Tran Anh Ngoc (Thanh Tri, Hanoi) is the new graduate with the highest achievement among more than 4,500 students receiving their diplomas at the end of August from the National Economics University this year.

Standing on stage, representing students of all majors, Tran Anh Ngoc choked up and said: "I feel honored and proud, but this achievement is not the destination but only a milestone of maturity after a 4-year journey."

Tran Anh Ngoc (Auditing major) became the first valedictorian in the history of the National Economics University to achieve a perfect score.

As a former Chemistry major at the High School for the Gifted in Natural Sciences, while his friends were trying their best to "race" to the national excellent student team, Anh Ngoc soon realized that he "didn't have enough passion to go the long way with this subject".

Therefore, since grade 10, the female student has set a goal to study all subjects equally in class.

With that determination, throughout 3 years of high school, Ngoc's exam results were always among the top in the whole school.

Passionate about numbers, when standing at the threshold of university, although her parents tried to convince Ngoc to take the entrance exam to Hanoi Medical University, the female student was determined to choose the Auditing major because she loved jobs that required meticulousness and high precision. That year, Ngoc scored 27.9 points in block A00, being the valedictorian of the Institute of Accounting and Auditing.

At school, because she still kept the habit of "always asking questions and having to study by herself", Ngoc did not feel much difference between the university and high school environment.

“When I was in high school, I learned from many teachers who were lecturers at the University of Natural Sciences, so I got used to self-studying. I often made the most of my time by focusing completely in class so I didn't have to study too much at home."

During class, Ngoc often chooses to sit at the front desk so that she can easily listen to the lecture and interact with the teacher. On days when there is no afternoon class, the female student often stays in the library to review that day's lesson.

During the 4 years, Ngoc almost never missed any class at school.

“I feel very interested in studying and never feel tired when studying,” said Anh Ngoc.

However, at the end of the first year, despite achieving perfect scores in most subjects and seeing her friends around her being active and achieving many academic and extracurricular achievements, Ngoc still felt "I was missing something".

That motivated her to join the school's research club. There, Ngoc met three other like-minded friends. The four decided to work together on a school-level scientific research project in their second year.

Unexpectedly, Ngoc's group's research topic won the first prize at the school level and the second prize at the ministry level. This milestone made Ngoc more confident, and he boldly registered to participate in a number of auditing competitions.

The female student once became the champion of the Business Transformer Challenge - a competition exclusively for students majoring in Economics nationwide. In addition, Ngoc is also the co-author of 3 scientific articles published in the international journal IJSRC, the Journal of Commercial Science and the Journal of Asia Pacific Economics.

“These activities help me learn how to work more professionally such as teamwork, analytical skills, research, exploration…”.

From the foundations he had, Anh Ngoc began to set a goal of conquering Ernst & Young (EY) - one of the top 4 multinational auditing companies in the world (Big 4).

“To get into the Big 4, candidates still have to go through 4 specific rounds. There are many factors that Big 4 recruiters evaluate candidates on besides academic ability and experience,” Ngoc said. These 4 rounds include a profile round, a professional competency test, a group interview, and a personal interview.

After passing rigorous rounds of competition, in the middle of year 3, Ngoc won an internship at EY.

Despite being an intern, Ngoc still had to deal with a huge amount of work during her 4 months at EY. Staying up all night to meet deadlines also happened very often.

But thanks to that, when the internship ended, Ngoc felt more mature, more confident in communicating and more knowledgeable about the profession.

Thanks to his courage and proven ability while working at Big 4, Anh Ngoc received an invitation to stay and work here after graduation.

However, the female student decided to try her hand at the internal audit department of a large joint stock commercial bank in Vietnam.

Having taught Anh Ngoc the subject of Management Accounting and directly guided the female student in her final internship project, Associate Professor, Dr. Le Kim Ngoc was impressed by Ngoc because of her bright eyes and bright smile. She always kept the habit of sitting at the front of the class, very attentive, meticulous and proactive in studying.

“She is an intelligent girl with an excellent background, but that does not mean she is subjective or lacking in modesty. Ngoc always actively participates in many competitions to hone her skills and update her knowledge. Thanks to that, she has won many big awards and had the opportunity to work at Big 4,” said Associate Professor, Dr. Le Kim Ngoc.

Having achieved a perfect score after 4 years of studying, Ngoc believes that this score cannot prove that she is a perfect person or good at everything.

“I still need to work harder to improve my professional knowledge and devote more effort to developing my current job. I plan to enroll in a Master's degree in Financial Technology (Fintech) to serve my work,” Ngoc said.

Tran Anh Ngoc is one of 4,577 new graduates who were awarded degrees by the National Economics University on August 26-27. This year, the school has 1,192 students graduating with Excellent (26%), 1,925 students graduating with Good (42%), 1,376 students graduating with Good (30%). 39 valedictorians in all majors achieved GPAs from 3.66 - 4.0.

Vietnamnet.vn