Medical recruitment with many 'strange' combinations: Is it suitable?

Medical and Pharmaceutical majors do not require Chemistry or Biology scores for admission

In fact, in last year's enrollment, universities specializing in medicine such as Hanoi Medical University, Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, and Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine only considered a combination of Mathematics - Chemistry - Biology for the medical major.

However, since last year, the majors of Hospital Administration, Public Health, Nutrition, Rehabilitation Engineering, some medical training schools,... also use a variety of combinations, recruiting candidates with the combinations D01, A01, without Chemistry and Biology.

Specifically, the University of Public Health for the first time recruited candidates from group D01 to major in Public Health, Nutrition, and Rehabilitation Engineering.

Meanwhile, Thai Binh University of Medicine and Pharmacy uses the A01 combination (Math, Physics, English) to recruit students for the majors of Nursing, Rehabilitation Technology, Medical Testing Technology, Medical Imaging Technology and Pharmacy.

This year, Hoa Binh University (Hanoi) recruits many combinations in addition to the traditional ones. In particular, the medical major, in addition to Math - Chemistry - Biology, also recruits combinations of Math - Literature - English, Math - Physics - Chemistry, Math - Physics - English, Literature - Math - Geography.

Similarly, schools in the South such as Hong Bang International University and Nam Can Tho University recruit Math - Chemistry - English for medical majors.

In 2025, according to a representative of Hanoi Medical University, it is expected to basically maintain stable enrollment methods compared to the previous year.

In 2024, Hanoi Medical University will enroll students mainly using the B00 combination (Math, Chemistry, Biology) but there are two majors using other combinations: Public Health - considered by D01 group (Math, Literature, English) and Psychology with D01 and C00 (Literature, History, Geography) criteria.

Hanoi Medical University added that based on the needs of hospitals and the attractive income, in 2025, the school plans to open two new majors, including social work and medical imaging technology. This is a big difference because previously, the school mainly focused on training doctors and postgraduates.

Similarly, in 2025, the University of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Danang plans to enroll two new majors: Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Psychology, using the combination A01 and D01, respectively.

In particular, some schools choose admission combinations with literature for the medical field. In the 2023-2024 school year, out of 27 universities training in medicine in Vietnam, 4 schools announced to use admission combinations with literature, including: Van Lang University (HCMC), Vo Truong Toan (Hau Giang), Tan Tao (Long An) and Duy Tan (Da Nang).

Vu Duc Vinh, a 5th year student at Hanoi Medical University (left) with his interns at the hospital. Photo: NVCC

Is it suitable?

At the recent admissions and career counseling event in Hanoi, some parents asked the question, "Will my child have a chance to get into medical school if he doesn't study Chemistry or Biology?"

Associate Professor, Dr. Le Dinh Tung, Vice Principal of Hanoi Medical University, said that the health sciences sector is closely related to Chemistry and Biology, in addition to Mathematics. In the world, entrance exams for health sciences often use Mathematics and Science along with other competencies.

According to Associate Professor Tung, for medical training majors such as Medicine and Dentistry, the school still recruits students mainly using the traditional combination B00 (Math, Chemistry, Biology).

Any adjustment to the mix will be announced at least two years in advance to avoid surprises.

Vu Duc Vinh, a 5th year student at Hanoi Medical University, said that in reality, from studying at school, Chemistry and Biology are both very important for studying medicine, especially in the first years when the basic subjects are very heavy.

Vinh said that in high school, because he was studying for the gifted student exam, he skipped quite a few Chemistry and Biology classes, and when he entered medical school, he felt that he was behind his classmates because of his lack of foundation. Teachers almost never taught chemical formulas or properties of substances or knowledge about genetics, and students had to read books and study on their own.

However, Vinh believes that if you don't study Chemistry or Biology, you can still study Medicine. These two subjects are not required to do well in Medical School. After entering the major, these subjects are actually not too heavy anymore and everything will gradually move to the major subjects.

“Regarding other majors such as Bachelor of Psychology, I think recruiting group C is quite reasonable, because this major requires the ability to communicate, convey messages and understand human psychology - factors that I see students in group C do well (Literature - History - Geography). Or for Public Health, recruiting a combination of Math, Literature, English is also reasonable because this major requires analytical skills, data research as well as communication, and group D provides a solid foundation for these skills” - this medical student said.

Vinh also said that from his internship experience, he saw that the medical profession involves contact with people, so students need to have knowledge of social subjects as well.

“I learned that countries around the world have very strict admission requirements for medical students. At the undergraduate level, medical students are recruited from high school graduates (grade 12). Graduate students are recruited from bachelor's degrees. They can be bachelors in science, literature, or engineering, but most are bachelors in medicine,” Vinh shared.

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Source: https://tienphong.vn/tuyen-y-khoa-voi-nhieu-to-hop-la-lieu-co-phu-hop-post1728393.tpo