Why do university admission scores in 2025 fluctuate beyond expectations?

High school graduation exam scores are lower than in 2024, but university admission scores are "sky high," contrary to previous predictions.

Despite a decrease in high school graduation exam scores, contrary to many experts' predictions, the university admission cutoff scores based on these exam results have increased dramatically in many fields, except for health-related fields which have seen a decrease.

Admission scores hit the ceiling.

This year's university admissions season has seen a sharp increase in cut-off scores for many universities, with dozens of majors exceeding 29 points, many nearing the "maximum" score, and six majors reaching the "heaviest" mark of 30 points.

Among the six majors with a cutoff score of 30 points, two belong to military academies with cutoff scores specifically for female applicants, which have very few quotas and are highly competitive. The remaining four majors belong to the teacher training group: English Language Teaching and Chinese Language Teaching at the University of Foreign Languages ​​(Vietnam National University, Hanoi ) and the University of Foreign Languages ​​(Hue University).

Many majors have admission scores above 29 points. The admission score for the History-Geography Education major at the University of Education (Vietnam National University, Hanoi) reached a record high of 29.84 points, almost touching the 30 mark. The highest admission score at the University of Information Technology (Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City) in 2024 was 28.3 points, while this year the highest score is 29.6 points, applied to the Artificial Intelligence major. The highest admission score at the University of Science (Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City) in 2024 was 28.5 points, while this year it is 29.56 points, with the A00 combination reaching 29.92 points.

Hanoi University of Science and Technology also has two majors with admission scores exceeding 29: Computer Science (29.19 points) and Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (advanced program, 29.39 points), while in 2024, the highest admission score was 28.53 points. If in 2024, Hanoi University of Science and Technology had 5 majors with admission scores of 28 points or higher, this year that number is 9.

Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade saw a common increase in admission scores of 0.5-2 points. The major with the biggest increase was Mechatronics Engineering Technology, which rose from 18 points last year to 22 points.

Students taking the high school graduation exam. (Photo: PV/Vietnam+)

In the health sciences group, the trend was the opposite, with admission scores decreasing by 1 to 5 or 6 points depending on the major. The Preventive Medicine major at Hanoi Medical University saw a significant drop of nearly 6 points, from 22.94 points (in 2024) to 17 points; the Nutrition major dropped from 23.33 points to 18.75 points, a decrease of nearly 5 points. This decrease in admission scores for medical majors is consistent with the decrease in high school graduation exam scores for subjects in this group.

Some universities have similar or slightly lower admission scores compared to 2024, such as the University of Technology (Vietnam National University, Hanoi), Hanoi Pedagogical University, Hue Pedagogical University, etc. These are also universities that mainly base their admissions on high school graduation exam scores or have additional methods of considering aptitude test scores.

What do the experts say?

According to Professor Nguyen Dinh Duc (University of Technology, Vietnam National University, Hanoi), the fact that this year's admission scores have been pushed up so high, contrary to predictions made when the high school graduation exam results were announced, is due to the Ministry of Education and Training's regulations on converting admission scores. Accordingly, all admission methods must convert their admission scores to a single scale.

"If universities primarily used high school graduation exam scores for admissions, the cutoff scores would certainly decrease. However, universities have many other methods, including considering academic transcripts, and these transcript scores are often 'manipulated.' Therefore, standardizing the scores to a single scale would lower the admission cutoff scores," said Professor Nguyen Dinh Duc.

Accordingly, Professor Nguyen Dinh Duc argues that raising the admission cutoff scores based on high school graduation exam results too high will disadvantage candidates applying through this method, as even those with good or excellent scores may not be able to get into their desired major.

"Converting everything to a single scale is not advisable because each exam has a different 'coordinate system' with varying levels of difficulty and objectives. Aptitude tests and the SAT are university entrance exams, while the high school graduation exam primarily aims to assess graduation eligibility, and academic transcripts are even less reliable in accurately assessing students' abilities," said Professor Nguyen Dinh Duc. Professor Duc believes that the conversion is forced.

Sharing this view, Associate Professor Do Van Dung, former Rector of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education, also believes that the unreasonable formula for converting academic transcript scores is one of the reasons for the increase in admission scores.

Specifically, according to Associate Professor Do Van Dung, schools have introduced conversion formulas with very small differences, usually only 1-1.5 points. For example, a GPA of 29 (average 9.67/subject) is converted to 28 points based on the High School Graduation Exam score, while achieving this score requires students to achieve near-perfect scores. This pushes the overall admission cutoff score higher.

“The conversion formula is not rigorous enough and does not accurately reflect the differences in difficulty between academic transcripts, which are easily manipulated or inconsistent across schools, and the nationally standardized high school graduation exam. As a result, the cut-off scores for 'hot' majors often range from 27-30 points, eliminating many truly capable candidates who did not achieve near-perfect scores,” said Associate Professor Do Van Dung.

Meanwhile, the proportion of quotas allocated to alternative admission methods to the high school graduation exam score-based admission method is increasing. Quotas for admission based on academic transcripts, direct admission, and aptitude tests are growing, especially in schools in the South, significantly reducing the quotas allocated to the high school graduation exam score-based admission method.

Associate Professor Do Van Dung commented that this would disadvantage students in disadvantaged areas due to their limited access to aptitude tests and admissions based primarily on high school graduation exam scores.

According to Associate Professor Do Van Dung, in some fields, the cut-off scores are expected to be raised depending on the enrollment quota, especially in the field of teacher training.

Based on the actual enrollment situation at the school, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thanh Nhan, Vice Rector of Hue University of Education, said that the enrollment quota has a significant impact on the cutoff scores. Teacher training schools are assigned quotas by the Ministry of Education and Training based on orders from local authorities. Therefore, the quotas vary from year to year and affect the cutoff scores.

“For example, last year, the highest admission score at Hue University of Education was for the History Education major due to limited enrollment. This year, History Education has been allocated 152 places while Literature Education only has 60 places, so Literature Education is leading the entire university in terms of admission scores,” said Associate Professor Nguyen Thanh Nhan.

Source: VNP

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/vi-sao-diem-chuan-dai-hoc-nam-2025-bien-dong-ngoai-du-doan-2025082410165275.htm