Hoang Nguyen, from Dak Nong, won a full scholarship to Duke University, after becoming the first Vietnamese student to win a silver medal at the International Economics Olympiad.
Nguyen Hoang Nguyen, 18, received news in July that he won a full scholarship to Duke University to study Economics. The school is ranked 7th in the best universities in the US, according to US News 2024. Nguyen's scholarship is worth about $94,600 per year, equivalent to $380,000 (9.2 billion VND) for four years of study.
"I spent all three years of high school preparing my application and never stopped dreaming. This is the sweet fruit of a lot of effort," Nguyen said. The male student arrived in the US to enroll in school in early September.
Nguyen Hoang Nguyen at Duke University, September 2023. Photo: Character provided
When he was a junior high school student in Dak Nong, Nguyen set a goal of studying abroad in the US. Realizing that only learning English could open the door to studying abroad, Nguyen asked his parents to let him take the English major exam at Nguyen Du High School for the Gifted in Dak Lak province.
"Learning English in my hometown was difficult at that time, especially communication. I thought that the English major environment would help me with this," Nguyen said.
After passing the exam, the male student lived more than 100 km away from home. Because he had been independent since childhood, cooking and taking care of himself, Nguyen did not have any difficulty living in the school dormitory. According to him, leaving home early helps promote independence and the ability to manage on his own, which is especially useful for studying abroad.
"I want to study abroad in the US, so I did some research and learned that I need to prepare well in two aspects: academic ability and life skills," Nguyen shared.
Therefore, Nguyen also strives to maintain his academic scores and participates in many academic competitions at home and abroad. At school, the male student concentrates on taking notes and understanding lessons, and when he returns to the dormitory, he reviews and studies more through online channels. Thanks to that, the male student's average academic score is always above 9. Nguyen also won a gold medal in the province's traditional Olympic competition 10/3, achieving 8.0 IELTS.
In addition, Nguyen participated in many debate competitions and founded the "Central Highlands Open Debate" tournament for students new to this subject.
But Nguyen's most outstanding achievement was in Economics.
“Economics affects every aspect of life, from people’s jobs to the development of a country. I want to better understand how economic decisions are made and how they can create positive impacts for the community,” Nguyen shared.
Nguyen said that many countries have Economics in their high school curriculum, but Vietnam does not. Therefore, the male student mainly spends his time reading and researching documents online and university textbooks that he has collected. Nguyen then created the "WikiEcon" page with his friends, translating more than 300 articles on the topic of Economics from English to Vietnamese.
"I struggled with the concepts and principles of economics, but I hope this will become a reference channel for Vietnamese students who are looking for basic information about economics," Nguyen said.
Passionate about this subject, Nguyen passed many rounds of competition to become one of the first four students from Vietnam to participate in the International Economics Olympiad (IEO) in 2022 and won a bronze medal. In 2023, Nguyen changed color to a silver medal, also the best achievement of a Vietnamese student.
The competition consists of 3 parts: Economic Mathematics, Financial Simulation and Business Case Study. According to Nguyen, Vietnamese students faced many difficulties because the team formation time was short, only 3 weeks, and they were not familiar with how to work together, while the team competition took up about 25%. Nguyen and his teammates spent a lot of time reading textbooks, studying the team formation exam questions of other countries and were trained by some experts.
According to the male student, the competition provided many lessons about the practicality of business problems, new knowledge and teamwork.
Nguyen was studying at Nguyen Du High School for the Gifted, Dak Lak province. Photo: Character provided
With a solid academic and extracurricular record, Nguyen still believes that it is very difficult to get a full scholarship in the US, usually at 30 - 50% of tuition. Meanwhile, Nguyen's parents are both teachers and do not have the means to send him to study abroad without a scholarship.
"Determining that applying for an American scholarship is like a game, 'win all or lose all', I decided to put all my effort into my application," Nguyen said. In total, the male student applied to 50 schools, both in and outside the US.
In his essay to Duke University, Nguyen talked about giving and receiving, with the message that when helping others, he needs to respect the recipients and put them on the same level as himself. In return, when he receives help, he believes that he should not lower himself but consider that support as motivation to develop further.
In addition to Duke, Nguyen was accepted to a series of other schools in Spain, Russia, China, and Finland, all with 50-100% scholarships.
Ms. Thai Thi Thu Hien, Nguyen's homeroom teacher at Nguyen Du High School for the Gifted, said she had expected Nguyen to receive a scholarship to study abroad but was surprised by the value of the scholarship.
"Nguyen was an excellent student in all subjects, both academically and extracurricularly. What she had accumulated was rewarded appropriately," she said.
Nguyen said he chose Duke University to study Economics after reading student reviews about the school. He said the school not only has a good training program but also an interesting learning environment.
"I find the program flexible, combining practical experience. I feel like I can make the most of the school's resources and strong network," Nguyen said. The student said he is on track to explore other aspects of economics, expanding his academic knowledge and future research direction.
"I also hope to have the opportunity to contribute to the Vietnam Economics Olympiad or other economicseducation projects to support those interested as well as promote the development of economics at the high school level," Nguyen said.
Doan Hung
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