Should the number of university admission applications be limited?

According to the Ministry of Education and Training , the previous policy of not limiting the number of wishes was intended to facilitate candidates, but in reality it caused difficulties when they did not clearly identify their priorities. Limiting the number of wishes will help reduce the number of virtual filtering times, process data more easily, and at the same time increase the responsibility of candidates. However, there are conflicting debates surrounding this proposal.

Opposing students argued that if the limit was only 5-7 choices, they would not dare to boldly choose their favorite majors and would have to consider safer options because if they failed all of them, they would lose their chance to go to university. Supporters acknowledged that limiting the number of choices was necessary to increase candidates' responsibility for their choices. From the parents' side, many opinions also said that controlling choices was only really reasonable when combined with improving the quality of career guidance.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thanh Hoa, a parent whose child is studying in grade 11 in Hanoi, if students are advised to choose a major early, 5-10 wishes may be enough, but if there is a lack of orientation, the limitation can make children fall into a passive position and easily lose opportunities if the choice is not accurate. Mr. Pham Minh Tuan, a parent whose child is studying in grade 12 in Nghe An, also shared that limiting the number of registrations is necessary to avoid waste, educate the sense of responsibility, and avoid widespread registration leading to many consequences for both candidates and schools. However, according to Mr. Tuan, it is necessary to set a specific limit, such as candidates are allowed to register from 5-10 wishes, for example, so that students do not feel too constrained or have their rights affected.

1.jpg -0 — It is necessary to strengthen career guidance so that candidates can make appropriate choices and avoid widespread registration. Illustrative photo.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training, over the past years, on average, each candidate has registered about 7-8 admission wishes. However, there are also some students who register dozens, even hundreds of wishes. Many opinions say that candidates registering too many wishes not only waste money because they have to pay many fees but also put pressure on the general admission system and show that career guidance work at high school level is not really in-depth and effective.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc, University of Technology, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, believes that limiting the number of admission wishes of candidates is necessary. According to Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc, with the limited number of wishes, candidates will have to consider more carefully, learn more about the profession they want to study, the school they want to register, what they really want to do, the future they want to aim for, they cannot register indiscriminately, without direction. This seems good but in reality is not good for the candidates themselves.

Meanwhile, Master Pham Thai Son, Director of the Admissions and Communications Center, University of Industry and Trade, believes that limiting the number of wishes is not really necessary. In reality, the core of the admission work is not the number of wishes, but the quality of training and reputation of each school. If the university has a good program, good lecturers, complete documents, students are supported in their studies and have job opportunities after graduation, then good students will naturally be interested and choose it.

Besides, there is no need to worry too much about candidates registering many or few wishes, because virtual filtering software can completely handle this amount of data. Instead of focusing on limits, it is more important to strengthen career counseling to help students understand their own abilities and what society is interested in, what majors are needed, how much the salary is and what difficulties studying that major is. When they grasp that information, they will make the right choice and no longer have to register their wishes everywhere.

From the perspective of someone with many years of experience in career counseling for candidates, Associate Professor Dr. Pham Manh Ha, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, expressed his opinion: Limiting wishes is a solution to shift the focus of enrollment from "increasing opportunities by quantity" to "improving the quality of selection", thereby contributing to reducing the load on the virtual filtering system. However, for this policy to be successful and not create too much pressure, it needs to be implemented in parallel with promoting career guidance in high schools and considering a reasonable limit. For example, candidates can register a maximum of 5 or 10 wishes as some proposals to both maintain seriousness and not deprive candidates of legitimate opportunities, especially those in remote areas, where information about careers and career counseling activities in schools are limited.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tien Thao, Director of the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Training, also said that in the 2025 university admission season, the entire general admission system has 7.6 million registration wishes. This is a huge number, both overloading the virtual filtering system and wasting resources. In reality, many candidates register their wishes emotionally and without careful consideration.

In that context, the Ministry of Education and Training has proposed two options for universities to choose from: One is to maintain the regulation of unlimited number of wishes and the other is to limit the number of wishes to 5-10. This is an issue that needs to be discussed thoroughly to both create opportunities and increase the responsibility of candidates. Based on the survey results from schools, the Ministry of Education and Training will consider including it in the admission regulations in 2026.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/giao-duc/co-nen-gioi-han-so-luong-nguyen-vong-dang-ky-xet-tuyen-dai-hoc--i783896/