Won a scholarship to study in the US after three failures

12 years after first applying for a Fulbright master's scholarship, the sweet fruit came to Minh Tuan at the age of 35, after three failures.

With this scholarship, Vo Dang Minh Tuan is fully supported to go to the US to study MBA (Master of Business Administration) in Marketing in August this year.

When he received the admission notice at the end of 2022, Tuan was 35 years old and had 14 years of experience in the Marketing industry. He acknowledged that he was no longer young compared to most international master's students, but learning has no age limit.

"Marketing staff must always learn and update trends, technology, and user psychology. Americans always lead trends in the Marketing industry, so I want to learn from them," said Mr. Tuan.

Minh Tuan in an internal forum at the company he works for in March. Photo: Character provided

Anh Tuan started researching and applying for the US government's Fulbright scholarship in 2010. Before being accepted, he failed in 2010, 2011 and 2017.

According to Tuan, the reason for the failure of the first two applications was because he was too immature. At the age of 24 and 25, he had not yet clearly defined his direction and study goals, so his application was rambling and did not answer the question of what he would study abroad for or how he could help society. The third failure at the age of 30, Tuan said that he showed off too many achievements and specialized terms in his application, making it difficult for the admissions board to understand.

However, he still thought that there would come a time when he would reapply. Despite being busy with work, Mr. Tuan often followed the Fulbright scholarship information sharing sessions to learn from experience. By 2022, he "realized" many things after listening to the sharing of successful candidates in 2021.

Tuan decided to pursue the Fulbright scholarship for the fourth time when the application deadline was only 10 days away. During that time, he managed many projects, so arranging time to complete the application was quite stressful. Every day, Tuan had to stay up until 1-2 am.

The scholarship application required two essays about himself and his academic goals. In the past, Tuan wrote these two essays in a similar style and in the same style as a job application. Learning from experience, this time he divided the two essays into clear structures. The personal essay would share from the past to the present, while the academic goals essay would go from the present to the future. Meanwhile, he took three letters of recommendation from his former boss, partners, and colleagues.

"Combining two essays and three recommendation letters will show different aspects and qualities of yourself, helping the admissions board understand and evaluate more comprehensively," Tuan said.

In the essay, he is concerned about the fact that businesses have not managed their marketing budgets effectively, leading to limited business opportunities and a shortage of MarTech (technology-based marketing) human resources. According to Tuan, this will affect the growth rate of businesses in the current context of digital transformation. With knowledge from the master's program supported by Fulbright, Tuan hopes to improve his ability to think based on data to advise and provide solutions to help Vietnamese businesses solve the above problems.

Tuan said that in his application this time, he set his goals and expressed his desire to study more clearly, using data and simple language to convince the Fulbright council instead of using "big" and general words.

Another factor that he believes convinced the admissions committee was his passion for the profession. Tuan has been pursuing a career in marketing for 14 years, sharing his knowledge to support students and the community pursuing this career.

In addition, the Fulbright scholarship requires applicants to have an IELTS certificate. Tuan rushed to take the exam, achieved a score of 7.0 and received his transcript one day before the application deadline.

Tuan will go to the US to study for a master's degree next August. Photo: Character provided

In the interview round, when asked what values ​​of Vietnam he would share as a cultural ambassador, Tuan recounted his experiences when implementing marketing campaigns during Tet. This is not simply the time of transition between the old year and the new year, but also includes many typical cultural features such as Tet greetings, Tet gifts, returning home for Tet, bringing the value of family and roots. He hopes to spread those values ​​to international friends so that they can feel the identity of their homeland.

As a former colleague and one of three people who wrote a letter of recommendation for Tuan, Ms. Tran Thu Ha, former Deputy Head of Marketing for GAP Inc., commented that Tuan has the ability to lead and inspire the team when implementing marketing campaigns.

Ms. Ha said that during the period when brands were struggling because of Covid-19, he continuously came up with effective ideas to help businesses gain big revenue and was highly appreciated by the board of directors for his ability.

"Tuan is always willing to share his past lessons with his colleagues, even his failures, so that everyone can learn from his work experience," said Ms. Ha.

Regarding the reason for only applying for the Fulbright scholarship, Mr. Tuan said that this scholarship does not discriminate against age, profession, and does not place much importance on grades. This is the opposite of other scholarships. Mr. Tuan said that he graduated with a good degree from the Foreign Trade University, and his academic achievements were not "terrifying".

Looking back on his journey, Tuan realized that besides his own values, the important thing is perseverance.

"If we go back in time, Tuan of 2022 would encourage Tuan of 2010 that to achieve his dream, he must become the most persistent among the outstanding people," he said.

Le Nguyen

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