“American universities often have different admission policies, many of which consider the family's financial situation when deciding on candidates. This is a disadvantage for me because my parents' teacher salary is not enough for me to study,” said Nguyen Hoang Nguyen, a 12th grade English major student at Nguyen Du High School for the Gifted (Dak Lak). Having determined early that he would study abroad, Hoang Nguyen had set a clear goal since grade 9. The first step on that journey was to pass the entrance exam to a specialized school. The student from Dak Song, Dak Nong said: "A specialized school will be a place to help me meet friends who share the same dream of studying abroad as me." But instead of studying in Dak Nong, Hoang Nguyen decided to enroll in Nguyen Du High School for the Gifted in Dak Lak - a place more than 100km from home. “I was impressed by the excitement of the extracurricular activities and the dynamism of the students here. In addition, the school also has two clubs on debate and volunteering - education that I really love. Therefore, I convinced my parents to agree with this decision.” Nguyen’s parents are both high school Literature teachers in Dak Nong. Although they had many concerns, they still respected their son’s choice. During the 3 years of studying at this school, for Hoang Nguyen, it opened up many opportunities for extracurricular and academic activities.
Nguyen Hoang Nguyen is a student at Nguyen Du High School for the Gifted (Dak Lak)
Loving debate, Hoang Nguyen started participating in the school club. In grade 11, Nguyen became the president of the debate club and also the founder of the "Tay Nguyen Open Debate" tournament. In the first year, the tournament attracted 150 students from more than 15 different provinces and cities to participate. Hoang Nguyen said that although debate tournaments are often held in Vietnam, there are very few playgrounds for beginners. Therefore, his wish when organizing this tournament is to target those people. Nguyen also invited judges who were experts he had met in debate competitions to evaluate the quality of the questions and participate in professional training sessions. In addition to debate, because of his love for economics and his desire to pursue this major at university, Nguyen spent a lot of time researching and studying. Having struggled with the concepts and principles of economics many times, while this subject has not appeared in the Vietnamese education system, Nguyen hopes to bring these content areas closer to students with similar interests. At the time he was the head of the professional department of the GlobEcom Young Economic Education Organization, Hoang Nguyen and many young people built the WikiEcon campaign - a place to provide articles revolving around knowledge in the field of economics. Within 2 months, the group translated more than 300 Wikipedia articles from English to Vietnamese on the topic of economics. This has also become a reference channel for Vietnamese students who are looking for basic information about economics.
In 11th grade, Hoang Nguyen decided to try his hand at applying to GHIS - an international boarding school in Israel. Nguyen considered this a "warm-up" step to apply to an American university. "Because GHIS teaches the IB program, if I get into the school, my chances of going to the US will be wider because American schools highly value this program. I researched the steps and prepared my application myself, and unexpectedly I was accepted," Nguyen said. That year, the Dak Nong student won a scholarship worth 42,000 USD and would study in Israel for 2 years. However, due to family reasons, Nguyen had to put the scholarship aside and continue his high school studies in Vietnam. "If finances are limited, you need to have a clear strategy." After that, Nguyen continued to participate in competitions to strengthen his study abroad application. At the Vietnam Economics Olympiad, Nguyen beat 3,000 other contestants to become one of five members of the Vietnamese team participating in the International Economics Olympiad. The male student later won a Bronze Medal. In addition, Nguyen was also the runner-up of the Pangea World Mathematics Olympiad (PMW), and won many medals in English. In 2022, Nguyen brought a study abroad support model, helping to optimize costs, to the Young Tycoons Business Challenge, then entered the top 0.25% in the world. With a thick profile of achievements, Hoang Nguyen decided to apply to a number of universities in the US, Singapore and Spain. Diversify your options by applying to more countries other than the US, Nguyen explained: “My parents are both teachers. Therefore, the amount of money my family can contribute if I study abroad in the US is quite modest. Without a scholarship, my study abroad is completely impossible. Even if I only receive a partial scholarship, the remaining amount is a huge burden for my family.” However, Nguyen also said that although applying to schools outside the US will have more opportunities, winning a full scholarship is often quite difficult because countries mainly support international students with about 30-50% of tuition fees. “When looking for schools in the US, I usually research the financial factor quite carefully. Schools often apply a number of different admission policies, of which the most common are “need-blind” (not considering the applicant’s ability to contribute) and “need-aware” (considering both the quality of the application and the applicant’s financial condition). For “need-aware” schools, a financial contribution of less than $15,000 is alarming and disadvantageous for international students.”
Receiving rejection letters or being placed on the waiting list for results from American schools, Hoang Nguyen was disappointed and gradually lost hope. However, the last school to announce the results - Duke University (ranked in the top 25 in the world) - accepted Nguyen's application and was willing to grant him a full scholarship, including living expenses, airfare... This year, Duke University received nearly 50,000 applications, but only selected more than 2,000 candidates to enter the school. "This result is very surprising. Before that, I also knew someone who was rejected by 18 schools and only accepted to 2 schools, but one of them was Princeton University, a top school in the US". Applying to American universities today, according to Nguyen, is quite "lucky". “The admissions committee not only evaluates based on ability but also decides on many factors that the candidate cannot control, for example: Did your parents study at this school? Were you an athlete? Are your parents able to contribute financially to the school?... Many teachers on the admissions committee have even said that many times they reject an application not because the application is weak but because it overlaps with a previous application.” Therefore, Hoang Nguyen believes that when applying to the US, the most important thing is that the candidate needs to have confidence in themselves. “You often lose confidence in your abilities if you fail. I myself used to be like that. I asked myself many questions: Am I good enough? What am I lacking?... But in reality, it is very difficult to fully evaluate a person based on just an essay, a few extracurricular activities or academic achievements. Therefore, the most important thing is to be mentally prepared to face it, never lose confidence in yourself,” said Hoang Nguyen.