Vietnamese guy realizes his dream at 2 prestigious American universities

Le Mau Tuan achieved many academic achievements since he was a high school student.

Having outlined his long-term orientation and chosen a suitable school for himself, Le Mau Tuan (former student of Imperial College London, UK) has made constant efforts to excel in winning a scholarship worth 8 billion VND for a doctoral degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Boston, USA) and was admitted to the Master of Medical Science program at Harvard Medical University (USA).

Fierce competition with international students

In grade 9, Mau Tuan received a full ASEAN scholarship to study abroad in Singapore. After completing high school, he continued to receive a full scholarship at the Royal Academy (London), pursuing a major in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. During his time at university, Mau Tuan determined that his next step was to do doctoral research at the world's leading universities. Therefore, he spent his summer vacation doing research projects and publishing scientific articles.

While studying, he proactively asked for advice from seniors and teachers at the school to learn about the curriculum and how to apply to suitable schools. After graduating and working for a year, Mau Tuan received a full scholarship worth nearly 8 billion VND to do PhD research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

After 2 years of studying at MIT, Mau Tuan continued to choose to study in parallel the master's program in Medical Science, under the Department of Medical Science Technology, a joint program between MIT and Harvard Medical University (MIT - Harvard Health Science Technology Department).

Not only good at studying, Mau Tuan (left cover) also actively returns to Vietnam to participate in organizing social projects.

To have a chance to get into universities like Harvard, MIT…, Mau Tuan has to compete with other excellent international students. He has to prepare well all knowledge, work hard, research, learn from friends and instructors.

“The learning process at Harvard Medical School or MIT is quite stressful. My classmates are all very talented. Therefore, I have to constantly motivate myself to try to improve every day. In the early days, I also encountered obstacles with the native language in professional communication as well as following the study program.

To get used to the new way of learning and understand the problem clearly, I often discuss and ask questions with the professor during and outside of class. I also actively study and make friends with other international friends to exchange experiences. During my studies and work, I do not focus on whether I have to do this or that, but only focus on trying to do well. If I fail, I am still comfortable, not discouraged and continue to "try another trick", Mau Tuan happily shared.

Determined to bring technology into education and medicine

During his studies and research, Mau Tuan was very interested in two fields: Education and Medicine. And the decision to pursue his dream at MIT and Harvard stemmed from his passion for applying technology to useful things.

In 2012, Mau Tuan and his close friends founded the community project “Frogsleap Foundation”. The project aims to bring green technology and teach English to disadvantaged people in Vietnam. In 2014, Tuan and his friends created the website “Zenquiz.net” to help young Vietnamese people understand their personalities through interesting quizzes.

While in college, Mau Tuan (right cover) was always sociable, making friends with many new friends to learn from experience.

To be able to study two degrees at the same time, Mau Tuan made a detailed plan to balance between studying, researching and entertaining. “Many jobs came at the same time, I chose to solve the most important job and continue doing the rest. To have more time to work and keep my mind clear, I proactively started doing everything from 6 to 7 am. In addition, I always keep good health, eat regularly, and arrange time to exercise to create a comfortable and optimistic spirit,” said the boy born in 1989.

Loving technology, Mau Tuan is researching artificial intelligence to find creative ideas for products that simulate human intelligence and emotions. He is pursuing his doctoral studies at the Department of “Brain Science and Psychology” at MIT. Here, he learned about artificial intelligence research applied from the way the human brain works. During his studies, he applied his specialized knowledge to complete his thesis well and achieved an A+ in the subject of “Pathology” at Harvard Medical School.

“My research topic is an overview of schizophrenia such as: disease mechanisms and treatment methods based on its disease mechanisms. I chose this topic because I am very interested in the field of mental health”, Mau Tuan excitedly said.

Mau Tuan (right) always learned and received help from his instructor while studying at MIT.

Currently, Mau Tuan is focusing on completing his doctoral studies and the Medical Science program. In the near future, he wants to focus on creating high-tech teaching and learning products. As for the medical field, he said that is a long-term plan, he must study systematically to understand the human body and related diseases. From there, he will apply technology to medicine so that it is both useful and safe for patients.

According to TNO