de corte".
- So, to say that to study physics in such and such a university requires, for example, a 6 is an observation on the previous year or on the previous years, nothing more. It was not necessarily a 6 that was needed 2 years before, it is not a 6 that is needed this year.
- On the other hand, the higher the "nota de corte" you are given, the higher the number of applications from good and very good students.
- A "nota de corte" of 5 means that it is sufficient to have the baccalaureate to enter dental studies at the university concerned. There will often be another type of evaluation to enter a program, as is the case in most of the universities with which we have chosen to have a partnership in Spain.
- The "nota de corte" is not the only criterion to take into account for a French person who wishes to study in Spain, especially to study in the medical and paramedical sector.
For these regulated professions, the number of hours of practice is essential when returning to France to practice. For example, some public universities, with a very high "nota de corte" every year, do not have a study plan with enough hours of practice compared to what is required to practice as a podiatrist in France for example.
You can be sure that no public university will try to adapt to your problem as a foreigner: if you want to study in the public sector in Spain, it will be under the same conditions (study plan, internship hours, conditions and admission schedules, etc...) as the Spanish!
If you want to know the Nota de Corte of a specific course in a specific university in Spain: Consult the application of the newspaper "El Pais".
See you soon!
