Female student wrote 40 essays, was rejected 10 times and won an 8.7 billion VND US scholarship

Half a year of finding a direction, writing 40 essays to win a scholarship worth 8.7 billion

Pham Duong Khanh Ngan, a 12th grade English 2 student at Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted.

In March this year, Ngan excellently received a full scholarship from the University of Richmond (USA) worth 340,000 USD (about 8.7 billion VND). It is known that this school is ranked 23rd in the list of the best liberal arts universities in the land of the flag in 2025.

In addition to the scholarship, Ngan also achieved many outstanding academic achievements when she passed the English major exam at 3 schools: Pedagogical High School, Foreign Language High School and Hanoi - Amsterdam High School. In addition, she also won many silver and bronze medals in math competitions such as: AMC, APMOPS, ITMC...

Khanh Ngan excellently won a full scholarship worth 8.7 billion VND (Photo: NVCC).

Not only in academics, Ngan also made her mark in many extracurricular activities. She is the founder of many projects and companies such as: Phan Hoa Tutor, Hong Dieu promoting Kim Hoang folk paintings...

Sharing about her journey to win a scholarship, Ngan said: "Because I had planned to study abroad in the US early on, I proactively prepared all my documents right from the time I entered high school.

During that time, I studied for IELTS and SAT, tried to maintain my GPA and studied all subjects equally so that I could ask for recommendation letters from teachers.

Besides, since grade 10, I have actively participated in clubs and projects to explore my abilities and passions. In grade 11, I started to build personal projects, delve into my interests to find new directions and exploit my full potential. In grade 12, I continued extracurricular activities while focusing on writing essays."

According to Ngan, in her journey to win a scholarship, the biggest difficulty for her was not being excellent in a specific field. It took her half a year just to find activities that matched her passion and abilities.

Portrait of Pham Duong Khanh Ngan (Photo: NVCC).

Not only did she find her way, the essay writing phase was also a difficult journey for Ngan. Before completing the two official essays to send out, she wrote about 40 drafts, both main and secondary, within 4 months.

However, instead of feeling tired from having to write too much, Khanh Ngan sees this as a valuable opportunity to recount her experiences and journey of growth. "I don't consider writing an essay a burden but an opportunity to look back at each milestone in my life.

For me, each essay has its own strengths. For essays with limited words, I use a lot of rhetorical techniques and abbreviations to maximize the number of words while still conveying the full meaning. For essays that focus on emotions, I use metaphors to lead readers into my story," Ngan shared.

Ngan said that with the intensity of writing, she often feels tired and out of ideas. At times like these, she often tries to change her writing space to refresh her inspiration. In addition, she also spends a lot of time with family and friends to relax her mind and discover more about herself.

Thousands of pressures and even "nights of breakdown"

Ngan calls the process of winning the scholarship a journey of "never giving up". During this time, she had to face thousands of pressures and even "nights of breakdown".

Ngan said that the most difficult thing for her was how to balance studying, preparing documents and participating in extracurricular activities without falling into a state of exhaustion.

"There were times when I asked myself if I should lower my goals or even give up? I also asked myself if my abilities were as good as I believed, or if I was incompetent and not worthy of the efforts I had put in," Ngan said.

Khanh Ngan and her mother in 2024 (Photo: NVCC).

However, with her stubbornness and willfulness, Khanh Ngan never allowed herself to falter. She did not allow herself to give up just because of temporary difficulties. She also reminded herself not to be shaken just because of skeptical looks or judgments from others.

After 10 rejection letters from universities, Ngan learned to be confident and appreciate herself instead of seeking recognition from others. It was those times of standing up and comforting herself that helped Khanh Ngan become more mature and stronger.

With an impressive academic record of 9.8 GPA, 8.0 IELTS, 1.540 SAT, Khanh Ngan always tries to concentrate to master knowledge and complete as many assignments as possible. She prioritizes her time at home for extracurricular activities as well as self-studying more business knowledge.

In particular, Ngan always tries to maintain the habit of sleeping 7 hours a day. For her, health and alertness are prerequisites for effective study and work.

Khanh Ngan is passionate about preserving Kim Hoang folk paintings (Photo: NVCC).

Creating notebooks to "revive" Kim Hoang paintings

In addition to her academic studies, Khanh Ngan has a great passion for preserving and promoting Kim Hoang folk paintings, a traditional Vietnamese art form that is gradually disappearing. She has loved Vietnamese history and culture since she was a child because her grandfather was knowledgeable and passionate about this field.

Besides, with artistic talents such as drawing, singing, dancing, acting, Ngan wants to find an extracurricular activity related to folk art to both express her passion and contribute to the community.

During her research, Ngan was fortunate to connect with a lecturer from the Kim Hoang painting restoration group. Thanks to that, she began her journey of learning and making paintings.

Initially, Khanh Ngan only intended to study and learn Kim Hoang paintings to learn more about a unique genre of folk paintings. However, the more she explored, the more interesting she found it and wanted to preserve this genre. She realized that Kim Hoang paintings were gradually being forgotten, easily confused with other genres of folk paintings such as Dong Ho or Hang Trong. Therefore, she decided to start the Hong Dieu project.

Ngan is considered a neat and responsible female student at school (Photo: NVCC).

In the process of spreading the value of folk paintings, Ngan also realized the common misunderstandings from foreigners when referring to traditional Vietnamese paintings. From there, she came up with the idea of ​​creating a more accessible product, combining traditional elements and modern convenience by using a notebook printed with Kim Hoang paintings with a brief introduction of each painting on the cover.

According to Ms. Dang Huyen Trang - English teacher at Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted, Ngan is a hard-working, responsible and meticulous student in completing all types of assignments. "She always completes her work on time and with very good quality. Her presentations and research assignments are detailed, showing the investment in the process.

Ngan is also an active and enthusiastic student in class. She is always willing to raise her hand to express her opinions or answer questions asked by teachers in class. Her answers are always coherent, demonstrating her logical ability as well as her thorough understanding of the lesson before class," said Ms. Trang.

Thu Hoai

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/nu-sinh-viet-40-bai-luan-bi-tu-choi-10-lan-va-hoc-bong-my-87-ty-dong-20250419233025834.htm