Male student wins 7.5 billion VND US scholarship thanks to essay about disconnection

(Dan Tri) - Tran Nam Khanh - a 12A3 student at Foreign Language High School - was admitted to Colby College, USA, with a scholarship of over 84%.

On December 7, Tran Nam Khanh received the results of the early admission round (ED1) to Colby College - a school in the top 17 liberal arts colleges (National Liberal Arts Colleges) in the United States, founded in 1813.

The male language major student received a financial support package of 84%, worth 75,000 USD/year and 300,000 USD for 4 years (about 7.5 billion VND). This is a relatively high level of support for international students.

Khanh said he prepared his application later than usual, so he didn’t have much time to invest in the essay. However, the essay was his favorite part of the application. He wrote about his journey of discovering his relationship with himself and the people around him.

Tran Nam Khanh is studying in class 12A3, Foreign Language High School (Photo: Bich Hang).

Khanh shared that when he moved from middle school to high school, he had problems with his friendships.

The male student feels old before his age, has many emotions and is too sensitive, always wants to be closer to his friends but is always worried that the relationship will not last. His sensitivity makes him gradually lose connection with the people around him.

At first, when Khanh realized the problem, she tried to change herself to fit in. But this made her lose connection with herself. There were times when she fell into a state of extreme stress, lost energy and felt lonely.

One day, Khanh decided to face his painful emotions instead of running away or pushing them away. He recorded his reactions when interacting with people, found the rules of those reactions and adjusted each emotional behavior.

"This process of writing helped me realize that my feelings and thoughts were very one-sided and subjective. I used my subjectivity to project onto others. What I thought about them was not who they really were.

When I stopped imposing my thoughts on others, I felt everything was lighter, my emotions no longer reacted negatively. I also found a close connection with myself," Khanh confided.

Tran Nam Khanh on a charity trip to the highlands (Photo: NVCC).

In the essay, Khanh compared himself to an alien and his inner world to a strange planet that no one had ever set foot on. To him, everyone is an alien compared to everyone else. Each person is very different, very difficult to understand, very mysterious and has their own subjective thoughts and perspectives on their own planet.

Khanh believes that this comparison and metaphor is the detail that scored points in his essay for the Colby University admissions board.

Getting into Colby made Khanh feel happy and satisfied because she had achieved her goal. Over the past 2 years, to prepare for her study abroad application, Khanh has worked hard to complete her school subjects and review for international certificates.

Studying until midnight every day or staying up until 1-2am during peak periods was normal. As a result, Khanh achieved an average score of 9.6, SAT 1.560 and IELTS 8.0.

Khanh's academic work also attracted attention with his research topic on national financial education strategy towards the goal of comprehensive and sustainable economic development.

The male student researched and analyzed developed education systems, financial education programs for high school students, and proposed solutions for Vietnam. He believes that high school students in Vietnam need to be provided with more and deeper basic knowledge about economics and finance.

One of Khanh's special hobbies is drawing. From drawing, Khanh turned to graphic design and was able to earn money from this job since grade 11.

In extracurricular activities and volunteer projects, Khanh often takes on design work in addition to logistics and finance. The male student is planning to launch a fashion line for young people using drawings adapted from Hanoi's cultural life.

Love for art is also one of the reasons Khanh chose Colby, where in addition to majoring in economics, he can develop himself in other fields of art.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/nam-sinh-gianh-75-ty-dong-hoc-bong-my-nho-bai-luan-ve-mat-ket-noi-20241217143214056.htm