Ngan previously won second prize in Physics in Ho Chi Minh City’s 2026 competition for outstanding students. Even so, becoming one of HCMUT’s top entrants came as a surprise.

“If I could go back to the beginning, I would still believe I was capable of achieving that score,” Ngan said. “But I never imagined I would become one of the university’s top entrants.”

She attributes the result first to her own efforts, but also to the good learning environment she had and the support of teachers and friends.

At Nguyen Khuyen High School, students regularly took mock exams, sometimes as often as once a week. The experience gave Ngan repeated opportunities to practice working under pressure and learn how to manage her emotions in the examination room.

Whenever her results fell short of expectations, she tried not to let herself become overwhelmed or lose direction. Instead, she simply assumed there was an area she had not yet mastered, then reviewed her work, identified the problem and studied it more thoroughly.

“I focus on building a solid understanding,” Ngan said. “For me, studying isn’t simply about remembering what teachers have taught. What matters more is understanding the underlying principles and knowing how to apply them when facing different types of problems.”

She plans to maintain the same approach at university.

Ngan chose electrical and electronic engineering at HCMUT because of her interest in logical thinking and programming.

Starting in 11th grade, she wrote simple pieces of code herself to create projects for her physics classes. Seeing those projects work gave her a sense of satisfaction and helped her realize that this could be a field she wanted to pursue in the future.

Knowing that electrical and electronic engineering attracts far more male than female students did not change her decision.

“I have never thought of gender as a barrier to my passion,” Ngan said. “To me, being male or female has nothing to do with whether you are suited to STEM. What matters is being able to do what you love and prove yourself through the results you achieve.”

After her first week at university, Ngan said she was surprised to find her timetable considerably lighter than it had been in high school.

University life feels less intense in that respect, but it also demands much greater self-discipline, she said, because lecturers cannot monitor students as closely as high school teachers do.

Ngan is therefore reminding herself not to become complacent or neglect her studies. Her immediate goals are to improve her English and achieve strong academic results throughout university.

“I want to build a strong academic record so I have the opportunity to choose the field I want,” she said.

Nearly half of freshmen have IELTS scores of 6.0 or higher

Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology welcomed more than 6,000 freshmen in 2026.

According to the university, the number of applicants rose 49% from 2025, while the total number of admission preferences submitted increased by nearly 68%.

The larger applicant pool, combined with stronger academic performance among candidates, pushed admission scores higher for 57 majors and programs compared with the previous year, reflecting both greater competition and improving entrant quality.

Notably, nearly 60% of freshmen scored at least 900 on Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City’s competency assessment exam.

This year, HCMUT also raised its conversion standards for international English-language qualifications. An IELTS Academic score of 6.0 or equivalent can be converted into a score of 8-10 for the English component of the national high school graduation exam, depending on the qualification level.

Despite the stricter conversion requirements, nearly half of the university’s freshmen hold an IELTS score of at least 6.0.

Women account for nearly 22% of the incoming class, a figure the university says reflects a growing willingness among female students to pursue engineering and technology.

With an academic admission score of 95.04 out of 100 and a competency assessment score of 1,124, Vo Gia Thinh, a former student at Nguyen Du High School for the Gifted in Dak Lak province, became HCMUT’s overall top entrant in 2026 under two assessment measures.

Thinh also ranked second in Dak Lak in the A01 subject combination, scoring 10 in Mathematics, 9.75 in Physics and 8.5 in English.

Under the national high school graduation exam admission route, three students earned the same 29.5 score in the A00 combination of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry: Vo Ngoc Thanh Ngan, Le Cong Nguyen and Nguyen Hong Viet. All three were recognized as the university’s highest-scoring entrants through this admission route.

Ngan and Cong Nguyen also tied for second place in Ho Chi Minh City in the A00 combination.

Hong Viet was the highest-scoring student in Lam Dong province in the 2026 national high school graduation exam, earning a combined 37.75 points: 10 in Mathematics, 9.75 in Physics, 9.75 in Chemistry and 8.25 in Literature.

One striking feature shared by all four top entrants was their perfect performance in Mathematics: each scored 300 out of 300 in the mathematics section of the competency assessment and 10 out of 10 in Mathematics in the national high school graduation exam.

Gia Thinh also achieved a perfect score in the scientific reasoning section of the competency assessment.

In 2026, HCMUT continues to place particular emphasis on Mathematics in admissions. Mathematics scores are given double weighting across all academic components used in its comprehensive admission method, including the competency assessment, national high school graduation exam and high school academic records.

The university has also tightened its conversion scale for international English-language certificates, with conversions now applying only to the national high school graduation exam component.

Le Huyen