With an SAT score of 1600, IELTS 8.0, and many extracurricular activities, Vu Quoc Trung conquered the top liberal arts university in the US with financial support of 6.8 billion VND for 4 years of study.
Quoc Trung, 18 years old, student of class 12A1, Foreign Language High School, Foreign Language University, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, received the news of being accepted to Colby College at the end of March.
Located in Maine, this school is ranked in the top 25 liberal arts colleges in the US, according to US News & Report. Also known as a "mini Ivy", Colby's acceptance rate for the class of 2027 (graduating in 2027) is about 6% of the nearly 18,000 applicants. On its website, the school says this is the most competitive rate in its history.
In addition, the male student was admitted and received support of 20,000 - 35,000 USD per year at many other universities in the US and Australia.
"I chose to study Computer Science in the Environmental Field at Colby and set my sights on joining the school's joint engineering program with Dartmouth College (an Ivy League university)," Trung said.
After deducting financial aid, the male student's family needs to pay an additional 15,000 USD (350 million VND) per year.
Vu Quoc Trung in the Foreign Language High School campus. Photo: Provided by the character
Trung said his dream of studying abroad began in middle school. Initially, he wanted to go to Australia because of its clean environment and beautiful landscape. In high school, Trung started preparing his application for studying abroad at the end of 10th grade. When he had more information, he decided to aim for the United States, believing that this was the best environment for development.
Studying in the US requires SAT and IELTS scores, a high GPA, extracurricular activities, and essays. In addition, to increase his chances, Trung took two AP courses (American college preparatory programs), namely Calculus and Computer Science. With a large amount of work to prepare, Trung calculated from the beginning to arrange everything scientifically.
"I focused on the summer of grade 10 and at the beginning of grade 11 I had to finish the SAT, then three months later I took the IELTS, and at the end of grade 11 I focused on taking two AP subjects. In short, I didn't put too much work into one time," Trung said. According to the male student, if the SAT and AP exams were both in May, overlapping with the final exam schedule, the results would not be high.
As an English major, Trung did not have much difficulty with international standardized tests. He focused on the Reading section, improving his vocabulary and practicing questions. In the beginning of his exam preparation, Trung did each test individually, with no time limit, to practice thinking before moving on to the real mock tests.
With an SAT score of 1600/1600, Trung is among the few students in the world who achieved a perfect score on this test. According to the College Board - the organization that owns the test, in 2022, only 8% of Asian candidates scored 1400 or higher. From 1480, candidates are ranked in the top 1% of SAT scores in the world.
At the same time, Trung maintained his studies in class with a GPA of 9.4. In two AP exams, Trung achieved a perfect score of 5/5 in Calculus, and a 4/5 in the other.
However, Quoc Trung believes that to convince top American universities, the most important factors to focus on are extracurricular activities and essays.
As a child, Trung loved building Legos, learning about cars, and was especially interested in numbers. Therefore, even though he was in an English major, he still wanted to pursue science and engineering when he studied abroad.
During his summer vacations, Quoc Trung participated in scientific research with an interest in the environment and new materials. He is the co-author of two review articles: "Research on Perovskite Solar Cells" and "Quantum Dots and Semiconductor Nanostructures", published in the journal NeuroQuantology.
"The biggest difficulty for me when writing international articles is specialized terminology and new scientific knowledge. I read many articles to understand more about the problem I am researching, accumulate vocabulary as well as learn presentation methods," Quoc Trung said.
Trung also joined the research team of the University of Electricity, manufacturing a number of products such as: Smart helmets that warn of traffic safety and measure pollution levels; safety bags equipped with support tools such as buoys, seat belts, and alarms to help students signal when encountering dangerous situations.
In addition, the male student founded the Science4Life club to create a space for students who love science to share and support each other; founded a club to recycle old items, and with friends carried out the project "Bringing warm sunshine to the core of Xuan Son forest (Phu Tho)", donating electronic devices, backpacks, school supplies... to disadvantaged students. Trung also participated in teaching basic programming for the Association of the Disabled in Hoang Mai district.
The male student said that through field trips to support the poor, he realized that the root of the problem lies in the impact of climate change and the environment.
In his essay, Quoc Trung shared his process of finding information and researching the fields of new energy and nanotechnology to find solutions to improve technical products. For example, when making Teckpack (smart bag), he knew how to apply the knowledge he learned to design a product that can both hold books and has additional safety and convenience features for students; while with Savepack (smart backpack), the male student learned how to incorporate simplicity into the features to make the product lighter.
"But I also realized that these products only help children be safer but cannot help prevent floods... As long as the Earth continues to warm, the threats to humans will not be solved. Now that I have seen the root of the problem, I am and will join hands to find solutions to climate change," Trung wrote.
According to the male student, to have a good essay, the story must be coherent, not use words that are too difficult to understand or abstract, the writing must be clear, and have specific evidence. He also discussed with teachers to get objective comments and suggestions when editing.
Quoc Trung also acknowledged that due to reasonable arrangement, when studying in grade 12, he had the opportunity to focus on his essay, had more time to evaluate, polish, and perfect it.
Trung on a trip to give gifts to disadvantaged students in Phu Tho, October 2022. Photo: Character provided
Vu Quoc Dat, Trung's father, said the family found it difficult to compete for a US scholarship after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, although he always encouraged his son, he did not put pressure on Trung. According to him, Trung's initial success was because he knew what he wanted to pursue.
"When my child started his journey to study abroad, I realized that I had not really helped him develop his own abilities, find his IKIGAI - the intersection between what he loves and is passionate about and what the community and the world need. Therefore, I prioritized this and by the end of the journey, this was the biggest gain," Mr. Dat shared.
Ms. Le Thi Thanh Ha, Trung's homeroom teacher and Literature teacher for three years at the Foreign Language Specialized School, said that the student was active, active, knowledgeable, and matured much earlier than many of his classmates. When Trung was preparing his application, Ms. Ha was also the one who wrote a letter of recommendation for him.
"Trung rarely expresses his thoughts in class, but he has great aspirations and silently strives to pursue his goals," Ms. Ha commented.
Trung will fly to the US in August. The male student said that the journey of applying to study abroad has taken him out of his comfort zone and taught him many new knowledge and skills.
"I dream of becoming a technologist and innovator in the field of environment and energy, continuing research and projects such as developing new generation solar batteries," Trung said.
Ngoc Linh
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