Homeschool girl conquers 8 American universities

Dropping out of school after 8th grade to homeschool , Nguyen Ngoc Phuong Anh, 18, was still accepted into 8 American universities.

Of the eight schools, the student chose Beloit College with financial aid of $54,000 (over VND1.2 billion) per year. Phuong Anh’s family only needs to pay an additional $17,000 (VND400 million) per year.

Phuong Anh said that Beloit College does not offer the largest financial aid or high rankings, but it is strong in the fields of Math and Physics that she loves. In addition, she chose a small college to save money and have the opportunity to build relationships with professors.

The school also provided Phuong Anh with a scholarship for non-music majors. This helped her continue to pursue music seriously.

Phuong Anh's journey to conquer American universities is different from her peers because instead of going to school, she homeschooled. However, in her university application, Phuong Anh's grade point average (GPA) from grade 9 to semester 1 of grade 12 was 4.0/4.0, IELTS 8.5 and 33/36 ACT score (standardized test used to apply to American universities).

Nguyen Ngoc Phuong Anh. Photo: Character provided

Phuong Anh was a student in the English elective class at Doan Thi Diem Secondary School from grade 6 to grade 8. Always achieving excellent academic results, the female student once set a goal of passing the English major entrance exam of famous specialized schools in Hanoi .

But after attending a few extra classes, she quit. According to Phuong Anh, her classmates all had plans to take the specialized exams and had to take extra classes early on. The female student said that this way of studying was stressful and left no time for herself.

At that time, Phuong Anh's mother accidentally learned about an online American school founded by a Vietnamese American. No longer wanting to take the specialized exam, Phuong Anh asked her parents to let her drop out of school to study that program.

"My parents agreed, just asking if they had thought it through carefully," Phuong Anh recalled. The student said that this helped her parents save some money, while she could take the initiative with her time to pursue a separate study program, suitable for her study abroad goals.

Ms. Xuan Huong, Phuong Anh's mother, assessed that her daughter has good awareness and high self-study ability. When studying at school, Phuong Anh studies quite easily, does not need to stay up late and wake up early but always achieves a GPA of 9.6, 9.7.

During her research, Ms. Huong found that the American educational philosophy is liberal, helping students develop their personal abilities and learn to be happy. Therefore, she and her husband agreed to homeschool their child and at the same time prepared their child to study abroad.

In addition to the four core subjects of the evening online program including English, Math, History and Science, Phuong Anh also studies French, Spanish, Probability and Statistics and participates in the Scientific Research Initiative (SCI) program. Because she also has to take tests, she still has a GPA.

At first, Phuong Anh was happy. She had time to learn how to film, take photos, draw, play the piano, read, cook and mix drinks - things she couldn't do before because she was at school all day.

However, after about two months, Phuong Anh began to wonder why she stayed at home. At her age, studying is not the only thing. Seeing teachers and friends is the joy that going to school brings, but homeschooling does not give her that. Occasionally, when browsing Facebook, seeing friends taking yearbook photos, having parties, Phuong Anh would think.

"But I understand that you can't have everything. If you want to have time and freedom to learn what you want, you have to accept the trade-offs," Phuong Anh said.

Ms. Huong admitted that at first her child went through many emotions.

"She felt lost because of all the changes in her daily life and her mentality. It was a disruption and not easy to go through," said Ms. Huong.

Phuong Anh and friends attend the Mardi Gras street festival, USA, February 2022. Photo: Character provided

The homeschool program is 100% online, requiring high initiative from the learner. In addition to the main study time from 6pm to 9:30pm, Phuong Anh finds additional learning materials. She likes reading literature books, as a way to balance after difficult Math and Physics lessons.

According to Ms. Huong, the number of children not going to school at that time was not much. She said that she did not encourage this choice to be easy because children always need an environment to develop. No matter what environment, children learn certain values. When choosing homeschool, children lack connection with their peers, so the family must clearly define what needs to be done.

"Without proper guidance, support, and sharing, children can easily go off track," Ms. Huong explained, saying that she and her husband do not have to tutor Phuong Anh in her studies but spend a lot of time sharing with their child.

Because Phuong Anh has studied music since she was 5 years old and plays the piano well, her family let her join three music clubs in Hanoi to socialize and meet friends with similar interests.

In 11th grade, Phuong Anh participated in the cultural exchange program for high school students of the US government at Marion High School, Arkansas. Here, Phuong Anh easily adapted to the new learning environment. She chose four classes of the AP college preparatory program and achieved the maximum score of 5 in English, 4 points in Psychology and Biology, and 3 points in US History. At the end of the school year, she ranked first out of 272 11th grade students at the school.

In addition, Phuong Anh participates in most extracurricular activities at school. She plays piano in the choir; participates in the Quiz Bowl knowledge competition; draws, builds stages for the drama team and joins the French and chess clubs.

In her yearbook, Ms. Lisa Adams, choir director of Marion High School, was impressed with Phuong Anh's piano playing ability.

"I feel so lucky to have you playing piano for the choir this year. Thank you for sharing your talent with us. Your intelligence and talent will take you far in life," Lisa wrote.

Phuong Anh (far right) with members of the Marion High School choir, USA. Photo: Character provided

Returning to Vietnam in June 2022, Phuong Anh continued to study four more AP subjects including Analytical Mathematics, Probability and Statistics, Mechanical Physics, and Electrical and Magnetic Physics, to take the exam this May. This helped her to be exempted from or have many credits reduced from general education courses at American universities. The female student said she will study for a doctorate to pursue a career in teaching and research at university.

"My goal is to study and do what I like, to discover myself. There are times when I am sad but I have never been pessimistic or regretted choosing this path," Phuong Anh said.

Dawn

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