Minh, born in 2004, has been accepted by several leading universities, including Cambridge (no 1 in the UK), Singaporean National University (top 2 in Singapore), University of Toronto (no 1 in Canada), Nanyang Technological University (top 2 in Singapore) and Georgia Institute of Technology (top 6 in computing science in the US).

Before leaving for Singapore to study with an ASEAN scholarship, Minh was an excellent student at Doan Thi Diem Secondary School. He won prizes in mathematics at competitions, including first prize at the Hanoi competition for excellent students and a gold prize at IMSO (International Mathematics and Science Olympiad for Primary School).

When he was a 10th grader majoring in information technology at Hanoi-Amsterdam school, he decided to leave for Singapore to study at Hwa Chong Institution, where he could follow the A-Level program. Students there did not have compulsory subjects, but could choose the subjects they wanted. Having a passion for computer science, Minh chose to study subjects related to mathematics.

While studying in Singapore, he attended competitions and conducted scientific research. Minh won gold prizes at Singaporean national competitions in mathematics in 2022 and 2023, and in informatics in 2023. He received an 8.5 score for IELTS and 1,590 of 1,600 score on the SAT.

Determined to pursue computer science, in mid-2023, Minh began preparing essays and dossiers to apply for scholarships to study abroad. In an effort to have opportunities to be admitted to top-tier schools, he applied to leading schools in computer science in many countries, including the US, UK, Canada and Singapore.

Minh said applying to schools in the US was the most complicated. While the US and Canada are also interested in a candidate’s participation in extracurricular activities, schools in the UK and Singapore focus only on academic knowledge. In Singapore, for example, all schools enroll students based on A-level results.

While preparing for the exam to obtain A-Level in Singapore, Minh had other duties as well. Minh tried to arrange his timetable to ensure both studying and extracurricular experiences.

When he was in the 11th grade, Minh participated in a project on machine learning-guided discovery of highly selective antibacterial peptides to treat drug-resistant bacteria at the Singaporean Bioinformatics Institute. He then was in charge of encrypting and inserting input materials for a machine learning model.

The project, begun in early 2022 and ending in June 2023, used AI to help reduce the antibacterial drug resistance rate. The machine learning model could predict substances that can kill viruses. 

In June 2023, he obtained a seat for interns in data science at a leading tech firm in Vietnam. His duty was analyzing data about accessing websites to identify target clients.

Having deep knowledge about mathematics and informatics, Minh taught mathematics to general school students in Singapore, and teaches informatics and A-level economics to junior students at the same school. He said teaching helps him consolidate his knowledge and improves his communications skills.

He also set up a chatbot that helps students in Singapore to learn mathematics through themes. In addition, he participates in organizing workshops to share information about Singapore education and ASEAN scholarships.

Minh said his journey has changed him. In his essays for university admission, Minh wrote about his process of changing himself and stepping out into the world, rather than just reading books and receiving knowledge from school. The journey has helped him to inspire other people, and together with them, move ahead.

Minh said he realized that informatics not only involves coding exercises but solving concrete problems. He plans to continue to work in the computing science field in the future.  

Thuy Nga