This is what Ms. Tran Phuong Hoa, a study abroad consultant, shared at the workshop " Hidden criteria for American universities" held on April 13. According to Ms. Hoa, currently, Vietnamese parents tend to "aim" for their children to enter competitive schools, usually the top 100 in the US.

However, the competition for admission to top universities is becoming increasingly fierce due to the increasing number of applicants but the number of places available for international students is limited. For example, Harvard University has only accepted about 2-3 Vietnamese students each year in the past 20 years, while Dartmouth University has only accepted 2-4 students.

Not to mention, the average student is getting better and better. Five years ago, the number of students who scored 1520-1550 on the SAT could be "counted on one hand". However, there are now dozens of students who have achieved a perfect SAT score. This makes many students who scored 1520 on the SAT still feel anxious and have to retake the test many times.

Therefore, according to Ms. Hoa, students need to clearly understand the "hidden" criteria in American university admissions to increase their competitiveness.

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Study abroad consultant Tran Phuong Hoa. Photo: Thuy Nga

Contrary to what many parents and students think, having a high GPA, taking the SAT, sometimes even high AP, winning many awards, and doing research will help them get into American schools. According to Ms. Hoa, sometimes schools also look for interesting profiles or select students based on personality.

“Many students are excellent but arrogant or have too extreme thoughts, which is sometimes the reason why they are not accepted. Even students with sparkling profiles, 10 points in academics but a bit... boring are also at risk of being rejected. Therefore, not everyone who gets a perfect SAT score will be accepted. A student who gets a 1490 SAT score can be admitted to an American university while someone who gets a perfect SAT score cannot,” Ms. Hoa shared.

Therefore, this expert believes that parents should avoid over-investing, sending their children to extra classes all day just to achieve maximum scores.

In addition, determining a major early on is also important to create a unified profile. Of course, choosing the right major at the age of 16-18 is often a big challenge because students do not really understand the world of work. Therefore, according to Ms. Hoa, students can approach a career by learning about the subjects related to the industry or using the elimination method based on interests and abilities.

For example, if a student does not like Math, they will exclude STEM or Finance. From there, they can identify the appropriate major. After choosing a major, candidates need to have "smart" calculations to come up with a suitable strategy, creating a unique profile to increase the chance of being accepted.

Among the current majors, Ms. Hoa assessed that Information Technology at American universities is “often the most intense and fierce race”. The competition rate for this major is also higher than other majors such asEducation , International Relations or Philosophy...

When asked whether one should "sell oneself" to elite schools by choosing a major with few students to increase the admission rate, Ms. Hoa said that "changing majors" needs to be based on rationality.

“A student who is very good at STEM, all extracurricular activities are STEM-oriented, if intentionally changing to a social science major that has no connection to the profile and achievements, the admissions committee will recognize the discrepancy. Unless, this candidate must have special interests related to the major.”

Although the path to Information Technology and STEM at Ivy League schools or top schools is much more "thorny", according to Ms. Hoa, some students can still succeed thanks to their high determination, many interesting extracurricular activities and being more excellent than their peers.

Ms. Hoa also advised that candidates should not "stick" to one major but can choose a group of majors that suit their abilities, are easy to get into school, and can then change majors during their studies in the US.

A male student majoring in Natural Sciences won a series of American scholarships thanks to his love for Bac Ninh 's Quan Ho . By expressing throughout his profile his love and desire to preserve and spread the values ​​of Bac Ninh's ancient Quan Ho, the male student majoring in Natural Sciences conquered a series of American universities and won scholarships from these schools.
Hanoi female student accepted into many top universities in the US and Australia. Dang Khanh Linh, 18 years old, has just conquered many top universities in the US and Australia, including a school that offered her a full scholarship of nearly 7.5 billion VND for 4 years.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/tieu-chi-ngam-khien-hoc-sinh-dat-1600-1600-sat-van-truot-dai-hoc-my-2390788.html