In this year’s residency exam held by Hanoi Medical University, Ngo Thu Ha ranked 14th out of nearly 1,000 candidates. Before the exam, she had set a personal goal of entering the top 50 to gain the right to choose her preferred specialty.

With that result, Ha decided to pursue oncology, a demanding field. Explaining her decision, she said she wants to accompany patients in their fight against cancer, believing this is the right path for her.

Ha first made headlines in 2019 when she came first on the national high school finals in group B00. She then enrolled in the general medicine program at Hanoi Medical University.

At university, despite her academic achievements, Ha said that high school knowledge was merely foundational. In her first year, she faced difficult subjects like anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and medical physics. It took her a long time to adapt to the new learning methods and mindset.

To catch up quickly, she joined a collaborative learning club where students worked together in groups to review materials and solve challenging problems.

By her second year, once she was accustomed to the pace, Ha began developing her own study techniques. After each lecture, she would close her books and try to recall and explain the content from memory.

She also created flashcards on her phone, reviewing them during spare moments.

“I think the most important thing in medical studies is diligence. The volume of knowledge is huge, and cramming is not a right choice. Group study is also a great way to exchange, support, and share knowledge with peers,” she said.

When she began her clinical rotations and interacted with real patients, Ha valued every clinical session, feeling inspired by her instructors at the hospital - their positivity, energy, humility, and dedication to medicine.

“There were times when we had to follow a grueling schedule: clinical rounds in the morning, lectures at school in the afternoon, and overnight shifts at the hospital. It was exhausting, but helping patients through procedures and results made me realize that a good doctor not only needs expertise but also empathy, compassion, and gentleness,” she recalled.

Thanks to her systematic learning method, Ha received encouragement scholarships each semester, then became the school's overall valedictorian and ranked in the top for the residency exam at Hanoi Medical University this year.

By passing the residency exam and being able to pursue her favorite specialty, Ha said she will try to continue honing knowledge in the next three years.

"The journey to becoming an excellent doctor is still long and I will have to strive a lot," Ha said.

The residency exam is considered one of the most grueling at Hanoi medical University, because each student can only attend the exam once in their life, right in the year of university graduation.

This year, the residency exam had the largest scale with nearly 1,000 candidates. This is also the first cohort to graduate from the comprehensive innovative medical program.

After being informed about the exam scores, the candidates with the highest scores have the right to choose specialties first, sequentially until the quotas are filled. Candidates with lower scores no longer have the chance to choose if the quotas are full.

Among the top 20 candidates in this year's residency exam, seven chose obstetrics and gynecology. The top scorer of this year’s residency exam, Vu Ngoc Duy (born in 2001), also chose this specialty.

The next most selected specialty was plastic surgery, with four top candidates choosing it. Both obstetrics and gynecology and plastic surgery filled up in the earliest selection rounds.

Other specialties chosen by top 20 candidates included diagnostic imaging, oncology, anesthesiology, pediatrics, and cardiovascular internal medicine.

For the 2025 residency program, Hanoi Medical University offered 426 slots in 38 specialties this year, including 402 for the university at the major campus, 13 for Thanh Hoa branch, six for the Lao Cai Department of Health, and five for Thai Nguyen Central Hospital.

Nguyen Huu Tu, president of Hanoi Medical University, said this year’s residency exam assessed candidates’ abilities accurately, thanks to a completely new bank of over 2,000 questions.

Thuy Nga