Pham Van Thanh, born in 1998, has just become a new student majoring in Literature at Hanoi National University of Education. This is the second time the boy from Bac Giang has received a university admission notice.

In 2016, after graduating from Luc Ngan High School No. 2, because he did not have a clear direction, Thanh decided to take the exam and passed the People's Security Academy according to his family's wishes.

After 4 years of studying and training, Thanh graduated and returned to work in his hometown. However, Thanh still has a passion for literature. In his free time, Thanh often helps juniors review, shares literary knowledge on social media platforms and participates in writing competitions organized by his department.

During his 3 years working locally, Thanh gradually realized his desire to stand on the podium to teach Literature. After struggling with his worries and fear of being judged by others, Thanh finally decided to stop his current job to take the university entrance exam again.

“At that time, my parents did not agree. Many people also advised me to continue with this career. Many people even said that I was too risky, what if I failed the exam? But I decided to listen to myself and pursue my dream, even though it was a bit late,” Thanh said.

Despite his determination, Thanh stayed up many nights thinking about the future. He himself realized that his journey was “very lonely”. “I was discouraged, but those moments did not last long. I believed that I had chosen the right direction, living with my passion and on the journey to conquer that passion,” Thanh recalled.

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Thanh always longed to stand on the podium teaching Literature (Photo: NVCC)

During the whole time of focusing on reviewing for the exam, Thanh always reminded himself of his goals and desired scores. Although he did not aim for a specific title such as valedictorian or salutatorian, Thanh still set a goal of achieving a perfect score of 30.

To motivate himself, he created a social media account, posted his exam preparation moments, and set it to “only me”. He also met the teacher who taught the provincial History team to apply for admission, and at the same time applied to take extra Literature and Geography lessons from teachers at his old high school and registered for some online classes.

Thanh divides his study schedule into weeks and months and strictly follows them. He believes that discipline and perseverance are the factors that help him maintain his determination.

In addition, the dream of becoming a Literature teacher helped Thanh overcome the difficulties of a person who had not touched general knowledge for nearly 8 years.

With determination and effort, in this year's high school graduation exam, Thanh achieved a total admission score of 29.45, including 10 points in History and Geography; 9.25 points in Literature and 0.2 points in priority. Thanks to that, Thanh has "touched" his dream of becoming a new student of Literature at Hanoi National University of Education.

“When I knew my score, I was proud and happy. My parents were also very happy, no longer doubting me, always by my side, encouraging me to try my best,” Thanh said.

The day he returned to school, Thanh clearly felt the closeness, the love, the place where he wanted to belong. During the opening ceremony, Thanh had the honor to stand up and share his story of pursuing his dream of studying literature.

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Thanh became a new student of the Faculty of Literature, Hanoi National University of Education (Photo: NVCC)

While his peers have settled down in their jobs and even started families, Thanh is also somewhat pressured by starting over at university. “I used to work and have a salary. When I go back to school, I don’t want to depend on my family, so I will tutor, but the most important goal is still to focus on studying,” Thanh said.

Despite being busy, Thanh still maintains the habit of sharing knowledge about literature on his tiktok channel and about history on a fanpage.

Since openly sharing his story, Thanh has received many confidences from strangers, related to pressure and failure in the journey of pursuing his dreams. Thanh confessed that he did not know if the path he was taking was right or not, nor did he know if he could do it.

“I just know how to ignore all difficulties and prejudices, turn all pressure into motivation and try my best for the goal, be persistent, tenacious and disciplined with it.

I believe that when one door closes, another will always open. When you desire something, the whole universe will conspire to help you achieve it. The universe will always listen to a strong heart,” Thanh said.

Military schools recruit hundreds of additional positions from October 21. Candidates who have participated in the preliminary selection and have been notified by a military school that they meet the preliminary selection requirements, but have not been admitted or confirmed to enroll anywhere, can participate in the additional selection.