Phan School's Female Student's Journey to Tsinghua University

Achievements

Thai Nhat Linh is not a strange name because 3 years ago, when studying at Dang Thai Mai Secondary School, she was the valedictorian of the 10th grade entrance exam in the province with 28.5 points and was admitted to the English specialized class.Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted.

After 3 years at school, in a class with “too many super friends”, Linh admitted that her abilities were still very small. Therefore, even though she joined the national team, Linh did not have much expectation. Linh’s highest achievement at Phan School in grade 12 was second prize in the provincial excellent student competition in English.

In addition, Linh tries to study all subjects equally and sets goals to get international certificates.

Talking about taking the international certification exam, Linh said that she was quite behind her friends because she only started preparing at the beginning of grade 12. However, Linh's exam did not seem too difficult because she had a solid foundation. Therefore, instead of having to take too many extra classes, Linh mainly reviewed her knowledge and practiced more questions to improve her test-taking skills.

Speaking more about the IELTS score of 8.0, Linh said: I have had an IELTS score of 7.0 since grade 9, so the second time I took the test, I have gained some experience. English is my main subject at school, so during the learning process, we are trained in many skills such as test taking, listening, speaking and writing essays a lot. I have learned some other knowledge by myself through books, the internet and practicing listening and speaking regularly, so I am quite proficient.

In the first semester of grade 12, after about 2 months of focused and systematic review, Linh also achieved an SAT score of 1,560/1,600, in the top 1% in the world. Previously, Linh said that she started learning about this exam since grade 10, but in the first practice test, she only achieved nearly 1,400 points, "a score that was quite shocking to me".

The second time Linh took the test was in the second semester of grade 11. However, although she was quite confident, the result she received the second time was quite low, only 1,480 points - 30 points lower than the goal Linh had set. Linh had a good grasp of Math, so she did it easily, achieving 770/800 points. But the reading and writing part of the SAT was too difficult because there were many in-depth, scientific reading passages. On the second try, her English score was only 710/800 points.

From the first two exams, Linh also learned from her own experience. Therefore, before taking the third exam at the end of the first semester of grade 12, Linh registered for a short-term online review course for nearly 2 months. This time, she had access to a rich source of questions, helping her gain more knowledge and skills to do the test.

In addition to these two important exams, in the first semester of grade 12, Linh also took the Chinese language certificate exam and achieved results in semester 5/semester 6. This is a subject that Linh has been familiar with since middle school and she has maintained it until high school. Learning Chinese is not too difficult for Linh because she has a talent for foreign languages ​​and has also self-studied a number of other languages. Linh's Chinese learning process is mainly through movies and music, and she accumulates her vocabulary by watching movies with subtitles or listening to foreign news.

Conquer the school in the top 20 in the world

As a language major student, Thai Nhat Linh has thought about studying abroad since grade 10. By grade 12, after equipping herself with quite a few certificates, Linh began to research and submit her application. Of the 3 schools Linh applied to, Bocconi University (Italy) was the first to announce the results and she was awarded a 100% scholarship.

The idea of ​​applying to Tsinghua University (China) was sparked after Linh completed her HK5 Chinese certificate and started submitting her application in February 2025. During the application process, Linh encountered many difficulties because the information sources for applying to Tsinghua University were not as numerous as those of universities in other countries. Meanwhile, according to the school's requirements, in addition to transcripts and international certificates, applicants must also submit a study plan and a personal introduction video.

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Before enrolling in the school, I only knew about Tsinghua University through movies, books and social networks. Therefore, in my article, I shared that I was very impressed with a big, beautiful school with many good students.

In addition, I expressed my desire to study at the Institute of Economics, Management and Finance, majoring in Management Information Systems, a fairly new field of study, so that I can have the opportunity to develop myself in the future. In the introduction video, I chose the family setting, Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted, and asked a friend to film it. In the video, I used both English and Chinese.

Thai Nhat Linh

After submitting her application, Linh waited nearly 2 months to receive an interview notice from Tsinghua University. During that time, Linh did not seem to share her plans with her family. To ensure objectivity, 1 day before the interview, Linh received a request from the university to prepare a location and camera to avoid cheating. Linh received questions from 3 lecturers from Tsinghua University in both English and Chinese. From the very first question, Linh had difficulty because the teachers asked her about the Chinese film industry and she had to use all her limited knowledge to present. The teachers also asked Linh to present her study plan again and quickly solve a math problem (no calculator allowed). Luckily, the math problem was not too difficult and Linh almost came up with the answer without much calculation.

Despite her best efforts, Linh admitted that after completing the interview, she was worried that she would not be successful because Tsinghua University is the top university in China and the admission rate is not high. That is also the reason why, when she received the admission results, Linh was overwhelmed with joy and only then did she begin to share with her family and some of her close friends. Along with the admission announcement, Linh also received a 50% scholarship for her tuition fees for her studies at the school.

At the time of receiving the admission results, Linh also started taking the High School Graduation Exam. Although not under too much pressure, Linh still put a lot of effort into this exam to not disappoint her teachers and family and finished with a fairly high score of 36.25 points.

With these initial successes, Linh thanks her parents, who, although they are just ordinary civil servants, always give all their attention to Linh and her sisters and are Linh's support in studying and life. Linh also thanks her teachers, the 12C5 class and Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted. From this school, Linh has been enriched with knowledge, confidence and boldness to express herself, build dreams and ambitions...