Anh Quan was accepted into the Robotics master's program at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), USA, while he was a third-year student majoring in Electrical Engineering.
Pham Anh Quan, a VinUniversity student, received the news of his admission on March 5, while interning at the Infocomm Research Institute under the Singapore government's Agency for Science, Technology and Research in the field of AI, applied to robots.
“I was a little surprised,” said Quan, 21. UPenn is an Ivy League university and ranked 12th in the world, according to QS 2024. It also has the No. 1 Robotics major globally.
Dr. Nguyen Van Dinh, a lecturer at the Institute of Computer Science and Engineering, has guided and written recommendation letters for many students, but Quan's results surprised and delighted him the most.
"Getting into UPenn was difficult, and Quan was accepted into two majors, one of which is Robotics, which is one of the most competitive majors," said Mr. Dinh. He said his student has the mindset of a businessman, a quality that UPenn is looking for.
Pham Anh Quan at Cornell University, USA, during an exchange trip in February. Photo: Character provided
In 2007, a serious bridge collapse occurred in Can Tho, causing many of Quan's father's mechanical engineering colleagues to pass away. The former Physics major student at Ly Tu Trong High School thought of using robots to replace humans working in dangerous environments. He wanted to create a robot that was smart enough to work on its own and make the most effective decisions. Since then, Quan has nurtured his dream of studying this field, aiming to study and work at the world's leading schools.
In college, Quan enrolled in Computer Science, but was convinced by his teachers to switch to Electrical Engineering to be closer to his Robotics major. He outlined his study plan from the beginning with the goal of being accepted into UPenn's Robotics major. To make his resume impressive, Quan needed to have a lot of research experience.
In the first year, Quan and his friend founded an agricultural supply chain startup project, which was supported by the school with 2,000 USD (nearly 50 million VND). The following year, the male student joined Dr. Nguyen Van Dinh's research group on control problems in telecommunications, with the research topic on designing network resource allocation algorithms in 5G/6G.
Quan was also one of four Vietnamese representatives to participate in the talent show and won first place at the regional level in Huawei’s startup competition. In February, he was selected to participate in a student exchange program on entrepreneurship at Cornell University in the US.
Quan (second from right) and his friends took a photo with Mr. Zach Shulman (right cover), Director of the Entrepreneurship Program at Cornell University, USA, in February. Photo: Provided by the character
Quan said that the time to prepare documents to apply to UPenn was the most stressful time because he had to take final exams, apply for a visa to the US and prepare to do an internship in Singapore.
"Many nights, I could only sleep 1-2 hours because there was so much work to do," Quan said.
With an IELTS English certificate of 7.5, GRE (a test used for graduate admission in the US and Europe) of 323/340, and a grade point average (GPA) of 3.59/4, Quan initially found it difficult to express himself.
UPenn requires applicants to write an essay of up to 1,500 words, answering seven questions about their accomplishments, experiences, and how they relate to their life goals. Quan wrote about the bridge collapse in Can Tho, which motivated him to apply to Robotics.
Quan’s goal is to become a person with both high-tech skills and business acumen. Quan said that there are many good projects but engineers and scientists lack business experience, so the products easily fail when they are brought to market. This can cause many students to lose sight of the purpose and lose motivation to do scientific research.
"I am passionate about commercializing research, turning high-tech products into sustainable companies and bringing long-term value to the community," Quan said.
Growing up in the West, close to agricultural life, Quan also hopes to use robots to solve the problem of labor shortage and science and technology in this field. The male student plans to return to his hometown after graduation, work on projects to develop robots, smart systems in agriculture, as well as bring opportunities to research robots for interested students.
"Young people will do projects to catch up with world technology, accumulate research experience to enter good learning environments," Quan said.
Quan completed the essay in 2-3 days, with many edits. Quan said he did not ask for anyone's support because he believed in himself and did not want to affect the content he intended to convey. Quan was satisfied with the essay because it demonstrated comprehensiveness, core values, and a spirit of dedication to the community.
The Can Tho native will start the fall semester in August. During his internship in Singapore, the student aims to have scientific products and articles. Quan is also waiting for the final interview round with VinGroup to receive a full scholarship from the corporation to study at Upenn.
"Successfully applying to UPenn not only means a lot to me, but it can also inspire other students to confidently apply to top schools," Quan said.
Quan (holding the cup) is the president of the school's music and football clubs. Photo: Character provided
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