University Admissions 2019: Difficult for Lower-ranking Schools

Many opportunities for candidates to pass
Before the Ministry of Education and Training announced the exam scores, many candidates in Vinh city had already received direct admission to top universities in the country through admission. As in the case of Ho Thi Yen Nhi, who was a student at a specialized school in Vinh city, her final grades for 3 years of high school were all excellent and she won third prize in the Provincial Excellent Student Competition, so it was not too difficult for her to be directly admitted to the University of Education.

A counseling session for candidates at a university in Vinh. Photo: Duc Anh

Teacher Luong Van Tuong - homeroom teacher of the 12th grade Chemistry class - Vinh University High School for the Gifted said: "With the current admission mechanism, students of specialized schools have a very favorable opportunity to be admitted to university through the admission process. Like in our class, most of the students who applied for direct admission were admitted."

If in previous years, university admission based on academic results in high school years was usually only carried out at lower-ranked schools, this year many top universities also give priority to enrolling this group of students, if the students have excellent academic performance continuously for three years of high school (or according to the admission subject combination) or are students at specialized schools. In addition, if the candidate has one of the international English certificates such as ELTS, TOEFL PBT or TOEFL iBT, admission will be more favorable.

A college official in Nghe An checks the records of candidates coming to register for admission. Photo: My Ha

This is also the reason why, in recent years, in addition to reviewing for the National High School Exam, many high school students have spent a lot of time reviewing for international language certificates and consider this a very important "passport" to have a guaranteed place in universities.

In fact, if the admission score is 14 points or higher, Nghe An has more than 54,000 candidates with the opportunity to be admitted to university if calculated according to the combination of blocks A, B, C, D1. Besides, thousands of other candidates can be admitted if the admission is based on academic records.
Lower-ranking schools have difficulty recruiting students
At this point, the process of changing candidates’ wishes has entered its final days. However, many universities are still worried because it is “difficult” to avoid fake wishes.

Due to the increasing difficulty of enrollment, in recent years, some universities in Nghe An have not been able to meet their enrollment targets. Even if they could reach 60% of the set target, it would be a great success. To attract candidates, some schools have expanded enrollment by considering transcripts with quite modest scores. With a total score of 3 subjects in grade 12 in one of the admission groups reaching 15 points or more.

Many universities expand admissions through reviewing academic records. Photo: My Ha

The fact that top universities have lowered their entrance exam scores, combined with many favorable direct admission mechanisms, has made it even more difficult for lower-ranked universities, both in terms of quantity and quality.

According to the plan, by August 8, universities nationwide will announce their admission scores. After this time, lower-ranked schools will officially enter the enrollment season and to meet the enrollment target, there are still many difficulties.