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M'sia student with near-perfect scores rejected from 6 university accounting courses
The student was placed in a management course he had no interest in.
September 12, 2025, 01:57 PM
A student in Malaysia achieved a near-perfect score, only to find himself rejected from six universities' accounting courses.
The student, Edward Wong, was eventually placed in a management course he was "not passionate" about.
Wong, a 2024 Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) graduate, expressed his frustration about the situation in a Facebook post on Sep. 7.
He emphasised that his intent of the post was not to blame anyone, but instead to share a reality he faced.
"(This is) a reality that perhaps many other STPM students across the country are also experiencing," Wong said in his post.
Outstanding results
He added: "STPM is no easy path. It is equivalent to A-Levels."
STPM is the equivalent of a pre-university programme like Junior College or Polytechnic in Singapore. It is 18 months long, leading up to A-level equivalent exams.
Wong, 20, described it as not only testing syllabus mastery, but also mental, physical, and emotional endurance.
STPM graduates stay up late nights, rewrite essays again and again, and push themselves far beyond their limits.
He added that they endure because they believe that Malaysia will reward hard work.
"Subject after subject, essay after essay, endless drills and late nights. I believed that STPM was a fair path – that those who work hard will succeed," said Wong.
"This belief was what kept me going, even when people said STPM was too difficult, too demanding, too long compared to other pathways."
In spite of the challenges, Wong achieved stellar results.
He scored straight As with a 4.0 cumulative grade point average (CGPA). In addition, he scored 9.9 out of 10 for his co-curricular activities.
On top of that, he achieved a 99.90 per cent merit score.
Rejected from six universities
However, Wong's impressive grades failed to secure him a place in his desired university courses.
He applied for a Bachelor of Accounting in six universities — Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).
Wong was rejected from all six university courses and placed in Management at USM, his fifth choice which he was neither interested in nor passionate about.
"(It is) a course that is neither my passion, nor my dream, nor the result of my two years of struggle," said Wong.
Urgent admission reform needed
Despite seeking answers, it only left him with more questions.
"I contacted UPU, I contacted the universities," he said.
But he said the answers contradicted one another.
"Some said STPM, Matriculation, Asasi, and Diploma students compete in the same pool. Others said they are separate pools.
"If they are truly separate, why was I, with 99.90 per cent merit, denied Accounting? If they are the same, how can someone with near-perfect merit be entirely rejected?"
Political call for reform
In response to Wong's post, the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) issued a statement calling for reforms in the country's public university admission system.
The MCA is a political party in Malaysia that aims to advance the political, educational and economic and other interests of Malaysians of Chinese descent by legitimate and constitutional means.
The party emphasised on its Facebook page that though MCA's membership consists of the Malaysian Chinese, the party serves all Malaysians.
MCA president Wee Ka Siong said urgent reforms are needed after more top-performing students are being denied their preferred courses despite outstanding results.
He added that it was unacceptable that even candidates with a CGPA of 4.0 and near-perfect co-curricular scores were being denied places in public universities.
Losing talent to neighbours
He said in a press conference on Sep. 8: "Even top students are being denied their preferred courses or completely rejected by public universities.
"If we don’t retain these talents, countries like Singapore will take them, and that will be Malaysia’s loss. What is the point of spending so much money on TalentCorp to lure Malaysians back later when we fail to keep them in the first place?"
MCA added in its Facebook post: "TalentCorp has been spending heavily on initiatives such as the Returning Expert Programme (REP), which offers a flat 15 per cent tax rate for five years and duty-free incentives for Malaysians returning from abroad."
However, Malaysia was still losing its brightest young talents to neighbouring countries.
Student association responds
Addressing the situation, the University Malaya Association of New Youth (Umany) stands in solidarity with Wong, The Star reported.
The association demanded that both the government and the University of Malaya (UM) immediately explain why Wong was denied admission into UM’s accounting programme through the Unit Pusat Universiti (UPU) channel and instead was only offered a place via direct intake.
"The fact that Edward received a direct intake offer proves that he meets the qualifications for the programme," Umany said.
Despite achieving a perfect 4.0 STPM result, Wong is now forced to pay tuition fees up to ten times higher than others to pursue the same course.
Root of the problem
Wong is among other students facing similar issues. Umany launched a complaint platform and gathered similar cases.
They identified three main problems.
Firstly, despite Deputy Minister of Education Wong Kah Woh previously announcing that STPM science stream students who achieve a 4.0 GPA would be guaranteed entry into their top three programme choices, arts stream students allegedly have not received the same assurance.
Secondly, the association said public universities have not increased UPU admission quotas in line with the rising number of applicants each year.
According to a parliamentary reply in March 2024, fewer than 2 per cent of STPM students were admitted into highly sought-after programmes such as dentistry, pharmacy, and medicine.
Thirdly, the government’s “10A Policy”, which guarantees automatic matriculation entry for students with 10As, led to a surge in matriculation enrolment.
However, the number of places in popular programmes has allegedly not risen accordingly.
The association called on the Higher Education Ministry to immediately publish the minimum entry scores, the ratio of UPU to direct intake students, as well as the ethnic breakdown for all universities and all programmes this year.
They said such transparency is essential for the public to fully understand how admissions are conducted.
Prove fairness through actions
Wong said that if even a near-perfect student can be sidelined, he questioned what hope was left for the rest and what would become of STPM’s future.
"I still believe in Malaysia. I still believe this country can be fair to all," he said.
"But fairness must be proven through action, not just words."
Top photos via MCA and Edward Wong's Facebook
