Students learn information at the 2025 Admissions and Career Counseling Day organized by Tuoi Tre newspaper in Hanoi - Photo: NAM TRAN
Statistics show that besides the traditional combination of math - chemistry - biology, many medical universities or multidisciplinary universities that recruit medical students use many non-traditional combinations for admission.
Not only that, many strange and odd combinations have also begun to appear in medical admissions. Most universities in the North recruit math - physics - chemistry for medical school, while most universities in the South only recruit math - chemistry - biology.
No transformation, no birth
For example, many majors at Hoa Binh University (Hanoi) recruit many combinations that are quite contradictory to the training major. In particular, the medical major, in addition to recruiting math - chemistry - biology, also recruits combinations of math - literature - English, math - physics - chemistry, math - physics - English, literature - math - geography.
Traditional medicine, pharmacy and nursing also recruit similar combinations. This is the university with the strangest combinations for medical majors in this year's admissions. Another university, Van Lang, also recruits many strange combinations for health majors, including medicine.
This group of majors of the school, in addition to recruiting six combinations, only one combination has biology as a subject: math - chemistry - biology. The remaining five combinations include: math - chemistry - physics, math - chemistry - English, math - chemistry - information technology, math - chemistry - economic education and law.
Many other medical schools also recruit students with the combination of math - physics - chemistry or math - chemistry - English for the medical field such as Hai Phong University of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Medicine and Pharmacy (Thai Nguyen University), Hanoi University of Business and Technology, Dai Nam University, Phenikaa University, Kinh Bac University. In the Central - Central Highlands region, there are Da Nang University of Medical Technology and Pharmacy, Phan Chau Trinh University, Buon Ma Thuot University of Medicine and Pharmacy.
In the South, Hong Bang International University and Nam Can Tho University recruit math - chemistry - English for medical majors. Thus, the trend of choosing admission combinations for medical majors also differs between regions. In particular, some schools choose admission combinations with literature for medical majors.
Suitable or not?
Regarding the admission of many strange combinations for the medical field, Dr. Vo Van Tuan - Vice Principal of Van Lang University - said that the admission combination is determined by the faculty with evidence of its reasonableness. Of which, two subjects, math and chemistry, are required for the health sector, the remaining subject is also suitable for these fields in some aspects.
Similarly, Dr. Nguyen Huu Tung - Chairman of the Board of Phan Chau Trinh University, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Private Medical Practitioners Association - said that mathematics and biology are two very important subjects in medical training. Students need to have basic knowledge of these two subjects, of which mathematics is the most important because doctors need to think logically when diagnosing diseases.
Explaining further about the admission of two groups without biology, Mr. Nguyen Van Minh - in charge of admission of Phan Chau Trinh University - said that the admission of groups without biology is to create more opportunities for candidates to apply for medical school. The 2018 general education program allows candidates to choose subjects, so candidates may not choose to study biology, however, the basic knowledge of this subject has been learned in secondary school.
Furthermore, the school's training program is carried out through three stages: theoretical, preclinical and clinical. In the theoretical stage, the knowledge is integrated from many subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and students have many technical conditions to learn this knowledge. "We determine that mathematics is the most important because medical students need to know logical reasoning, so it is present in all combinations," Mr. Minh added.
Health science students at Van Lang University during class - Photo: NT
May cause unfairness
Although he does not think that enrolling students without subjects affects the quality of training, Associate Professor Dr. Do Van Dung - senior lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy - believes that enrolling students with many combinations can cause unfairness.
Mr. Dung believes that knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology are all important in the medical training program, in which knowledge of biology is very important. However, recruiting many combinations can lead to unfairness, recruiting candidates who do not really want to study medicine.
"For example, a candidate with a very high physics score switches to medicine, while the original plan may have been engineering. Thus, we recruit candidates with high scores but are not determined to pursue medicine from the beginning.
Furthermore, for subjects such as technology or economic and legal education, the assessment may be easier than for natural sciences, so it will be unfair to consider admission in general. Therefore, I support the admission of a combination of math - chemistry - biology to ensure both basic knowledge and fairness," Mr. Dung analyzed.
Meanwhile, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Minh Phuong - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy - said that expanding the admission combination beyond the traditional combination of math - chemistry - biology could be for the purpose of expanding the school's recruitment sources. Especially in the context of the new general education program, few students may choose biology.
According to Ms. Phuong, knowledge of math, physics, chemistry, and biology are all necessary for medical training programs, in which biology is very important.
"In the first year, students will learn about biology, human anatomy, and genetics. Biological knowledge will follow students until they graduate and work. Physics is related to imaging techniques, metabolic mechanisms, ultrasound, X-rays, etc. Mathematical knowledge is related to community research," Ms. Phuong added.
However, Ms. Phuong also affirmed that the most important thing is the students' self-study. Many places in the medical field do not recruit students for subjects like Vietnam, but they still train very well.
Only recruiting math, chemistry, biology for medicine
Meanwhile, universities specializing in medicine such as Hanoi Medical University, Ho Chi Minh City Medical University, Can Tho Medical University, Hue Medical University, Pham Ngoc Thach Medical University only consider a combination of math - chemistry - biology for medical majors.
Universities specializing in health or multidisciplinary fields that train in medicine were established later, such as Tay Nguyen, Medicine and Pharmacy (Hanoi National University), Hai Duong Medical Technology, Vinh Medicine, and Health Sciences (Ho Chi Minh City National University) also only recruit the combination of math - chemistry - biology for the medical field.
English language major considers... literature - history - geography
Not only medicine, Hoa Binh University also recruits language majors with combinations that do not have a main subject. For example, English major recruits students with combinations of literature - history - geography, literature - math - physics.
At the Vietnam National University of Agriculture, the admission combinations for most majors have been expanded to the maximum compared to last year. This year, most majors recruit nine combinations compared to four in 2024. Many majors have quite non-traditional combinations. For example, the majors of information technology, data science and artificial intelligence, data science and computer networks recruit combinations of math - literature - history, math - literature - geography.
Similarly, the electrical, electronic and automation engineering groups; the automotive and mechatronics engineering technology groups consider nine combinations of subjects, including math - literature - history, math - literature - geography, math - literature - economic education and law. The two majors of biotechnology and biopharmaceutical technology have 8/9 combinations without biology.
Similarly, the food technology industry group has 6/9 combinations without chemistry. The combinations of math - literature - history, math - literature - geography, math - literature - economic education and law are present in most engineering and technology industries.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tuyen-y-khoa-voi-nhieu-to-hop-la-20250325062952559.htm
![[Photo] Visiting Cu Chi Tunnels - a heroic underground feat](https://vstatic.vietnam.vn/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/4/8/06cb489403514b878768dd7262daba0b)
Comment (0)