Bandung, Malang and Semarang are home to the favorite public universities in Indonesia based on the number of students sitting entry exams.

That is based on the results of the State Universities' National Entrance Exams (SNMPTN), which were announced on Monday.

The top three state universities, said SNMPTN 2016 chairman Rochmat Wahab, were Padjadjaran University (Unpad) in Bandung, Brawijaya University in Malang, and Diponegoro University (Undip) in Semarang with 58,937, 47,452 and 43,326 applicants, respectively.

"Unpad is the most popular university this year with the greatest number of applicants, leaving other universities behind with quite a gap," said Rochmat, as quoted by kompas.com.

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Meanwhile, following Undip in fourth to tenth place are Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, North Sumatra University, Sebelas Maret University in Surakarta, Indonesian Education University in Bandung, Semarang State University, Hasanuddin University in Makassar and Yogyakarta State University.

The entrance exams were conducted from March 24 to May 8.

The total number of participants this year reached 645,202, but only 115,178 successfully passed the exams and are thus allowed to enter the university of their choice. (kes)