“Whenever I get tired of reading and remember that I still have bulks of course outline to cover, series of assignments to submit, legal cases and court judgements to read, I flash back to my secondary school days when we were made to believe JAMB exam is the only enormous task we have ahead of us, that once we pass, we have scaled through academic struggles, I wish I never wrote JAMB UTME at all”, says Muhammad, a 300 Level Law student.

For the average Nigerian students, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) exam is framed as the last stage of academic struggles. In secondary school, teachers talk about it with fearful tones. At home, parents fervently pray upon it. The impression behind that is always, “just pass UTME, get into university, and your life is set.”

But for thousands of students who eventually wrote the exam and passed finely, the “end of academic struggles” they were promised turns out to be an illusion. The truth, often left unspoken during matriculation ceremonies, is that the real struggle does not end with an admission letter, it actually begins there.

Muhammad even said “matriculation is not worth celebrating. It should be an initiation ceremony rather than a congratulatory one.”

The Myth of Perfection

The transition from being a “local champion” in one’s secondary school to being a face among other thousands of students is the first psychological battle.

Hauwa, a 300 level MBBS student, recalls the shock of her first year. “In secondary school, I have a permanent seat on the result because I was brilliant. But here, I am just one of hundreds fighting for space,” she says. For students like Hauwa, the pressure is not just the bulky handouts or the tight schedule of medical school but rather, it is the fear that they do not get weeded out even after all the secondary school assumptions that they are smart.

The Economic Weight of Education

While some struggle with the books, others struggle with the basic cost of survival. The current economic situation has turned the dream of a degree into financial concerns for many.

Faruk Umar, a 200 level Agriculture student who travels long distances to attend lectures, represents the silent demography of students living on the edge. “Sometimes I go to lectures on an empty stomach,” Faruk admits, “while I have to bear the cost of transport.”

Yet, Faruk bears a another burden of expectations of his family who believes that because he is “in the university,” he has already made it. This assumption of success, while battling poverty in private, is a heavy weight that many Nigerian students carry in silence.

The Point of Conviction: A Necessary Warning

The “undisclosed tales” of campus life, the burnout, the economic deprivation, and the unrealistic academic expectations are not just personal grievances but a systemic oversight.

If we keep framing JAMB as the “grand gateway,” we will fail to prepare our students for the marathon that comes after it. We celebrate the admission but ignore the responsibilities that come forth. If we continue to hide the hardships of the university experience under the guise of “prestige,” we will continue to send unprepared, overwhelmed, and underfunded young students into a system that breaks more than it builds.

It is time to stop telling students that the finish line is the university gate. We must start telling them the truth: the admission letter is not the end of the war but rather the moment you are handed your war attire.