Le Thi Mai Trang, a fourth-year student at the National Economics University, has just received news of her acceptance into the Master's program in Artificial Intelligence and Interdisciplinary Innovation at Tsinghua University (China) even before graduating from university.
According to the THE 2026 rankings, this is the leading university in Asia, ranking 12th among the best universities in the world .
From no achievements to winning the provincial-level award for outstanding students.
Mai Trang is a former student of Trieu Son 1 High School ( Thanh Hoa province ), and was the top student in the A01 and C01 subject groups at the school in 2022. However, before achieving those results, her academic journey was not without its challenges.
During her middle school years, Trang began to realize the need to discover her strengths. She proactively applied to join the gifted student teams in Literature, History, and Geography, but was not selected. In high school, Trang tried her luck with the Math team, but her teacher deemed her "unsuitable" and unable to keep up with her classmates.
Undeterred, the female student applied to join the Physics team. In the entrance exam, Trang only scored 6 out of 20 points, the lowest in the team. Even so, the teacher still allowed Trang to attend trial classes with the other students.
The turning point came during the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to quarantine, Trang couldn't go to school for exam preparation. At that time, the team's head teacher brought the exam papers to her.
"That moment moved me deeply. I never thought the teacher would care about the weakest student on the team like me," Trang recalled. That experience completely changed her attitude towards studying.
From a student addicted to video games, Trang regained her spirits, began to focus more intensely and seriously. As a result, in the provincial-level excellent student competition, Mai Trang was the highest-scoring student in the school's team and won third prize in the provincial-level excellent student competition in Physics.
With these results, Mai Trang applied to the National Economics University and was accepted into the Faculty of Management Science.
Le Thi Mai Trang is a fourth-year student at the National Economics University. Photo: Provided by the interviewee.
In her first days at university, Mai Trang faced a major shock. She had almost no foundation in English, while many of her friends already had IELTS certificates, and some were even learning a second foreign language like Chinese.
Moreover, the university program had a large amount of knowledge and required high-level thinking, which Trang couldn't keep up with. Overwhelmed by the pressure, at one point, she called her parents, crying and asking to transfer schools. However, with her parents' encouragement, Mai Trang began to change her study methods, proactively connecting with lecturers so they would remember her. Thanks to this, at the end of the first semester, Trang received an encouragement scholarship from the university.
Recognizing her biggest weakness in foreign languages, Mai Trang was determined to conquer the IELTS. Every day, she practiced listening through audio and imitating what others said. Lacking the means for expensive courses, Trang primarily studied online, but this wasn't effective at first. It wasn't until her third year, after dedicating over a month to intensive study using a suitable method, that Trang achieved a score of 7.0.
The path to a top university in Asia.
Having harbored the intention of studying abroad since 11th grade, Mai Trang often dreamed of setting foot in Tsinghua University – a school she had only known about through Chinese books, newspapers, and films. Unable to fulfill this dream during her undergraduate studies, she cherished the aspiration of attending this university after graduation.
That dream was so big that, at the school's career fair, when invited to share her future plans on stage, Trang answered without hesitation: "I will become a doctoral research student at Tsinghua University."
Female students actively participate in scientific research. Photo: Provided by the interviewee.
Understanding that Tsinghua University values a comprehensive application, Mai Trang proactively developed a clear roadmap from her first year, balancing academic scores, scientific research, and extracurricular activities.
Throughout her four years of university, the female student maintained a GPA of 3.94/4.0. From her first year, she participated in entrepreneurship competitions, conducted scientific research, and won three scientific research awards at the National Economics University.
Building on that foundation, Trang shifted her focus to writing international publications. By the time she applied to Tsinghua University, Mai Trang had two articles published in international journals as the main author.
Trang's flagship research is on "Virtual Water Trade in Agricultural Exports," which proposes integrating technology to build a national water footprint data system, aiming for sustainable development.
“Thanks to scientific research, I truly understand what I want to pursue. The field of Economics is broad, and through research, I realized I am interested in management, more specifically management in international trade linked to sustainable development. In addition, I want to combine interdisciplinary studies with artificial intelligence to solve the dual problem of economics and the environment,” Mai Trang said.
Mai Trang has been accepted into the master's program at Tsinghua University. Photo: Provided by the interviewee.
Although Trang is an economics student, she applied to the Interdisciplinary Artificial Intelligence and Innovation program. Instead of listing her achievements in her essay, she focused on demonstrating her suitability. She showed that this wasn't an impulsive decision, but rather a foundation she had already built to pursue this interdisciplinary path.
This was also clearly shared by the female student during her interview with the admissions committee of Tsinghua University. When asked, "How do you fill the gap in technology?", Trang confidently shared that although she studied management, she was still able to conduct scientific research in commerce and the environment.
In research, Trang was also a core member in data collection, using Python and analytical tools in the research. “I believe I can flexibly switch between fields. This new major will help me leverage my existing foundation to pursue interdisciplinary research,” Trang shared.
According to Mai Trang, what led to her being chosen was daring to take a different path and demonstrating determination to pursue it to the end. “In Vietnam, economic development often doesn’t go hand in hand with environmental protection. I want to find a solution using artificial intelligence,” Trang said.
Mai Trang and Dr. Dinh Viet Hoang, Faculty of Management Science, National Economics University. Photo: Provided by the interviewee.
As Mai Trang's research mentor, Dr. Dinh Viet Hoang from the Faculty of Management Science was impressed by Trang's ability to approach problems using management logic and her capacity for independent thinking combined with systems thinking.
"It was the harmonious combination of a strong knowledge base and a proactive, ambitious spirit that helped Mai Trang successfully complete her master's program at Tsinghua University," said Dr. Hoang.
Mai Trang is expected to go to China to study in mid-2026. In the coming time, she will spend time strengthening her foundation in artificial intelligence, improving her Chinese language skills, and accumulating practical experience in digital transformation, with the long-term goal of continuing to pursue a doctoral degree.
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Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/nu-sinh-thanh-hoa-trung-tuyen-bac-thac-si-ngoi-truong-dan-dau-chau-a-2484329.html
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