What are the academic results of candidates who enter university based on their transcripts?

Some universities have had preliminary statistics on the academic results of candidates admitted based on transcripts and believe that if they set high benchmark scores and control the admission quota based on transcripts, the results will still be okay.

Editor's note:

In recent years, university admission based on high school transcript scores has become the “main entrance” for hundreds of schools, some of which account for up to 70% of the enrollment quota. However, the large gap between transcript scores and high school graduation exam scores has raised public concerns about the quality and fairness of enrollment. Since 2025, many schools have stopped or drastically reduced enrollment quotas using this method.

The series of articles "School report cards are increasingly losing value" by VietNamNet will explain the causes and impacts of this trend.

Lesson 1: Academic scores are increasingly losing value, standard scores will be sky-high

Lesson 2: After the golden age of reviewing transcripts, universities are gradually turning their backs

If the quota is controlled, the academic results of students admitted by transcripts are quite good.

Ho Chi Minh City University of Education has announced the results of analyzing the cumulative average scores of 10,000 students admitted by different admission methods in 3 years 2021, 2022 and 2023.

In 2021 and 2022, the school will use three admission methods: direct admission, consideration of high school academic results (transcripts) and consideration of high school graduation exam results. In 2023, the school will add an admission method combining high school academic results with the scores of the specialized competency assessment exam organized by the school.

Specifically, in 2020, the cumulative average score of students from the direct admission method was 3.31/4.0; the transcript review method was 3.19/4.0 and the high school graduation exam score method was 2.94/4.0.

For students admitted to the 2021 class, the cumulative average scores of the above methods are: 3.34; 3.22 and 3.06, respectively.

In the 2023 class, the average score for direct admission is 3.22; the average score for high school transcript review is 2.96; the average score for high school graduation exam review is 2.85; the average score for combining high school academic scores and specialized competency assessment exam scores is 3.22.

Thus, the academic results of students admitted based on their transcripts are higher than those admitted based on their high school graduation exam scores, but lower than those admitted directly (including direct admission based on the criteria of the Ministry of Education and Training and the school's priority admission).

With the method of assessing specialized abilities combined with academic records, after 1 year of study, students have an average learning result of 3.22/4.0 - equivalent to direct admission.

At Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, Dr. Nguyen Trung Nhan, Head of Training Department, said that the statistics on the academic performance of students in the 2021 and 2022 courses had many surprises. Specifically, the academic performance of students admitted based on high school graduation exam scores and transcripts were similar.

The results from the admission by competency assessment and direct priority admission have a more right-skewed score distribution, proving that students admitted by these two methods have better abilities. According to Mr. Nhan, this is the basis for the school to increase the quota for the two methods of priority admission and competency assessment.

Candidates taking the 2025 high school graduation exam. Photo: Manh Hung

At Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, statistics for the period 2019-2023 show that, in the group of students admitted based on high school graduation exam scores, the graduation classification rate is as follows: Excellent 0.21%, Good 6.56%, Fair 69.24% and Average 23.98%.

The graduation ranking rate of students admitted based on high school transcripts is: Excellent 0.24%; Excellent 5.44%; Fair 65.12%; Average 29.2%.

Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade said that the graduation rate of candidates admitted by high school graduation exam scores and by transcripts is quite similar. In 2022 and 2023, the graduation rate of the group admitted by transcripts is almost the same as the group admitted by exam scores. This result is achieved with the annual admission score of the transcript method (grades 10, 11 and 12) being 22-27 points, and the high school graduation exam method being around 18-25 points, along with the support and close monitoring of the school.

“We consider a very small proportion of transcripts, only about 20%-25% of the total quota, with very high admission scores. After 3 years of data analysis, we found that students admitted by transcripts have similar results to students admitted by graduation exam scores, so we continue to consider transcripts, but control the quota very low. I think if schools control the quota and the difference in standard scores, considering transcripts is quite okay, but if the quota is too high, it will be very dangerous," said Dr. Nguyen Trung Nhan, Head of Training Department - Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry.

Nationwide, there are 149 high schools that are given priority to consider transcripts.

Currently, there are 149 high schools nationwide that are given priority for admission based on academic records, including 83 specialized high schools and 66 high schools that meet the criteria issued by Ho Chi Minh City National University a few years ago. The criteria for selecting these 66 schools are based on: Prioritizing the enrollment area or province or city with many registered and admitted candidates; schools with a high number of students admitted and enrolled in this university; and schools with many alumni with good academic achievements at this university.

Students of these schools were initially given priority for admission to universities in the Ho Chi Minh City National University system such as: Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, University of Natural Sciences, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Economics and Law, University of Information Technology, International University, University of Health Sciences, An Giang University.

But currently, many other universities also give priority to students from these 149 schools, such as Ho Chi Minh City University of Law and Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry. Ho Chi Minh City University of Education will give priority to students' transcripts from 83 specialized and gifted high schools nationwide.

"Because schools and localities across the country evaluate students unevenly, there is a huge difference in transcript scores between high schools as well as between localities. Therefore, specialized schools and gifted schools with outstanding training quality will be given priority by many universities for admission based on transcripts. This can be a reliable source for admission," said a university representative.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/thi-sinh-vao-dai-hoc-bang-xet-tuyen-hoc-ba-co-ket-qua-hoc-tap-ra-sao-2430387.html