Neither Medicine nor Aerospace. The degree with the highest cut-off mark in the Community of Madrid in 2025 is the double degree in Mathematics and Physics at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). With a very high 13.698 out of 14, this degree has become the most difficult wall to climb in the Madrid university access.
This comes as no surprise to those who closely follow the academic map of Madrid, but it is a clear sign: the hard sciences are still in fashion, at least among those who get straight A grades.
Other degrees with high grades
Behind are other high-flying degrees: Industrial Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (13.525), Computer Engineering and Mathematics at the UCM (13.465) or the now classic combined academic programs of the Carlos III University (UC3M), which place several degrees above 13.4. There is no trace here of degrees such as Philosophy, or Journalism, or anything approaching the humanities.
A new change in the situation
But this year there is something else: the PAU has changed. For the first time, the exams include a minimum of 20% of practical questions per subject. The aim, according to official sources, is to evaluate real skills, not just the ability to memorize notes at the last minute.
Direct consequence? Most of the cut-off marks have dropped slightly. Not in the case of the usual degrees -those that are filled before the end of July-, but in many other degrees of the Madrid university catalog. According to the Consejería de Educación de la Comunidad de Madrid, this year more than 70,000 applications for admission have been received, some 2,000 more than the previous year. Of these, more than 37,000 come from outside the district.