DSHAPE Special Application Period Now Rolling

Calling all aspiring Lasallians! The special application period for the DSHAPE for the Academic Year 2024-2025 opens on March 10 until April 15 and is set for April 20, 2024! Are you ready to take the next step towards your Lasallian journey?

What is DSHAPE?

DLSU Senior High School Admission and Placement Exam (DSHAPE) was DLSU’s response to the Senior High School (SHS) Program. Its main objective is to assess Grade 10 students’ readiness to take SHS courses as some of these are considered General Education (GE) courses, which are offered to all DLSU students as mandated by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). Meanwhile, DLSU rolled out the Connect-Ed program to ensure that its partner schools teach subjects at par with the University’s standards and to give students the benefit to waive these courses upon entering college.

What is Connect-Ed?

The structure of the Connect-Ed program consists of a system of mentoring and certification, which it uses to validate whether the level of instruction and assessment in feeder schools—schools that are major sources of undergraduates for the University—is in line with expectations or not.

Currently, the feeder schools that the University has established close ties with include Chiang Kai Shek College, Elizabeth Seton School, Grace Christian College, Jubilee Christian Academy, Makati Hope Christian School, Notre Dame of Greater Manila, Philippine Cultural College, St. Jude Catholic School, St. Peter the Apostle School, St. Scholastica’s College, and St. Stephen’s High School.

Apart from these institutions, DLSU also extends the same exemption opportunity for foundation courses to students who hail from La Salle schools, specifically those from the Manila and Laguna Campuses, De La Salle Santiago-Zobel, and La Salle Green Hills (LSGH).

What courses can be waived through Connect-Ed?

Guidelines on the program released by the SHS Engagements Office, meanwhile, only allow students from Connect-Ed schools and the DLSU-Integrated School (DLSU-IS) to credit certain subjects. The document also detailed what SHS subjects are the equivalents of college courses—General Biology 1 and 2 for Basic Biology, Business Math and Business Finance for Basic Financial Math, and Applied Economics for Basic Economics.

Considered as foundational courses, the other subjects listed are General Chemistry 1 and 2, General Physics 1 and 2, General Mathematics, Pre-Calculus 2, Fundamentals of ABM 1 and 2, Statistics and Probability, Principles of Marketing, and Organization and Management. For DLSU-IS graduates, this expands to include Empowerment Technologies 2.

But to have these subjects credited, students must have obtained a grade of at least 85 when they took it. While those who do not meet the cutoff in at least one of the required SHS subjects have the option to take the Lasallian Examination for Advance Placement—otherwise, they need to retake the general foundational course. It is not without its costs, however, as applicants are required to pay a confirmation fee of P10,000 to register for the exam.

Nonetheless, there are exceptions: Accountancy majors cannot credit Fundamentals of ABM 1 and 2, while students in the School of Economics cannot credit the Applied Economics subject.