Yen, a student of the Academy for Journalism and Communication, said she does not want to meet her relatives and friends these days.“They will ask me if I have found a job,” she explained. “Meanwhile, I still do not know what I will do after the graduation”.

“I will get my university degree in one month. What should I do with it? I may put it in a good frame and hang on the wall. That’s all,” Yen said, adding that she has never felt so discouraged before.

Thao, who is about to graduate Hanoi University of Social Sciences in one month, said she got frightened when asked what she would do after the graduation.“I myself don’t know what I want and what I need. A lot of my friends know well what they strived for. Meanwhile, I am still thinking why I chose social sciences to follow,” she said.

“When I finished high school, I was told that it would be too hard for me to study economics or natural sciences. And I ended up applying for the linguistics faculty of the school,” she said.

Trinh Tuan, an economics student, said he only found out that he wanted to follow a technology major after spending three years at the economics school. “I am wondering if it is too late for me,” he said. “There are two ways for me to go: either finish the economics school and look for a job in the field, or give up everything and start from the very beginning”.

“I am afraid that I will shock my parents if I tell them I want to ‘reset’ my life,” he said.

Tuyet, an excellent student of the Academy for Journalism and Communication, said she wishes she could study further for a masters degree, but she is meeting financial difficulties.

“If I continue studying, I will put a heavy burden on my parents, who have been struggling hard over the last few years to fund my university study. However, I feel that I need to study more to be sure I am qualified enough when applying for jobs,” she said.

Meanwhile, Huong, from Hong Duc University, said she does not think about what she will do after graduation. She is experiencing difficult days after a broken love affair and all she can do now is to try her best to pass the final exams.

“I think I will return to my home village and live on my parents for one year, no matter whether I pass the finals or not,” she said.

Returning to home villages to live with parents is the path that many university graduates follow when the bachelor degrees do not help them earn as much money as they expected, a psychologist said.

He said that unlike the youth from developed economies, Vietnamese students, who lack living skills, always stay passive when making their way in their lives.