High school transcript admission records at many universities have decreased.

In 2023, the University of Electricity will enroll 3,650 students, of which nearly 1,300 will be recruited based on high school academic results (report cards). With this method, the school will collect applications from March 1 to June 20, similar to 2022.

However, Mr. Trinh Van Toan, Head of Training Department, said that after more than a month and a half, the school received about 2,000 application sets, while at the same time last year it was 4,000.

"Last year, we received a stack of applications every day, but this year we only receive a few," said Mr. Toan.

Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry has also just received more than 2,000 applications for transcript review. This number is about one-third compared to last year and less than half of the expected quota for this method this year.

At Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (Hutech) and Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and Finance, the situation is similar, but the decrease is less.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Anh, Vice Principal of Hutech, said that as of April 20, the school had received about 3,000 valid applications for admission based on academic records, a decrease of 1,000. The school has extended the deadline for receiving applications to the end of April, one month longer than originally planned.

For Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and Finance, the number of applications for admission based on transcripts has generally decreased by about 10%. However, the number of applications for tourism, marketing, and communications has increased. In about 10 days, this school will end the first round of admission based on transcripts.

12th grade students of Le Quy Don High School, Tay Ninh, registered for admission based on their transcripts in February. Photo: UT

Schools recognize that there are many reasons for the decrease in high school transcript applications.

Mr. Pham Thai Son, Director of the Admissions and Communications Center, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, said that fewer students submitted applications for admission than in previous years, possibly because they were afraid that last year's admission score was too high.

Last year, this school reviewed transcripts in two rounds. The first round's benchmark score was between 20 and 27.5. After reviewing almost all the quotas, the school conducted the second round of admission with a minimum score of 29, calculated based on the transcripts for the entire 12th grade year.

"In reality, many candidates contact the school to ask for information, but few submit applications. We don't know where candidates are being considered for admission," said Mr. Son.

Meanwhile, Hutech representative said this may be because the high school graduation exam was held two weeks earlier than last year, candidates are focusing on reviewing and taking the second semester exam, and have not spent much time completing their application with early admission methods.

Mr. Pham Doan Nguyen, Vice Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and Finance, said that this year the Ministry of Education and Training announced the university admission regulations early, along with in-depth and extensive career counseling activities from schools, so that candidates and parents have a clearer direction on the university admission process, instead of sending out applications en masse.

"This year, students are choosing university, college, vocational training or starting a job right away, not as vague as in previous years," said Mr. Nguyen.

According to Mr. Nguyen, in previous years, schools considered admission early and announced admission early, so candidates who were admitted based on their academic records in the first round often had an advantage. But now, even though they consider admission early, candidates still have to register on the general information portal of the Ministry of Education and Training, so they have a "take it slow" mentality.

This is also the opinion of Mr. Trinh Van Toan. According to him, the application period is long, the application method is simple so candidates do not need to rush.

Therefore, some experts say they are not too concerned about the number of high school transcript applications at this time.

"In previous years, the number of applications was high but the rate of fake applications was high. This year, candidates have chosen and considered more carefully, leading to a lower number of applications, hopefully reducing the rate of fake applications," said Mr. Nguyen from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and Finance.

In 2022, more than 100 universities will have a transcript-based admission method, usually based on the average score of 5 semesters or the average score of subjects according to the admission combination. Of the more than 520,000 candidates admitted to universities by many methods, nearly 37.2% were admitted by transcript-based admission, second only to the high school graduation exam score method (nearly 48%).

According to VnExpress