TL;DR: The Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific (MAAP) in Mariveles, Bataan admits midshipmen through a written entrance exam, a full medical checkup, and an interview. For the current application cycle, applicants must be born between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2009, single, natural-born Filipino, at least 5'4" (male) or 5'2" (female), with a GPA of at least 83%. MAAP is not fully free like PMA or PMMA, tuition is charged per unit at different rates depending on sponsorship status, though scholars get free board, lodging, and insurance. The academy's selling point is guaranteed shipboard placement with partner shipping companies after graduation rather than a fixed government service bond.
MAAP, the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific, is one of the country's best-known maritime training schools, and its entrance exam is the first hurdle for anyone chasing a career as a ship officer. Families searching "MAAP entrance exam" usually want to know the actual age and height cutoffs, what the exam involves, what it costs, and what a graduate owes afterward. This guide answers all of that using figures pulled directly from MAAP's official admissions page, cross-checked where possible against MAAP's own site content. If you are also weighing other maritime and government-service academies, our college entrance exam reviewer guide and our Philippine Military Academy guide cover the adjacent options side by side.
What Are the Age, Height, and Eligibility Requirements for MAAP?
To qualify for the MAAP Midshipman entrance exam, you must be male or female, single, and a natural-born Filipino citizen with no derogatory record. For the current online application cycle, MAAP's official admissions page states applicants must be "born from 01-January-2004 to 31-December-2009," which works out to roughly 16 to 22 years old depending on the exact application date. You must also be a college-level student, a high school graduate, or a graduating Grade 12 student, and you cannot have been previously admitted to MAAP.
Height minimums are 5 feet 4 inches (162.5 cm) for males and 5 feet 2 inches (157.5 cm) for females. MAAP's page notes that applicants below the minimum height may still test but face disqualification if they advance to the interview stage. A GPA of at least 83% is also required.
| Requirement | Detail (current cycle, per MAAP official page) |
|---|---|
| Citizenship | Natural-born Filipino |
| Civil status | Single, male or female |
| Birth date window | January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2009 |
| Height (male) | At least 5'4" (162.5 cm) |
| Height (female) | At least 5'2" (157.5 cm) |
| GPA | At least 83% |
| Education | Grade 12 graduate/graduating, college-level, or college graduate |
| Prior admission | Must not have been previously admitted to MAAP |
Disclaimer: age windows, height standards, and GPA cutoffs are set by MAAP per admission cycle and can change. Confirm the current version directly with MAAP's admissions office before applying.
What Does the MAAP Entrance Exam Cover, and How Does Screening Work?
MAAP admission is a multi-stage screening, not a single written test. According to MAAP's official process, the stages are:
- Online application. Submit your digital documents (2x2 colored photo, birth certificate, diploma or enrollment certification, school ID, and latest report card showing your GPA) through MAAP's online portal, in JPG/PNG format under 500KB each.
- eTest Permit. MAAP issues your test permit by email once your application is processed.
- Written entrance exam. Held at your assigned venue; bring your permit, valid ID, and a Mongol No. 2 pencil.
- Medical evaluation. A full medical checkup, including visual and audio tests.
- Interview. An in-person interview for applicants who pass the earlier stages.
A non-refundable ₱400 processing fee is paid in cash on exam day. MAAP does not publish a specific written-exam item breakdown (such as exact subject weights) on its public admissions page, so treat any third-party claim about exact question counts with caution.
Disclaimer: exam stages, fees, and venues can be adjusted each admission cycle. Verify current details on MAAP's official admissions page before your exam date.
How Much Does MAAP Cost?
Unlike PMA or PMMA, MAAP is not presented as a blanket free-tuition program on its current official admissions materials, admission benefits are instead framed as scholarship packages layered on top of a per-unit fee structure that varies by sponsorship status (general public rate, AMOSUP-member rate, and a lower rate for students connected to partner shipping companies, historically Japanese shipping lines). Because exact peso-per-unit figures found in older third-party write-ups did not match MAAP's current published cycle, we are not repeating an unverified per-unit number here, confirm the current rate schedule directly with MAAP admissions.
What MAAP's official page does confirm for scholarship-track midshipmen:
- Free board and lodging
- Insurance coverage
- In-house and onboard shipboard training
- Access to modern training facilities
- Placement with shipping company sponsors after graduation
| Benefit | Included for MAAP scholars |
|---|---|
| Tuition | Per-unit, varies by sponsorship status (not fully free) |
| Board and lodging | Free |
| Insurance | Included |
| Shipboard training | Included, arranged through sponsor shipping companies |
| Employment placement | Coordinated through sponsor/donor shipping companies |
What Programs Does MAAP Offer?
MAAP's official admissions page lists three undergraduate degree paths: Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation (BSMT), Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering (BSMarE), and Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering and Electro-Technology (BSMEET). All three lead toward a licensed officer track in the Philippine merchant marine, with academic study combined with shipboard apprenticeship training.
What Happens After You Graduate From MAAP?
MAAP's model centers on guaranteed job placement rather than a fixed multi-year government service bond. The academy states that "through appropriate arrangement with various sponsors and donors, every graduate is assured of employment aboard commercial ships," engaged in foreign trade. This is a different structure from PMA or PMMA, where graduates are commissioned into a reserve or regular military force with formal terms attached. If you are weighing MAAP specifically against those two other free government academies, our Philippine Military Academy guide breaks down how PMA, PNPA, and PMMA compare on cost and service commitment, and the same distinctions largely apply when you add MAAP to the comparison.
MAAP was founded in 1998 by Captain Gregorio S. Oca, president of AMOSUP (the Associated Marine Officers' and Seamen's Union of the Philippines), and its governing board includes representatives of international shipowners' associations from Denmark, Norway, and Japan, along with global maritime bodies like the ITF. That international sponsor network is the backbone of MAAP's guaranteed-employment pitch.
How Competitive Is MAAP Admission?
MAAP does not publish an official applicant-to-slot ratio or passing rate on its public admissions page, so avoid trusting any specific "X% pass rate" figure you see quoted online unless it links back to MAAP directly. What is confirmed is that admission requires clearing every stage (written exam, medical, and interview), not just scoring well on the written test. Height and medical fitness disqualify otherwise strong academic candidates as often as the exam itself does, so physical preparation matters as much as review.
How Should You Prepare for the MAAP Entrance Exam?
- Start your documents early. Birth certificate, report card, school ID, and diploma or enrollment certification all need to be ready in the correct digital format before the application window opens.
- Review broadly, not narrowly. Since MAAP has not published an official subject-by-subject breakdown, prepare across English, Math, Science, and general reasoning rather than betting on one topic list from an old reviewer PDF.
- Get physically ready months out. The height requirement is fixed and cannot be trained for, but overall fitness and the medical screening (vision, hearing, general health) can catch otherwise-qualified applicants off guard.
- Compare your options. If a seafaring career is the goal but MAAP's per-unit cost is a concern, look at PMMA, which runs on a free-tuition government model with its own entrance exam and eligibility rules.
- Have a backup plan. Review our broader college entrance exam reviewer guide if you are also applying to civilian universities alongside MAAP.
Ready to find the right school? Browse schools or compare tuition and reviews across hundreds of Philippine schools on SchoolFinderPH.
