University applications for 2027: every closing date

Every date below was verified on the university's own website in July 2026. Where a university publishes different deadlines per programme, the earliest is shown alongside the general one - because the early one is the one people miss.

As at late July 2026:

• Closing very soon: CPUT's emergency medical care, somatology and opticianry group closes 31 July 2026.
• Closing next: NMU early applications 3 August; NWU general courses and residence 31 August; CPUT education programmes 31 August; UWC dentistry and oral health 31 August.
• The big one: 30 September 2026 - UFS, CPUT, UWC, NMU, CUT and Wits general programmes all close together.
• Last chance: UJ on 31 October 2026 at 12:00. Note the midday cut-off, not midnight.

Already closed: UP (all faculties, 30 June), NWU selection courses (30 June), Wits health sciences and architecture (30 June), NMU medicine/pharmacy/radiography/nursing (30 June), CPUT health sciences (30 June), UFS health sciences (31 May).

Across almost every university, the earliest deadlines are the health and selection programmes. It is a consistent rule and it catches thousands of applicants every year.

• UFS - MBChB, occupational therapy, optometry, physiotherapy, radiation science, biokinetics, dietetics: 31 May
• Wits - the entire Faculty of Health Sciences, plus architecture, audiology and speech-language pathology: 30 June
• NMU - MBChB, pharmacy, radiography, nursing: 30 June
• CPUT - medical laboratory science, nursing, diagnostic radiography, ultrasound, nuclear medicine, radiation therapy: 30 June
• UP - veterinary science: 31 May, ahead of the 30 June general deadline
• UWC - dentistry and oral health: 31 August

If you are aiming at medicine, dentistry, veterinary science, pharmacy, nursing or any allied health programme, your real deadline is roughly three to four months earlier than the one everyone talks about. Work backwards from 31 May, not 30 September.

A persistent myth is that applying is expensive. For 2027 it mostly is not:

• Free: UFS, CPUT, UWC, CUT
• Free online (fee only for paper): UJ - R200 hardcopy
• R100: Wits
• R150: NWU (R600 for international applicants)
• R500: NMU, international applicants - we could not verify a South African applicant fee

Because most are free, apply to more than one. There is no financial reason to put all your hope in a single institution, and the selection process at every university is competitive enough that a backup is sensible.

APS is not one national standard. Universities use different systems, and the same matric results produce different scores at different institutions.

• UP - APS on six 20-credit subjects, Life Orientation excluded, maximum 42. MBChB needs a minimum APS of 35.
• Wits - APS on best seven subjects including Life Orientation, with bonus points for English and Mathematics (a level 8 counts as 10).
• NWU - APS on six subjects excluding Life Orientation, calculated from Grade 11 or Grade 12 results, with its own online calculator.
• UFS - its own AP score.
• UWC - its own UWC Points System.
• NMU - an Applicant Score (AS) plus subject-specific percentage pass marks.
• CUT - Admission Points (AP), minimum 27.

So a score calculated for UP does not transfer to Wits. Calculate separately for each university you apply to, using that university's own calculator where one exists.

Three of these universities state flatly that they do not accept late applications:

• UJ: "No late application will be accepted."
• NWU: "NWU does not accept late applications." It refers people who miss the window to the Central Application Service.
• CUT: "There are no late applications or walk-in applications."

NMU is the exception - it formally builds in a late window to 30 September for everything except MBChB, pharmacy and radiography.

Two further warnings that apply everywhere: CPUT notes it processes online applications only and will not accept paper, with a maximum of three programme choices. CUT and NMU both note that individual programmes may close early once capacity is reached, regardless of the published date.