UST Faculty of Medicine & Surgery Shares Grades of Dr. Jose Rizal During His College Days
The UST Faculty of Medicine & Surgery has flexed the grades of the Philippines’ national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal as a Medical Student.
Recently, the Facebook page “University of Santo Tomas” revealed the academic records of Jose Rizal to mark his death anniversary. The post quickly circulated online and elicited comments from the netizens.
After initially taking a pre-law course in 1877, Rizal decided to pursue medicine, a choice influenced by either him or his family. Despite tough competition, Rizal stood out, finishing his fourth year as the second-best student out of the seven who made it through.
In total, Rizal’s transcript lists 21 subjects, with marks ranging from “passing” to “excellent.” For his pre-law courses like Cosmology and History of Philosophy, he nailed sobresaliente (excellent) grades.
Meanwhile, in preparatory medicine courses, he shone in Advanced Chemistry but only managed an aprovechado (commendable) in Physics and Natural History.
During his first and second years of medical school, Rizal’s grades were steady, mostly bueno (good) in subjects like anatomy, dissection, and hygiene. By his third year, things got more varied. He scored sobresaliente in Therapeutics but only managed aprobado (pass) in Pathology.
In his final year, his grades improved to notable (very good) in all subjects, including Obstetrics and Pathology.
It is interesting how the Spanish-era grading system worked, with categories like sobresaliente for excellent and aprobado for simply passing. Even then, Rizal’s performance proves he wasn’t just a revolutionary thinker but also a committed student who consistently excelled.
Here is the full post:
“The national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, spent much of his medical preparation in the UST Faculty of Medicine & Surgery. The famed historian, Rev. fr. Fidel Villarroel, O.P., in his magnum opus “A History of the University of Santo Tomas” devoted Chapter VI of Volume II to “Jose Rizal as a Medical Student and an Alumnus.”
After taking the pre-law course in 1877, “he changed his mind—or his parents did—and opted for the career of medicine.” While several of Rizal’s classmates “one by one fell by the roadside,” by the fourth year, only seven medical students of the year remained, and Rizal was one of them, ending that year in second place.
From Rizal’s twenty-one subjects in UST, he received one “passing grade,” eight “good,” six “very good,” and six “excellent.”
In another post, Original Manuscripts of Jose Rizal’s Works Now Available Online
The social media users expressed their reactions to the post:
