According to statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training, in 2025, nearly 850,000 candidates registered for university and college admissions with a total of more than 7.6 million wishes. This is a significant increase, both in the number of candidates registering and the number of wishes, and is also the highest number in the past 5 years. On average, each candidate registers about 9 wishes.

Expected benchmark “unpredictable”

Representatives of universities said that the cancellation of early admissions has left this year’s candidates without an initial support, leading to the mentality of “applying more to be safer”. According to experts, this is also one of the main reasons for the sharp increase in the number of applications. Because there is no longer “early admission”, although the high school graduation exam scores of some subjects have decreased compared to last year, many experts still believe that this year’s benchmark scores are very unpredictable.

Speaking with VietNamNet , Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Phong Dien, Vice Director of Hanoi University of Science and Technology, said that no longer considering early admissions helps increase fairness and reduce virtual admissions, but is also the reason why candidates register for many wishes.

“The elimination of early admission is aimed at creating more transparency and fairness for candidates, and has received high consensus from higher education institutions. However, this contributes to increasing the number of applications from candidates who want to be considered for admission based on high school results (transcripts),” Mr. Dien said, adding that it is completely understandable that each candidate registers nearly 9 applications on average.

graduation - xuan ngoc
Expected benchmark “unpredictable”

This year, the number of candidates applying to a number of major universities has also increased sharply.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Trung, Deputy Head of the Communications and Admissions Department of the University of Commerce, said that the benchmark scores for the school's majors in 2025 may be unpredictable, because there is no early admission and especially the number of candidates with foreign language certificates/international exams registering for the school is very large.

Mr. Trung said that this year, the number of candidates applying to the University of Commerce increased 1.5 times compared to 2024, including more than 30,000 candidates with foreign language certificates/international testing certificates.

Previously, based on the high school graduation exam score distribution, the school predicted that this year's benchmark score could decrease by 1-2 points; but with the sudden increase in the number of applications, the benchmark score could be higher than initially expected, meaning that if it decreases, it will only decrease slightly and may be more widespread than in previous years.

"In general, the industries may decrease slightly, but due to the large number of registrations, some industries may not decrease compared to last year, and hot industries may even increase," said Mr. Trung.

Dr. Nguyen Tien Dung, Vice Principal of Hanoi University, said that the number of candidates applying to the school this year nearly doubled compared to 2024.

Mr. Nguyen Trieu Duong, Head of the University Training Department of Hanoi Law University, also said that the benchmark scores for this year's majors are very difficult to predict. According to Mr. Duong, not being sure that they have been admitted to a major/university early contributes to candidates registering more wishes to reassure themselves and have a higher chance of being admitted to university.

The virtual filter system is still running, so nothing can be said yet.

Before the announcement of the benchmark scores, not only candidates but also many parents anxiously waited for the results.

NMH, a candidate in Hanoi, shared that she registered for more than 10 wishes, spread across many majors at universities. “I really don’t know if I will be accepted into the major I want, given the large number of applications. This year, because there is no early admission, my friends are all worried, no one dares to be confident because the results are still in the admission system of the Ministry of Education and Training,” MH said.

According to the plan, the general admission system of the Ministry of Education and Training is currently in the process of virtual filtering (including 6 times). The 6th virtual filtering will end at 4:30 p.m. on August 20 and give the final admission results.

The Ministry of Education and Training's admission support system ensures that each candidate is only admitted to one highest wish.

According to the instructions of the Ministry of Education and Training, by 5:00 p.m. on August 20, training institutions will enter the admission scores and admission results into the system; review and prepare to announce the first round of admission results according to the general schedule.

Training institutions will announce the benchmark scores and list of first-round admitted candidates before 5:00 p.m. on August 22.

Candidates confirm online admission for the first round on the system before 5:00 p.m. on August 30.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/thi-sinh-hoi-hop-cho-diem-chuan-dai-hoc-trong-boi-canh-kho-luong-2433467.html