Chaos in 'admissions consulting' on TikTok, experts give advice to candidates

Specifically, tiktokers advise that candidates should not choose Business Administration, English Language, Marketing, Human Resource Management because the training program is general, and even without studying or studying in a different field after graduation, they can still do well in these fields. As soon as these clips were posted, they attracted millions of views. Among them, many high school seniors preparing to apply for university admission expressed confusion and concern when they wanted to pursue these fields of study.

Nguyen Tuan Tu (Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi), a 12th grade student who plans to enroll in Business Administration and Marketing at the National Economics University, shared: “I was surprised and quite confused when many people shared information online that these are the majors that should not be studied. Many videos shared that Business Administration teaches general, non-specialized knowledge, students “cannot learn anything”, or that the major is for students to become bosses, but where do students who have just graduated get the opportunity to become bosses. I and many of my friends are very confused when choosing a career.”

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Having graduated with a degree in Business Administration and currently working as a manager at a multinational company, Mr. Tran Huy Canh (30 years old, Hanoi) believes that the sharing of some majors such as Business Administration and Human Resources Management that do not require 4 years of university study because the knowledge is general, difficult to apply or can still be done without studying is completely incorrect.

The work that tiktokers mentioned is only at the level of simple management, small management, not too demanding. For example, when managing a small business or production team of a few people, the manager will not need too many management skills. However, when managing an organization or working in a large enterprise, if you are not properly trained and have basic knowledge from the beginning, it will be very difficult to meet the job requirements, then you will have to learn many other skills and knowledge related to the major.

Discussing this content, Dr. Tran Dinh Ly, Vice Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry, said that tiktok has the advantage of conveying information quickly, suitable for young people of generation Z, especially students. However, to conduct career counseling and find career counseling information on tiktok, it is necessary to note that the duration on tiktok is often short and very short, so it cannot fully and correctly convey the counseling content. The time to view news on tiktok is difficult to determine, so it is easy to cause misunderstandings and misinterpretations of information, such as regulations, rules, and timelines of different years. In addition, the person writing content on tiktok does not verify the content and is not responsible for the content - this is different from the announcements of admission units. These things can cause misunderstandings for students when accessing information.

“All training majors are assessed and confirmed by market demand as soon as there is a plan to open a major. Candidates should listen and absorb information selectively, avoiding sensational, shocking, view-baiting, and like-baiting content. This information can easily lead to misunderstandings, affecting all parties. In addition, the party providing inaccurate information will also lose credibility, candidates receiving misunderstandings will lead to undesirable results, even losing opportunities to enter majors and schools that they love and are likely to be admitted to,” said Dr. Tran Dinh Ly.

MSc. Pham Van Minh - Deputy Head of the Faculty of Business Administration, Nguyen Trai University asked: "I don't understand what the tiktoker is talking about here as "useless". But if we evaluate the above 4 majors as "useless" and don't need to research or study, it's completely wrong. Any profession requires learning, requires creative experience, even daily eating and drinking requires learning."

According to Master Pham Van Minh, the 4 professions mentioned in the content of videos on social networks are all scientific majors. When opening the major, it has been carefully researched what students will learn, what knowledge and skills are needed to be able to participate in the labor market in that field after graduation. For example, in human resource management, in terms of knowledge, to be recognized as a bachelor in this major, students must study at least 40-47 specialized subjects on recruitment, job placement, salary, promotion, demotion, job transfer, labor relations, etc. Students must be trained thoroughly in this knowledge, it cannot be said that they can do it without studying in university.

“Students need to know that even the simplest things need to be learned, it takes many years to study a subject. When learning is combined with life experience, it will help them form their own knowledge. If we say that we don’t need to study to work, it is like walking blindfolded on the road, we can stumble at any time or not know the destination,” said Master Pham Van Minh.

Speaking further about the opinion that many students in these fields are well-trained but after graduation, businesses still need to retrain them, Master Pham Van Minh said that this is natural, when there are thousands of businesses with different cultural environments and business characteristics. Candidates entering a business will have to "follow the local customs", so it is understandable that businesses have to provide training.

“Regarding training programs, in a competitive flat world environment, schools must also find out what is most suitable. According to the requirements of the Ministry of Education and Training, when building a program, schools always need to get opinions from 4 parties including students, alumni, teachers and businesses. Training programs are getting closer and closer to meeting business requirements, retraining is mainly about culture and specific regulations of businesses," said Mr. Minh.

Giving advice to candidates, Master Pham Van Minh said that there is a lot of different information on the internet, the important thing is to find useful information for yourself. When choosing a career, candidates need to find information from official channels such as admissions experts, participating in career orientation seminars, official newspapers, etc. "Information on social networks has both good and bad, you need to be alert when receiving that information", Mr. Minh emphasized./.