Male student gets accepted into a top 9 US university with no SAT score.

Despite majoring in Russian and lacking SAT scores, Quang Duy was accepted into the Health Sciences program at Johns Hopkins University – a top 9 university in the US – and two leading universities in Canada.

Pham Quang Duy is a Russian-specialized student at Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for Gifted Students. Since the end of March, he has received acceptance letters from the University of Toronto, British Columbia, John Hopkins University, and Boston University.

According to US News , Toronto and British Columbia are the top two universities in Canada, while John Hopkins ranks ninth and Boston is among the top 43 universities in the United States.

Pham Quang Duy in his graduation photo at Ams High School. Photo: Provided by the subject.

Becoming a doctor has been Quang Duy's dream since the 9th grade, after a volunteer trip to the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion with his mother. Seeing young children battling genetic diseases or leukemia every day, Duy dreamed of a miracle to cure them and help them return home.

"From then on, I read more materials about genetic diseases and gradually developed a love for molecular biology, genetic disease treatment, or new inventions in the biomedical field," Duy said.

Initially, Duy aimed to study in Canada, choosing health sciences. The reason was that medical training programs there are equivalent to master's degrees, requiring applicants to have a bachelor's degree in a related field before enrollment.

As soon as he entered 10th grade, Duy began preparing his application, including transcripts, essays, and extracurricular activities. The male student maintained a GPA of 9.5 at school and achieved an 8.0 IELTS score.

This period coincided with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, preventing Duy from participating in many extracurricular activities. He came up with the idea of ​​researching adolescent mental health during the lockdown period with his friends. As a result, his and his group's research was presented at the International Health and Education Conference organized by the University of Montreal, Canada, in 2022.

"The research results show that young people lack the skills to seek social support, and prolonged online learning, coupled with frequent social media use, seriously impacts their mental health," Duy said.

The research paper was also published in a public health journal. The student noted that at the time, the Covid-19 pandemic was a hot topic worldwide, so related research was highly sought after. He had to submit his manuscript a month in advance and go through a peer review process before reporting.

In 2023, Duy continued his participation in a public health conference in Thailand. His presentation on the reality of internet addiction among adolescents and its consequences for mental health was selected as the best presentation in the "Mental Health" session. This was a highlight that the student mentioned in his extracurricular activities, along with his research internships at several medical schools in Hanoi.

Duy received a certificate for outstanding presentation in Thailand, November 2023. Photo: Provided by the subject .

Duy's initial intention was to study in Canada, but he later decided to apply to American schools as well. Because he made the decision late, Duy missed the SAT – a commonly used standardized test for American college admissions.

According to Duy, the biggest challenge when transitioning to studying in the US was choosing a topic for his essay. Initially, due to his passion for molecular biology and neuroscience research, Duy intended to write about this field, but realized his knowledge and experience were insufficient. Ultimately, the student changed the topic to describing his self-study process since 10th grade, emphasizing the difficulties and solutions he encountered.

For example, the male student highlighted the difficulties of conducting online surveys during the Covid-19 pandemic, the process of finding materials to build the toolset, and the process of learning appropriate analytical methods.

"I think this demonstrates my commitment to research and my ability to learn independently," Duy observed.

Because the preparation time was short, Duy felt less pressure and didn't have high expectations for the results. When he received the acceptance letter from Johns Hopkins two weeks ago, Duy and his family were surprised.

"When I read the words 'welcome to class 2028,' I couldn't believe my eyes. I felt very lucky to have had the opportunity to experience it and achieve good results," Duy said.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, a health research organization expert at UNC Vietnam, mentored Duy from the initial concepts and orientation to the use of statistical software. Ms. Ngan highly praised Duy's efforts in learning to conduct a complete scientific study. According to her, high school students typically participate in a few stages such as data collection or data entry, with few progressing to data analysis and writing.

"Duy is passionate about the biomedical field, has excellent self-learning abilities, and reads materials very well," she commented.

Ms. Hoa Hong Nhung, a math teacher at Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for Gifted Students, also assessed the male student as having good self-learning abilities and exploring multiple solutions to the same problem.

"She often proactively makes time after school to seek counseling," she said.

Duy participated in the Summer School in Quy Nhon in 2023. Photo: Provided by the subject.

Looking back at the application process, Duy believes the strengths of his application were its consistency and commitment to his chosen career path.

"A resume doesn't need to be overly diverse; it should showcase your strengths, commitment, self-learning abilities, and personal development as a roadmap, rather than trying to prove you're good at everything," Duy observed. Another tip Duy learned when preparing his resume was to refer to articles about international students to learn from them.

What Duy appreciated most was that he researched and applied on his own. While in Canada, Duy applied according to each school's requirements, in the US, this was done through a common application system (Common App).

"When I opened the Common App, I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of things I had to prepare. At each step, I had to research online, visiting study abroad consulting websites both in Vietnam and abroad to find guidance, so completing the application was quite difficult," Duy acknowledged. "But through that, I improved my research skills and proactive learning, which are crucial skills in university."

Duy hasn't decided whether to go to the US or Canada yet. The male student is also considering the general medicine program at VinUni University, where he has been awarded a 90% scholarship.

Although he knew pursuing a career in medicine was a very challenging path, Duy remained steadfast in his goal of becoming a doctor or a researcher in the field of neuroscience.

"I'm looking forward to experiencing new challenges to improve myself, just like this time when applying to university," Duy shared.

Thao Nguyen - Doan Hung

Source: https://vnexpress.net/nam-sinh-do-dai-hoc-top-9-my-voi-ho-so-khong-diem-sat-4731308.html