🇨🇷 How to apply to university in Costa Rica

There is no central application system: you apply to each institution directly. Programmes usually start: March (first term of the academic year); public universities admit once a year.

Checked on 20 October 2026 against the official sources listed below.

The essentials

Application system: None — apply to each institution on its own website.
When programmes start: March (first term of the academic year); public universities admit once a year.
International applicants: There is no central system: international students apply to each university directly, in the same process as Costa Ricans, with extra document requirements for schooling completed abroad.
Language: Spanish.

Key dates

Add all these dates to my calendar (.ics)

Each public university runs its own process. At UCR, registration for the 2026–2027 aptitude test and the deadline for applicants from schools abroad to hand in their grade certificates (16 October 2026) have passed; the competition for a programme place (concurso a carrera) for 2027 is in December 2026, with rules published in November 2026. Registration for 2028 entry usually opens early in the year — watch UCR's admission page.

Date	What	Who	Intake	Source	Calendar
16 November 2026	Admission score (Nota de Admisión) published (University of Costa Rica)	Candidates who sat the UCR aptitude test (PAA) in the 2026–2027 process	University of Costa Rica, 2027 entry	Universidad de Costa Rica (ORI) — Instructivo proceso de admisión 2026-2027 (PDF)
17 November 2026 –19 November 2026	Window to query your admission score (University of Costa Rica)	Candidates in the UCR 2026–2027 process	University of Costa Rica, 2027 entry	Universidad de Costa Rica (ORI) — Instructivo proceso de admisión 2026-2027 (PDF)

A window shows its opening date above its closing date. Individual universities and programmes can set earlier dates of their own — always confirm on the official page before you rely on a date. The calendar file adds each date as an all-day event with a reminder a week before.

Your checklist

The usual steps for an international student applying to a bachelor's in Costa Rica, in order. Tick them off as you go — your ticks stay in this browser, with no account.

1.Choose universities; each public university runs its own admission process, usually starting about a year before entry.
2.Register for the university's admission test (at UCR, the Prueba de Aptitud Académica) in its registration window.
3.If you finished school abroad, hand in your secondary grades — apostilled (or consular-legalised) and officially translated into Spanish — by the university's deadline.
4.Sit the admission test and get your admission score.
5.Have your foreign secondary diploma recognised (equiparado) by Costa Rica's Ministry of Public Education (MEP) before the programme-place competition.
6.Compete for a programme and campus place in the university's online concurso.
7.If admitted, enrol and arrange your student residence status with the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería.

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Next steps

Sources

Written by CollegeMatcher in our own words from these official pages, checked on 20 October 2026. Dates change every year.

Universidad de Costa Rica (ORI) — Instructivo proceso de admisión 2026-2027 (PDF)