At the 2025 Higher Education Conference, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) asked for delegates' opinions on limiting university admission wishes. In addition to the current plan of not limiting wishes, the Ministry of Education and Training has added 2 new proposals, which are a maximum of 5 wishes and 10 wishes.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhan (Gia Binh commune, Bac Ninh), with a child in grade 12, is very interested in this issue. According to Ms. Nhan, controlling the number of wishes can "shrink the door" to her child's university.
She said that her child aims to take the entrance exam to the Pedagogy major, which has a very high benchmark score and is close together between schools, around 27 - 29 points.
" Suppose my child has a slightly good exam score, he wants to register for many Pedagogical majors at many different schools to increase his chances, and at the same time has some wishes to pass university... then limiting his wishes will be difficult, and he will have to calculate very tiringly" - she said.
Also taking the entrance exam for the pedagogical major, Nguyen Thi Thao Duyen - a student at Nam Dan 1 High School - said that the number of wishes should be limited to the full limit.
Duyen calculated that she herself needed a maximum of 5-6 wishes, so she proposed the number of controls to be 10.
"Each of you has the ability and interests to suit certain professions. Many friends spread dozens of wishes but the wishes behind them are not passionate, registering just to feel more secure or have fun should not be" - she expressed.
Nguyen Ba Thanh - a 12th grade student in Buon Ma Thuot, Dak Lak - also had a similar proposal.
"As far as I know, there are currently no restrictions on wishes, many students "ai" dozens of wishes, causing overload of the virtual filter system and making admission complicated" - Thanh said and shared that the option of limiting a maximum of 10 wishes is appropriate, so it is still enough for candidates to have diverse options but forcing students to think carefully, not register accidentally.
However, from another perspective, Minh Anh - a 12th grade student in Hanoi - believes that the number of wishes should not be limited so that those with good grades can have more opportunities to enter university, thanks to the "fighting" wishes behind them.
"The way to calculate admission scores is also complicated, sometimes we don't know how many points we get, it is easy to calculate incorrectly. If we increase the limit on the number of wishes, university admission will be even more difficult and fierce" - she added.
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tien Thao - Director of the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Training said that according to statistics, in the 2025 university admission period, more than 20% of candidates registered with over 10 wishes. However, very few candidates were admitted in the final wishes. Most of them register many wishes just to "for safety, for fun". This makes the admission goals of candidates unclear, while reducing responsibility as well as motivation to strive to enter a specific school or major because of the mentality of "if you don't pass one wish, pass another one wish".
Statistics also show that the group of candidates who register too many wishes often enroll less students. Maybe they have plans to study abroad or just register to confirm "I have passed the university entrance exam".
"This is not the goal of admission but only a formality, leading to a waste of social resources in terms of fees, systems and resources of schools. This issue needs to be reviewed" - Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tien Thao emphasized.
Regarding the registration of unlimited wishes for university admission, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that this "not necessarily brings many opportunities" to candidates, but sometimes makes candidates "crazy to get into the ghost", confused, and feel confused, not knowing what to do.
"So from the seemingly opportunity, it makes it difficult for the contestants. How to regulate the limitation to ensure the highest rights and choices of candidates without making the handling too complicated" - the Minister said.
This is also the reason why the Ministry of Education and Training is seeking opinions from higher education institutions on reducing the number of applications for the 2025 Higher Education Conference.
