The top-scoring female AI student comes from a self-taught background.

Starting from almost zero technological knowledge, Nguyen Thi Huyen entered the Artificial Intelligence Engineering program at Hanoi University of Science and Technology with the mindset of a "newbie," and two years later became the valedictorian with a GPA of 3.96.

Learning is not a race. Nguyen Thi Huyen is the valedictorian of the Advanced Artificial Intelligence Engineering program with a GPA of 3.96, and also boasts a graduation project score of 9.7/10. Huyen also represented over 400 students and had the honor of speaking at the 2026 Master's and Advanced Engineering Graduation Ceremony of Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Few would have thought that this girl, born in 2000, was once a Business Administration student at the Foreign Trade University – someone with almost no technical or technological background before venturing into the field of Artificial Intelligence. From her third year of university, Nguyen Thi Huyen entered the corporate environment. Her work involved managing technology products, business analysis, and software product development. At that time, Huyen almost never thought she would continue her studies, much less pursue Artificial Intelligence. Huyen's journey to conquer AI began with curiosity about how this technology could change the way humans create and operate digital products. While working as a product manager for a website building platform, she began to ask herself: If AI could understand business goals, customer preferences, and user brand style, would humans still need to manually adjust every detail of the interface? “From that initial curiosity, AI gradually became a field I wanted to pursue seriously!” – Valedictorian Nguyen Thi Huyen shared.

Valedictorian Nguyen Thi Huyen and her classmates

Describing herself as a complete novice in AI, before applying to the Advanced Artificial Intelligence Engineering program at Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Huyen spent over a year self-studying. She worked during the day and studied mathematics, machine learning, deep learning, and programming in the evenings; weekends she continued her studies with textbooks and lines of code. At times, self-learning felt like navigating an endless "AI desert": the more she learned, the more she realized how much she didn't know, the more exhausted she felt, and the need for a clear map to avoid getting lost in the technological labyrinth. At that point, the Advanced AI Engineering program at Hanoi University of Science and Technology, designed for students from unrelated fields, almost became the "lifeline map" Huyen was looking for. "I absolutely had to go to Hanoi University of Science and Technology to study AI!" Huyen recalled her decision. For applicants without a background in information technology, the program requires a minimum of three years of work experience related to the field of application, along with several foundational computer science courses. Therefore, adapting to the fast-paced learning environment at the Polytechnic University was not easy for Huyen. On her first day in class, she was the only female student among many top technology students. Huyen enthusiastically participated in three long weekend classes, each lasting three hours, demanding intense concentration. While many of her classmates already had a technical background, Huyen had to start almost from scratch with programming, mathematics, and systems thinking. Some semesters she enrolled in up to ten courses, working on projects until 4 am many nights, and even temporarily suspending her work to focus on her studies. There were times when Huyen doubted herself, felt stuck in the face of difficult problems, and felt she was lagging behind others. But it was also during that time that she realized learning was never a race. “Everyone has their own pace. Some go fast, some go slow, some go smoothly, some have to take many detours,” Huyen shared her takeaways from her studies at Hanoi University of Science and Technology during the 2026 Master's and Advanced Engineering Degree Award Ceremony . Starting again to go further. What impresses others about Nguyen Thi Huyen is not only her excellent academic achievements, but also the way she connects business thinking and technology. “Technical thinking helps me answer the question 'how to do it,' while my economic background helps me ask 'why do it?' and 'for whom?'” Huyen shared.

Student Nguyen Thi Huyen on her graduation day.

Perhaps that's why Huyen doesn't view AI simply as a technology, but as a tool to solve real-world problems. When approaching an AI problem, she usually starts from the customer journey, bottlenecks in the process, critical data, and the real needs of users before choosing the appropriate technical solution. Taking a roundabout path from economics to technology cost Huyen a lot of time, effort, and even personal joys that had to be put aside. But she has never regretted it, because the further she went, the more she knew it was the path meant for her. "Before every great journey, people need an open mind, like a blank sheet of paper, with a yearning to be filled, to be transformed," the valedictorian confided. Perhaps that's the most accurate image of Nguyen Thi Huyen: a young person who dared to start from almost nothing, dared to step into the most difficult realm of knowledge to discover new limits for herself. After graduation, Huyen will continue to pursue AI as a long-term career path, not only in her work but also in her future startup plans. Speaking at the graduation ceremony, Nguyen Thi Huyen emphasized that the most valuable thing she received was not the valedictorian title, but the belief in herself for daring to start over and go further: "Starting point doesn't determine a person's limits; what matters is daring to begin, daring to persevere on the journey of pursuing excellence to become a better version of yourself!"

The top-scoring student shares his joy with his mother on this special day.

That message is perhaps what makes Nguyen Thi Huyen's story so inspiring to many young people today, those who are struggling with career paths, afraid to start over, or afraid they are not capable enough to venture into a completely new field. The journey of this "outsider" shows that sometimes the most important thing is not how advantageous your starting point is, but daring to move forward even when you don't yet see the clear path ahead!

Source: https://hust.edu.vn/vi/news/hoat-dong-chung/nu-thu-khoa-ai-xuat-than-tay-ngang-655921.html