Why did I still fail to get into university even with 30 points?

The admission scores for many universities this year are unusually high, with some schools increasing by 4-5 points compared to last year, leaving many candidates with exceptionally high scores disappointed and unable to pass the entrance exams.

Accordingly, the highest cutoff score is for the English Language major at the People's Police Academy, with 30.5 points (including priority points) for female candidates in block D01 (three subjects: Mathematics, Literature, and Foreign Language).

Despite the very high cutoff scores, in many majors, candidates even have to meet additional criteria to qualify for admission.

The cutoff score for female candidates from the Northern region in Group A at the Firefighting University was 30.25 points. However, among the four candidates with the same score of 30.25 points, the university only accepted three candidates with the highest total scores (before rounding) of the three subjects, starting from 28.35 points. The remaining candidate still did not pass despite having a very high total score.

For male candidates from the Northern region, the cutoff score for the Firefighting University is 28.25 points. However, out of 16 candidates with the same score of 28.25 points, the university only accepted 6 candidates: 4 candidates with a total score of 27.65 points (before rounding) for the three subjects; and 2 candidates with a total score of 27.35 points (before rounding) for the three subjects and a Math score of 9.6 points.

At the Security Academy, the cutoff score for female candidates in the Security Operations major is 29 points, plus additional criteria. Accordingly, out of two candidates with the same score of 29 points, only one will be selected, provided that the total score of the three subjects (before rounding) is 25.5 and the English score is 8.2.

Medical and pharmaceutical schools also saw a significant increase in admission scores compared to previous years. The General Medicine program at Hanoi Medical University had an admission score of 29.25, the highest score in many years for Hanoi Medical University.

According to the universities, the high scores of the candidates have led them to consider additional criteria to "filter" out applicants and ensure they only recruit the registered quotas. Last year, Hanoi Medical University used only one additional criterion: the Biology exam score. However, this year the university is using four different additional criteria.

Specifically, candidates whose rounded admission scores equal the cutoff score must meet the supplementary criteria in order of priority 1 to priority 4. Priority 1: Unrounded admission score; Priority 2: Math score; Priority 3: Biology score; Priority 4: Order of nguyện vọng (preference).

Admission score (before rounding) = Total score of 3 subjects: Math, Chemistry, Biology (no weighting, no rounding) + Priority points + Bonus points (if any).

Therefore, some candidates feel heartbroken when they score 29.25 points but still fail to get into Hanoi Medical University, like candidate NPH (Thach That, Hanoi), who was only 0.05 points short and did not meet the supplementary criteria.

This candidate expressed frustration: "I scored 29.15 points, with no bonus points, and yet I failed. Meanwhile, those who scored 25.75 points, plus 3.5 bonus points (making it 29.25 points), passed?"

According to Mr. Nguyen Tuan Anh, Head of the Training Department at the Water Resources University, this year the Ministry of Education and Training allowed candidates to register for an unlimited number of preferences and be admitted to their highest-ranked preference, creating favorable conditions for high-scoring candidates to concentrate on top-tier universities. Therefore, the admission scores for these universities are very high this year.

Leaders of several universities share the same opinion: the Ministry should ideally regulate the selection process to differentiate between universities' preferences, establish a difference in admission scores between preferences, and publish the cutoff score before adding priority points. For priority candidates, a lower cutoff score based on the difference would prevent situations like this year where candidates with 29 or 30 points still fail to get admitted.

According to leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training, the majority of admission scores for training programs at universities this year are in the range of 18-26 points, with only a few programs at police and military schools and the general medicine programs of some prestigious universities having admission scores of 29 points or higher.

Police and military academies, which previously attracted many high-scoring candidates, have significantly reduced their enrollment quotas this year, resulting in higher admission scores for most schools in this sector compared to last year.

Furthermore, many schools/majors differentiate between scores in core subjects with weighted coefficients, using a 40-point scale for admissions. While this might give the impression of very high admission scores, it's not the actual score of the three-subject combination, as one subject might be counted twice in the admission score…

In the southern region, many schools also saw a significant increase in admission scores, such as the Hotel Management and Restaurant and Food Service Management programs at Nguyen Tat Thanh University, which increased by 6 points compared to last year.

Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology also saw a significant increase in admission scores, with the Marketing major rising by 5.5 points compared to 2016, from 15.5 to 21 points. All other majors had higher admission scores than the minimum quality assurance threshold set by the Ministry (the floor score), ranging from 0.5 to 3 points, and most showed an increase compared to the 2016 admission scores.

Other universities such as Ho Chi Minh City Open University, Finance and Marketing University, Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education, Ho Chi Minh City University of Banking, University of Economics and Law, University of Transport, etc., all saw increases of 1-3 points. The majority of scores were concentrated between 21-24 points.

According to Infonet