1. Setting Unrealistic Goals: I have over the years discovered that students not being able to set achievable goals have become a major hindrance in their pursuit for admission. Just as I was mentoring some students on how to set realistic goals in an admission year, I discovered that some don’t even have definite goals, while some duplicates other people’s goals which they have little or no knowledge about.
It is pertinent to understand that you are the only one who truly knows your academic strength. If you can score more than 200 in Jamb-UTME examination, seriously you will know because you prepared yourself and no one can prepare for you. If you attend all the best tutorial of this world and you seem not prepared it will amount to an exercise in futility.
Set realistic goals, understand the process and don’t just do things because you feel its what others are doing. Your road to academic success might not be directly through the University, and u can still excel academically. You’ve written UTME more than two times with the desire to study medicine but you found it difficult to hit 200 score but you still insist on studying medicine in Unilag, yet you are not ready to change your attitude towards study. Define your goals and strategise on how you plan to achieve them. I believe if they are your goals, then they are achievable. But you have to be realistic with yourself.
2. Peer Group: This is one major problem that has marred the drive of so many students in getting admitted into higher institution. Peer group have been responsible for so many wrong choices by most students right from their secondary school days. A student whose understanding of Mathematics is nothing to write home about will suddenly want to be in science class just because that what most of his friends are doing, and this problem have come a long way to the effect that most students makes wrong choices in their mode of study, choosing institution and course of study and so on. What most students do is work on other people strategies and helping them achieve success while they suffer academically. To achieve success, always set your own goals and fashion out ways by which you can achieve them. You can do this by understanding yourself, meting people with the ability to counsel you about your goals and stay focus.
3. Family believe: Family have helped students succeed in their academic pursuit while some have made admission difficult for others. Take for instance, a family that believes if a child must go to school it must be University, some believes even in the university there are selected courses their children must study. I knew of a student who had ambition to study law but there’s a family believes where he came from that the lazy once are in Art class. I knew some who are still at home after three years of concluding secondary education but are still at home just because their parents won’t allow polytechnic education not to talk about colleges of education forgetting that the Nigeria of today, the earlier the better. Imagine government agencies setting age range for recruitment. So I will like to advice parents and intending once to work in partnership with their children so they could all have understanding of the strength, ability and areas to improve upon during admission period.
4. Not being able to get right source of information: getting that right information can go a long way to assist you in the process of admission seeking. Some students practically end their chances for admission themselves because their source of information wasn’t healthy enough for the process. To avoid common errors such as wrong subject combinations, choosing institution, choosing courses, understanding the admission process of your institution of choice and the financial implications. Why would be rely on your sister or brother or parent to determine the subject combination for the course you intend to study? Even if your source in loaded, I mean you believe he or she knows what he’s doing, do you border to ask the source of the information he or she is giving you? Like I tell most of my students whenever they come to me with the issue of UTME subject combinations, I simply refer them to the only manual that has been empower by JAMB to do that; The Jamb Brochure. Have you ever ask yourself why JAMB will ensure every candidate gets a copy of this material? They are not just items but items with vital information so candidates have an error free process.
Don’t rely on your siblings for information, am not saying they can’t be right but they are students and not employee of the institution you are applying too. Be careful and cultivate the attitude of moving, moving in the sense that, nothing stops you for visiting the admission office of the institution you are applying to for clarification of issues that need answers.
5. Government Policy: even when students have fully understood all that have been mentioned above, a wrong policy from the government can undermine the whole process. There are instances where bad government policies have worked against admission seekers. Even policies that are considered to be excellent but executed wrongly have also contributed to the woos of many admission seekers. An example of such is the compulsory NIN registration for students in the last UTME examination. The process made thousands of students miss out in the 2021/2022 admission years as they could not obtain the NIN number before the registration deadline and this is evidence in the drop in application received by JAMB. Aside the fact that a lot of candidate missed out because of the bad implementation of a great process, those who eventually registered spent more time at registration centers than on their studies. The process created panic for many and this is also a major reason the examination board conducted an exam which recorded mass failure.
I will still advice all admission seekers to keep most of these things in mind, you might have made mistake sometimes ago but you can still achieve your dreams and be successful academically. All you need is believe in yourself, understand your goals, do not just make friends but make friends that will contribute to your success.
If all you must do to achieve admission success this year or next is by believing in yourself then always remember that the earlier you can get it the better your chances tomorrow. NIN for registering UTME has come to stay, so if you have the intention of writing the next UTME, please get you NIN today.

https://www.eduwheel.com.ng/5-reasons-most-student-still-struggle-gaining-admission/