No students were selected for admission to 378 colleges and madrasahs across the country in the upcoming academic year.
Additionally, 10 colleges received no applications at all.
Under the Rajshahi Education Board, RMJ College has 150 seats available for admission to the 11th grade. However, not a single student was selected for admission there. Similarly, Jaflong Hanifa Khatun Memorial College in Sylhet has 300 seats, but no students were selected for admission either.
The first phase results for admission to the 11th grade for the 2025–26 academic year were published on Wednesday.
This information was revealed upon reviewing the published results.
Meanwhile, 25,348 students were not selected for admission despite applying - among them are 5,765 students who achieved GPA-5.
Admission to the 11th grade in all colleges and madrasahs across the country (except for a few institutions such as Notre Dame College) is being centrally coordinated. This centralised online admission process is conducted under the Dhaka Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, with technical support from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). No entrance exams are held under this system; students are selected based on their SSC and equivalent exam results. It is worth noting that admissions under the Technical Education Board follow a separate process.
The results of the SSC and equivalent examinations were published on 10 July. This year, a total of 1,904,086 students registered under 11 education boards, of whom 1,303,426 passed. This means more than 600,000 students did not pass.
According to the Dhaka Education Board, there are a total of 8,015 eligible colleges and madrasahs for admission this year, offering 2,563,063 seats for 11th-grade students. Against these seats, 1,073,310 eligible students applied. Of them, 1,047,962 students were selected for admission, while more than 25,000 students who applied were not selected.
In this admission process, students must submit a fixed application fee and apply to a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 10 colleges or madrasahs, ranking them in order of preference. Based on a student’s academic merit, quota (if applicable), and preferences, they are placed in one of the institutions they applied to.
According to the Dhaka Education Board, it has been observed that many students tend to apply mostly to well-known or familiar colleges and madrasahs. However, due to a mismatch between their results, preferences, and seat availability, not all applicants are selected for admission.
There are, however, second and third phases of the admission process. Students who did not apply in the first phase will still have the opportunity to apply during these two later rounds.
That said, options become more limited in the second and third phases, and the chances of getting into a preferred institution are significantly reduced.
Top 10 colleges by number of applications
A list has been prepared of the top 10 colleges based on the number of applications received. Among them, the highest number of applications was submitted to Government Ananda Mohan College in Mymensingh.
This college has 981 seats, but received 36,185 applications for admission.
The second highest was Adamjee Cantonment College in Dhaka, which has 2,161 seats and received 35,082 applications.
The remaining eight institutions on the list are: BAF Shaheen College (Dhaka), Shaheed AHM Kamaruzzaman Government Degree College, Kabi Nazrul Government College, Rajshahi Government College, Baklia Government College, Government AH College (Bogura), Dinajpur Government College, and New Government Degree College.
Number of institutions without any admitted students by education board
According to the Dhaka Education Board, of the 378 colleges and madrasahs where no students were selected for admission in the first phase, the breakdown by education board is as follows:
Rajshahi: 56 institutions
Dinajpur: 42 institutions
Dhaka: 39 institutions
Mymensingh: 35 institutions
Jashore: 16 institutions
Barishal: 13 institutions
Cumilla: 12 institutions
Sylhet: 3 institutions
Chattogram: 1 institution
Madrasahs (nationwide): 161 institutions
10 colleges that received no applications
A total of 10 colleges across the country did not receive a single application for admission. Of these, nine are under the Barishal Education Board. One such example is Kathalia Secondary Girls' School and College, which has 450 available seats — yet no students applied for admission there. Under the Chattogram Education Board, one college also received no applications.
Regarding the 378 colleges and madrasahs that failed to enroll any students, and the 25,000+ students who applied but were not selected for admission anywhere, Prothom Alo spoke with Professor Khondoker Ehsanul Kabir, Chairman of the Dhaka Education Board and President of the Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee.
He said, “In previous years, many students applied during the second phase as well. We believe the same will happen this year. However, the actual reasons will only become clear once the entire admission process is complete.”