Luu Thu Thao (born in 2001) is a former student of the University of Natural Sciences, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. After graduating, Thao decided to take a gap year to prepare for her big goal of applying for a PhD in the US. Recently, the Hanoi girl received good news when she was admitted to North Carolina State University with a full scholarship. This result was “like a dream” to Thao.

Luu Thu Thao is a former student of the University of Natural Sciences, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. (Photo: NVCC)

Previously, the University of Natural Sciences was not Thao's first choice. Loving the pharmaceutical field, when taking the university entrance exam, Thao registered for two wishes: Hanoi University of Pharmacy and University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hanoi National University, but failed both. After that, the female student passed the High Quality Pharmaceutical Chemistry class of the University of Natural Sciences. "When I heard that I failed my favorite major, I was sad and disappointed for a while," Thao recalled. In the first two years of university, Thao was not very interested because she lost her direction and did not have an effective way to study. It was only in the third year, when she was exposed to specialized subjects and started working in the lab, that the female student realized that "this major turned out to be not so bad". From then on, Thao started to focus on studying, thanks to that, she achieved a GPA of 3.6 and won a scholarship in the third year. Instead of concentrating on learning knowledge before the exam day, which was counterproductive, Thao divided the amount of knowledge to study each day. In addition, the female student also spent most of her free time working in the lab. After 4 years, Thao had two articles published in domestic magazines. After finishing university with a good degree, the female student felt that knowledge was not enough, so she wanted to continue studying for a master's degree in Vietnam. After that, Thao applied and was accepted into the master's program at the University of Natural Sciences. "When I first graduated, I also planned to study for a master's degree and work at the same time. At that time, I searched for many companies but felt that they were not suitable. It was also a quite stressful time, but my parents always encouraged me: We have raised you for more than 20 years, now another year is fine, as long as you try to strive to develop", Thao recalled. During the deadlock period, Thao happened to chat with an old classmate. This friend advised Thao to focus on only one goal to achieve the best results. That was also the time when she began to have the idea of ​​studying abroad for a doctorate. “Usually in the US, a PhD is considered a profession, meaning “doing a PhD” rather than “studying for a PhD”. PhD students will also be paid and do not have to worry too much about living expenses. Therefore, I think this is the most suitable path for me at that time”. Although she was admitted to the master's program at the University of Natural Sciences, in September 2023, Thao still decided to stop, take a gap year to focus on her application. “At that time, I just thought that I should try to do everything as best as possible so that I would not have any regrets later. If I were to fail the scholarship, I would have had the opportunity to broaden my knowledge,” Thao said. At the end of September, Thao registered for the IELTS test and achieved 5.5. Feeling self-conscious about her low score, she proactively emailed the admissions director of North Carolina State University - the school she was aiming for - to ask for his advice on improving and supplementing her application. When she sent the email to the teacher, Thao did not expect to receive a response. But unexpectedly, the admissions director replied that Thao's IELTS score did not meet the requirements. Knowing that the teacher often had business trips to Vietnam every year, Thao also proactively asked the teacher if he would come this year and learned that he would come in October. The teacher also agreed to arrange a time to talk with Thao when he arrived in Vietnam. That was an unexpected opportunity that Thao did not think she would have. During that meeting, she frankly shared her worries about her weak application. But the teacher advised: "Each person's life is a marathon, each of us will have our own path to run. If we only focus on others, it will be easy to run off course, so we should persevere and persevere in our main goal." The teacher's words motivated and guided Thao to try harder. More than 2 months after meeting the teacher, Thao was determined to retake the IELTS test and achieved 6.5, just enough to meet the school's requirements. According to the female student, "high scores are always an advantage, but if they are not too high, you need to look for opportunities in other ways." During her gap year, Thao focused on reviewing English, doing labs, and had an international Q2 paper. In addition, Thao also tried to switch to a new field from natural compounds to organic chemistry. This new field will help her have more opportunities if she studies and researches in the US. According to Thao, doing research is more likely to fail than succeed, because 99 times of failure only have 1 time of success, so you have to be persistent. In addition, she also proactively seeks opportunities. “Instead of sitting and thinking about whether my profile meets the requirements, I proactively emailed the teacher to ask what I was lacking. The opportunity to meet the teacher directly to share about myself also helps me show many things, from determination, effort through eyes, gestures that scores on paper cannot “show” completely”. Thao also expressed her opinion that scores are only on paper, the most important thing is the candidate's ability and how to use it. “When I got 6.5 IELTS, you asked me if I would continue to take the test, I thought this score was enough. I will improve my English in other ways such as reading more books and newspapers, reading research works, thereby enriching my specialized vocabulary”, Thao said. At the end of July, Thao will go to the US to study for a doctorate at North Carolina State University. During this time, Thao said she is looking for information about professors' profiles on the school's website. After arriving in the US, she will proactively ask to meet and talk with teachers who want to apply to the lab. Thao's major in the near future will be related to Organic Chemistry applied in biology.

Vietnamnet.vn

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/nu-sinh-tung-truot-nguyen-vong-dai-hoc-gianh-hoc-bong-toan-phan-tien-si-2299776.html