Nghe An female student wins scholarships from 13 American universities

Phan Thi Hanh, a former student of Vinh University High School for the Gifted, won a series of scholarships in the US. Photo: NVCC

During the scorching summer days, acceptance letters from top universities in the US with various scholarship values ​​continuously came to the beautiful female student Phan Thi Hanh, class 12A1, Vinh University High School for the Gifted.

It is worth mentioning that there are universities like Ohio Wesleyan University, even though they have run out of scholarships for students, they are still impressed by Hanh's impressive profile and decide to grant more scholarships.

After consideration, Hanh decided to study Computer Science at Depauw University - a highly ranked school in social sciences, languages, and biology, and ranked 53rd in the National Liberal Arts College system with a scholarship of 36,000 USD/year (nearly 900 million VND).

Although there are schools that offer higher scholarships (more than 900 million VND/year), or schools that write letters willing to offer additional scholarships, Hanh said she still chooses Depauw University as her place to study for the next 4 years because this is the school that best suits her path and future direction.

Having been self-conscious about her English speaking ability when she first entered school, Hanh (right) has made constant efforts to improve. Photo: NVCC

Talking about her love for English, since her junior high school days, Hanh has had a special interest in this subject. “The motivation that helps me learn English well is the desire to explore the cultures of other countries, to make friends, and to get to know friends from all over the world. Later, I became more determined to improve my English to find more opportunities, to try my hand at studying in a new, more developed environment,” Hanh shared.

Few people know that when she first entered 10th grade, this female student was very self-conscious about her English listening and speaking skills. Realizing her weaknesses, Hanh began to make a plan to practice for herself.

“Every day, I spend 30 minutes to 1 hour practicing listening and pronunciation. At first, my roommates would laugh out loud every time they heard me practice reading. At that time, I was a bit shy, but then I encouraged myself, taking those comments as a reminder and trying to practice until my roommates could hear me correctly and well. Besides, whenever I had time, like when I was on the bus back to my hometown, I would recite or chat with my friends in English" - Hanh shared.

Thanks to this perseverance, from a girl who was self-conscious, did not dare to speak, and was afraid of pronouncing words for fear of making mistakes, Hanh's English listening and speaking ability improved significantly, helping her achieve high scores in the IELTS and SAT exams at the end of 2017.

Besides English, Math is also a strength of the beautiful former student of Vinh University High School for the Gifted. Photo: NVCC

Besides her love for English, Hanh said that she also loves math and loves to learn about things related to technology. It is thanks to this love that Hanh achieved a perfect score of 800/800 in math in the 2017 SAT exam. This is also the reason why Hanh decided to study Computer Science - a major in the STEM group that is considered to have a lot of potential in her future career.

Talking about her experience in applying for a scholarship, Hanh said that besides good academic performance, the essay and extracurricular activities are also important factors. Unlike many students who participate in a series of extracurricular activities to improve their profile, Hanh only participates in certain extracurricular programs.

The girl who used to be the head of the communications department of the S Project sex education project shared: "I know my strength is limited, so I only focus on a few extracurricular programs and am determined to complete the assigned tasks well as well as stick with the program for a long time."

With a mature mindset, Hanh (right) is also a person who is loved and trusted by her classmates. Photo: NVCC

Hanh shared that the essay mentioning the issue of youth and smartphones was also a highlight in her profile. She chose this topic after witnessing many times young people only focusing on the screen and forgetting what was happening around them.

“Because of this, I want to use technology to change the development direction of smartphone technology so that it can help reduce smartphone dependence among young people,” Hanh reiterated one of the ideas in the submitted essay.

After learning that she won the scholarship, the girl born in 2000 immediately learned more soft skills such as programming languages, learned more video editing software as well as learned about American culture and behavior. For her, winning the scholarship is the beginning of a new journey, so she has to equip herself with good soft skills and knowledge to be able to realize her dream.

American universities that Hanh was accepted to

- Creighton University (#1 MW) - scholarship 20,000 USD/year
- College of Wooster (#63 LAC) - scholarship 38,000 USD/year
- Gustavus Adolphus College (#85 LAC) - scholarship of nearly 34,000 USD/year
- Ohio Wesleyan University (#101 LAC) - scholarship over 39,000 USD/year
- Illinois Institute of Technology (#102 NU) - scholarship 30,000 USD/year
- University of Dayton (#124 NU) - scholarship 18,000 USD/year
- Beloit College (#76 LACs) - scholarship 36,000 USD/year
- University of Central Florida - scholarship 10,000 USD/year
- University of Missouri - scholarship 10,000 USD/year
- Purdue University (#56 NU)
- University of Minnesota – Twin Cities (#69 NU)

- Depauw University (#53 LAC) - scholarship 36,000 USD/year

- Loyola University of New Orleans - scholarship 28,000 USD/year