Vietnamese student wins full PhD scholarship at age 21

Ngo Di Lan, a Vietnamese international student, has just won a full doctoral scholarship of up to 45,000 USD per year from Brandeis University, Massachusetts (USA).

Lan is one of five candidates awarded a scholarship by Brandeis University to complete a full doctorate program in five years. With a scholarship of $45,000 a year, Lan can confidently pursue his passion for research on international relations in general and US-China relations in particular.

The 1m80 tall, handsome guy is a prominent face in the Vietnamese international student community. Photo: NVCC.

Lan shared that the feeling when receiving the school's notice was extreme joy, satisfaction, and pride because her own efforts and her parents' investment and education had paid off. Even though it was midnight in Vietnam, Lan still called home to tell her family the good news because she knew her parents had been waiting for this news for a long time. "The next morning, I received another letter from the school, pledging to increase my salary for unconditional teaching support. That made me feel very happy because it was clear that they really wanted to bring me back to Brandeis University," Lan said.

One of the reasons why Ngo Di Lan chose Brandeis University to apply for a scholarship is because the academic environment and research conditions here are quite favorable. Each year, the political science department only accepts 2-5 graduate students, so professors and graduate students have the opportunity to exchange. At Brandeis, there are famous professors who are researching in the fields that Lan is interested in. The school is located very close to two famous universities, MIT and Harvard, so he will have the opportunity to interact and learn from talented young people.

To get a PhD scholarship, not a master’s degree, was a journey of overcoming many difficulties for this Hanoian born in 1994. Knowing that final year students would be at a disadvantage compared to candidates who already had a master’s degree, Lan worked hard to ensure that he stood out from many others, especially when the competition ratio was up to 1/30 in some years. This meant that every element of the application had to be almost perfect: excellent school transcripts, GRE and TOEFL scores in the top 10%; and letters of recommendation from prestigious teachers.

"The most important thing is a self-written letter of introduction and a 15-20 page sample essay. The letter must be impressive and engaging from the very first lines, must fully express your passion for research and commitment to research work within the next 5 years," Lan shared.

Lan shares his joy when receiving a full doctoral scholarship from Brandeis University. Photo: Fb Ngo Di Lan

Previously, to become one of the two representatives of Maastricht University (Netherlands) to study at UConn (University of Connecticut - top 60 best universities in the US), the young man made an impression when he wrote in his recommendation letter: "I study international relations and want to go to the US to have a real experience, to see if the US is a superpower, the leader of the free world as they always claim...".

With a father who is a diplomat, Ngo Di Lan was fortunate to be exposed to many international educational systems from a young age. He lived and studied in the UK, returned to Vietnam to continue his secondary education, then went to Sweden to study high school, and then became a student at Maastricht University (Netherlands). Currently, Ngo Di Lan is studying in the US in an excellent student exchange program.

Lan has also nurtured his passion for diplomacy and international issues since childhood. "Little boy" Ngo Di Lan likes to debate with everyone around him and dreams of becoming a diplomat. When he went to study abroad, he began to take an interest in public speaking. In addition to completing all his homework, Lan spends a lot of time every day reading books, newspapers, and watching speeches by famous people such as Winston Churchill, US President Obama, Bill Clinton, etc.

When faced with a problem or lecture, Ngo Di Lan always tries to find the "weakness" and how to overcome it. If he finds the teacher's results "doubtful", he is willing to ask again, even though the rate of his mistakes is quite high. "Once in English class, Lan stood up and said that the teacher did not pronounce a new word correctly. At that time, the whole class was surprised, seeing Lan was so brave because before that, no one dared to criticize her lecture", Dao Khanh Van, a classmate of Ngo Di Lan, recounted.

Lan hopes to become an excellent diplomat and will return to Vietnam to contribute after completing his studies. Photo: NVCC.

Lan believes that to become a talented diplomat, in addition to knowledge, one must be a good speaker. He was once the most inspirational student in a high school in Sweden, second prize winner in a speech contest in the Netherlands, and a prestigious seminar ambassador at Harvard, the US...

The first time he participated in a debate competition at a Dutch high school, Lan was trembling with fear because he was overwhelmed by the crowd in the large hall. After a few minutes of regaining his composure, he began to enjoy the fact that his speech was listened to by many people. Just like that, the Vietnamese guy went from being a good speaker (just needing to have a good grasp of the content of the presentation and good logical thinking) to an orator capable of touching the hearts, inspiring and motivating the audience.

"Lan takes his academic career very seriously. Many students have a simplistic view of the world, but Lan helps them see the diversity and complexity that they previously did not pay enough attention to. I am extremely impressed with the way he helps people in a cheerful and gentle way. Lan is intelligent, hard-working and charismatic. He has proven himself to be an excellent ambassador for Vietnam," said Dr. Teun Dekker, lecturer at Maastricht University.

Ngo Di Lan always believes that every international student should be a cultural diplomat for his country. Therefore, in addition to studying well so that international friends can see that Vietnamese people are talented, he also diligently participates in clubs, gets along with everyone and takes the opportunity to "promote Vietnam". He still holds the view that sooner or later he will return to Vietnam to take the exam to enter the Ministry of Foreign Affairs because he believes that he will have the opportunity to maximize his abilities and contribute to his country.

"The road ahead is still very long, I dare not affirm anything for sure about the future. But of course, my loyalty is only to Vietnam," Lan said.

According to VNE