Recruitment chaos

Candidates wait to withdraw their application documents in front of the Training Department, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education on the afternoon of August 11 - Photo: TM

Thousands of candidates struggled to submit and withdraw their applications...

"Participating in the admission exam is like playing... the stock market. The Ministry of Education helps candidates wait, stress, judge, monitor and then decide: submit - withdraw and submit - withdraw again", a reader wrote.

Huy An (18 years old) shared: “I went to the website of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City to see the quotas. The school only listed the quotas by major, not by group. I want to major in journalism, I applied for the D1 group and ranked 30th. Do I have a chance to pass?

Bringing this question to the admission hotline of the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, this candidate received the answer from the officer in charge that after August 20, the quota for each group will be announced.

"After August 20, candidates will no longer have the right to withdraw and change their application, so what is the point of announcing it now?", this candidate wondered.

"I don't care where you are!"

On the afternoon of August 11, at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education (An Duong Vuong Street, District 5), many candidates and parents lined up to withdraw their applications.

Mai Trinh, a candidate who just withdrew her application, said she had to wait in line for more than 2 hours even though she had submitted her application withdrawal the day before (August 10). Similarly, Hong Ngoc (Binh Tan District) also said she had to run back and forth twice to withdraw her application.

Standing outside to avoid the heat while his daughter was waiting in line to withdraw her application, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nha (Ninh Kieu District, Can Tho City) said he had waited for two hours but still had not received an appointment to withdraw his application.

“Today, I am just lining up to receive an appointment letter. Tomorrow, I will have to line up again to withdraw my documents. I have to stop working, if my child takes the exam, I will take the exam too,” said Mr. Nha.

Meanwhile, a parent from Ninh Thuan said she spent 2 million VND traveling from her hometown to Saigon and back just to withdraw her child's application.

This parent said she was upset by the attitude of those who returned the documents. She said: Yesterday, I was almost at the front of the line, and I told the school staff to sympathize because my mother and I came from a very far away hometown. This person replied, "I don't care where you live."

"I've been sad about that statement since yesterday. If only I could have said something like 'because there are too many people, please understand' or something like that, then it would have been different" - this parent shared.

Another parent also stood awkwardly outside the training room door, not daring to ask about her child's situation, even though she had spent more than 3 million on airfare from Vinh City to Ho Chi Minh City because "the child was so anxious when she couldn't see her name online."

This person said that when he asked for this room, he was directed to another room, but when he got to the other room, he was directed back, so he didn't know what to ask.

"The post office informed that the school has been receiving applications since August 5, but until today, my child's name has not been seen online," the parent said.

Parents wait for their children to withdraw their applications at the University of Education on the afternoon of August 11 - Photo: TM

More difficult, Ms. Vo Thi Dieu - a teacher in Cho Moi district, An Giang province - and her daughter sat in front of the gate of Ho Chi Minh City University of Education waiting for the door to open from 5am on August 11 to withdraw their application . Her daughter scored 28.5 points (after multiplying the coefficient) and was "kicked out" of the safe group of the chemistry pedagogy major, so the mother and daughter took a car to Saigon to withdraw their application.

“My mother and I left at 2am, the bus took us straight to school at 5am. The school hadn’t opened yet so we sat waiting in front of the gate. I heard that the process of withdrawing documents was quick so I left early to finish and get home on time. The next day, my school had a meeting with the board of directors. After submitting the documents, the school said they would only return the results tomorrow, I was shocked. We had to stay overnight, we missed everything,” said Ms. Dieu.

Earlier, on the morning of August 11, many candidates and their parents came to Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry to submit their application documents . The number of candidates coming to Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry increased today because many candidates withdrew their applications from other universities and transferred after consulting the admission scores announced by the schools.

At 3 a.m. the same day, Truong Thi Kim Loan (Xuan Loc, Dong Nai) went from her home to the Technical Pedagogical School (HCMC) to withdraw her application and then immediately went to the Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry to submit her application .

Loan's father confided while watching his daughter line up to submit her application: "Going back and forth like that is very tiring. My daughter and I are very worried because we don't know what to expect from this year's admissions process. Every day, she updates her information and scores, and as soon as she sees that it's at a "dangerous" level, she rushes to withdraw her application from the Technical Pedagogical School to submit it here."

Consider carefully when withdrawing and submitting applications.

Speaking with TTO , Dr. Le Chi Thong, Head of Training Department, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, said that the number of candidates withdrawing their applications at the school is not much and it only takes a few minutes for candidates wishing to withdraw their applications.

"If you cannot withdraw, it may be because the candidate submitted the application by post and the school has not yet received it or is processing the candidate's application. The time to enter the application data is about 2-3 days if the candidate has not declared online. Another case is that the candidate asked someone to withdraw on his/her behalf but the authorization is invalid, the school will not dare to allow the withdrawal," said Dr. Le Chi Thong.

Candidates taking the national high school exam at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education - Photo: Tran Huynh

Dr. Le Chi Thong gives advice to candidates about whether to continue to keep or withdraw their application at the place they registered.

“You can go to the website of the University of Science and Technology to see the statistics of scores and the number of candidates. If a major has enough candidates and your score is higher than the current lowest score, you can still apply. For majors that do not have enough candidates, whether your score is higher or lower than the current lowest score, you can still apply. On the contrary, if a major has enough candidates but your score is lower than the current announced score, you should withdraw your application,” Mr. Thong shared.

According to Dr. Son, the expected benchmark will change daily due to candidates withdrawing or submitting applications, so candidates need to be calm and not rush to withdraw their applications.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Tien Dung, Principal of the University of Economics and Law, as of August 11, the school has received 2,931 applications , of which about 350 applications have been withdrawn.

Head of Training Department, Saigon University, My Giang Son, said that the new method actually creates more opportunities for candidates to choose. “If you take the exam first, choose the major later, in terms of society as a whole, candidates will choose the major more optimally, the input quality of the majors and schools will be higher. For individual candidates, it is also better, there are more options for candidates to consider,” said Mr. Son.

Speaking with Tuoi Tre , Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Phung - Acting Director of the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Training said that through the media's reflection, the ministry found that withdrawing applications and changing wishes of candidates living far away is somewhat difficult.

Therefore, the Ministry has added a place to receive changes in wishes to create conditions for candidates to have equal opportunities for admission. The Ministry has discussed with the Department of Education and Training and high schools to receive information about changes in wishes for admission and withdraw candidates' applications.

In addition, the ministry also adjusted the software to support this. Departments, based on the actual needs of candidates, need to arrange appropriate reception personnel and ensure within the prescribed time.

According to Ms. Phung, when withdrawing an application and changing the application, candidates fill out the form and the departments will enter it into the software. This information will be sent to the school the candidate withdraws from and the new school the candidate wants to apply to. The old school will delete the candidate's data from the management software system and keep the original copy of the candidate's certificate of results.

The new school will consider candidates based on data transferred by the departments, just like candidates who apply directly to the school. If admitted, upon enrollment, candidates must go to the old school to withdraw their certificate of results and submit it to the new school for verification.

The worried faces of candidates in front of the application withdrawal room of the University of Economics and Law (VNU-HCM). Photo - Phong Duong.