6 Schools Achieve Perfect Passing Rate in the 2025 Bar Exams

The Supreme Court has announced the results of the 2025 Bar Exams, and, as expected, some familiar schools are in the list of those with stellar passing rates.

Similar to last year, the SC divided the list of schools depending on the number of examinees. At least six schools recorded a 100 percent passing rate, five of which fielded between 11 to 50 candidates. These schools are University of Makati, Bulacan State University, San Beda University, Palawan State University, and West Visayas State University.

The sixth school to achieve a perfect passing rate is Ateneo De Davao, which is in the category with 51 to 100 examinees, with all 80 of its candidates now able to attach “Attorney” to their names. De La Salle University is in second place with all but three of its candidates passing, for a passing rate of 94.34 percent, while Polytechnic University is at third with only four of its 69 candidates failing to make the cut, for a passing rate of 94.20 percent. Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (85 percent) and University of San Jose Recoletos (68.48 percent) complete the top five.

For the bigger schools that had more than 100 Bar examinees, Ateneo De Manila University topped the list with all but two of its 106 takers passing the grueling exam, for a passing rate of 98.11 percent. University of the Philippines came in second with 214 out of 222 making it, for a passing rate of 96.83 percent. Completing the top three is the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, where 104 out of 108 candidates survived, for a passing rate of 96.30 percent. The two other schools in the top five in this category are Dr. V Orestes Romualdez Educational Foundation (80.19 percent) and San Beda College Alabang (69.91 percent).

The 2025 bar topnotcher is Jhenroniel Rhey Sanchez from the University of the Philippines, with a score of 92.70 percent. Sanchez is the 52nd topnotcher from UP, according to available records dating from 1913.

Historically, a majority of bar topnotchers come from one of three law schools: Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), San Beda College and University of the Philippines (UP). Placing first in the list of bar examinees if you’re not from one of the three schools is so uncommon that, in the last 30 years, only eight examinees were able to achieve the feat, and they came from one of these other schools: the University of the Cordilleras (formerly the Baguio Colleges Foundation), University of Santo Tomas, San Sebastian College, University of Santo Tomas-Legazpi, and the University of San Carlos.