Thu Phuong, 23 years old, was admitted to the master's program at Harvard Medical School, thanks to picking herself up after losing focus in her studies.
Nguyen Do Thu Phuong, a nursing student at VinUniversity Health Sciences Institute, woke up at 1:30 a.m. on February 17 to wait for an email from Harvard Medical School. Seeing the email opening with the words "congratulations", Phuong burst into tears and called her family to share the good news.
"My family and friends were surprised because they only knew I was planning to study abroad in the US, not applying to Harvard," Phuong shared.
Professor David Bangsberg, Dean of the Institute of Health Sciences, wrote a letter of recommendation and helped Phuong practice for her interview. He said he was extremely proud to hear that the ambitious and fearless student had been accepted to the world's leading university.
"I'm very happy that Phuong was accepted. She is a small person who wants to observe and change the world," said Professor David.
The Global Healthcare Delivery program at Harvard Medical School was the only choice of a former student of Bao Loc High School for the Gifted (Lam Dong) when planning to study abroad. Harvard is among the eight elite universities in the US (Ivy League), both ranked second in the 2024 QS and THE global university rankings. The program that Phuong was accepted into focuses on healthcare for disadvantaged communities.
After being accepted, Phuong quickly completed her application for financial aid and scholarships. According to the school's announcement, she will start the fall semester on August 29.
Nguyen Do Thu Phuong. Photo: Phuong Anh
With good academic performance and always finishing her homework early, Thu Phuong spent her first year at university with excellent results, in the top of her class. The next two years, after many efforts but not achieving the expected results, Phuong gradually felt pressured and lost direction. She could not concentrate on her studies, causing her average score to be low, even at times at the bottom of the class. For a long time, the female student often skipped school.
Nearing graduation, with no career direction, Phuong realized she needed to do something to pick herself up. She emailed the director of the nursing program to share her problems.
"If you continue to let yourself be like this, it will be a pity for the future of a student with potential like you," the teacher's words made Phuong emotional. She realized that even though she had neglected herself for a long time, there were still people who cared about and trusted her. Therefore, in her reply letter, Phuong said she would focus on studying again and studying abroad for a master's degree. That was July 2023, only two months before the application opened.
This story was also included in her main essay in her Harvard application. In 500 words, Thu Phuong also wrote about her motivation to find herself from her first year commencement speech: "If I rest even for one day, the time for those waiting for my help will be extended by one day."
Phuong's first draft was 1,300 words long, even though she had already outlined it. Therefore, she had to refine her words many times to get it to the required length.
However, when moving on to the 4 supplementary essays, also with 500 words, asking more about majors and career orientation, Thu Phuong felt pressured again. At that time, the application deadline was only about a week away. She was about to give up because her school schedule was packed, her average GPA was 3.49/4, while according to many statistics, this score of Harvard freshmen was up to 3.91. With the support of her family and friends, Phuong determined to go back, focusing on writing to submit on time without editing much.
When asked about her experience working with the disadvantaged, she shared her story of volunteering in a village in Sapa and seeing the psychological impact of early marriage on Hmong women. Living in seclusion in the village, considering early marriage as inevitable, puts them under a lot of pressure and does not recognize the opportunity to study to improve their lives. From there, she expressed her hope that what she learned at Harvard could help combine medical and educational knowledge to return to Vietnam to participate in mental health projects, using her voice to call for resources to help the community.
In addition, the application required a resume, college transcripts, a statement of work experience, three letters of recommendation, and standardized test scores. Phuong initially planned to take the GRE, a graduate-level equivalent of the SAT, but struggled with the verbal reasoning section.
"There is a type of exercise where you choose words to fill in the blanks. I rarely see those words, and they have similar meanings, so it's hard to distinguish them. Even though I printed out thousands of words to learn, when I did the exercise, I still couldn't understand them," Phuong said, admitting that English has never been my strong point even though I majored in English since high school. After careful consideration, Phuong found that this was not a mandatory requirement, so she stopped studying for the exam and switched to practicing for the interview.
Having worked in the school's admissions office, Phuong had interviewed and commented on high school students who wanted to enter the school, so she put herself in the position of the recruiter to prepare questions and answers.
"That's also the reason why I wasn't too stressed when interviewing with the Harvard admissions board," she shared.
Thu Phuong interns at Bach Mai hospital. Photo: Provided by the character
Phuong is focusing on completing her final courses before going to the US. According to Phuong, nursing is a tough profession, with a tight schedule and constant travel between school and hospital, each place dozens of kilometers apart, not to mention the difficult medical terminology. She remembers a time when she almost failed a Pharmacy course because it was difficult to grasp the mechanism or reason for using a certain drug.
"Although it's difficult, I don't regret studying nursing," Phuong said, sharing that she chose this major to learn how to take care of the people she loves.
In addition, Phuong graduated from Foreign Trade University with a degree in Foreign Economics, with a score of 8.7/10. She said that she always sets high goals, even those that people consider unrealistic, to strive for in silence.
"Every time I start something, many people doubt whether I'm really trying. My journey to dual-degree and getting into Harvard is proof of how hard I've tried," she said.
Phuong Anh
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