Trang, a fourth-year student at NEU, has received news of her admission to the Master's program in Interdisciplinary Artificial Intelligence and Innovation at Tsinghua University (China). 

Trang is a former student of Trieu Son 1 High School (Thanh Hoa). In 2022, she became the top scorer of both the A01 (math, physics, English) and C01 (math, literature, physics) exam groups at her school. However, before achieving those results, her academic journey was far from smooth.

During secondary school, Trang began to realize she needed to identify her strengths. She applied to join the school teams for excellent students in Literature, History, and Geography but was not selected. In high school, she continued trying with the Math team, but teachers assessed her as “not suitable” and unable to keep up with her peers.

But Trang did not give up. She wanted to join the Physics team. In the entrance test, she scored only 6 out of 20 points, the lowest in the team. Even so, the teacher allowed her to study on a trial basis with the others.

The turning point came during the Covid-19 pandemic. Because she was under quarantine, Trang could not go to school for exam preparation. At that time, the team’s homeroom teacher personally brought exam papers to her place.

“That moment moved me deeply. I never thought the teacher would care so much about the weakest student on the team like me,” Trang recalled. That experience completely changed her attitude toward studying.

From being a game-loving student, Trang regained her determination and began to focus intensely and study more seriously. As a result, in the provincial excellent student exam, Mai Trang achieved the highest score within her school’s team and won third prize in Physics at the provincial level.

With this result, Mai Trang applied to the National Economics University and was admitted to the Faculty of Management Science.

Shock at university

In her early days at university, Mai Trang faced a major “shock.” She was almost starting from zero in English, while many of her peers already held IELTS certificates or were even studying a second foreign language such as Chinese.

In addition, the university curriculum involved a large volume of knowledge and high-level thinking, making it difficult for her to keep pace. 

Overwhelmed, Trang called her parents in tears, asking to leave the school. Encouraged by her parents, she changed her study methods and at the end of the first semester, she received the university’s encouragement scholarship.

Realizing that foreign languages were her biggest weakness, Trang resolved to conquer IELTS. It was not until her third year, after spending more than a month on intensive preparation with a suitable method, that she achieved an IELTS score of 7.0.

The road to top Asian university

Having nurtured the idea of studying abroad since grade 11, Mai Trang dreamed of setting foot at Tsinghua University, a school she had known through books and Chinese films. 

That dream was so strong that during a university career guidance event, when invited on stage to share her future plans, Trang answered without hesitation: “I will become a doctoral researcher at Tsinghua University.”

Throughout four years of university, she maintained a GPA of 3.94/4.0. From her first year, she participated in startup competitions, conducted scientific research, and won three research awards at the NEU level.

From that foundation, Trang tried to write international academic papers. By the time she submitted her application to Tsinghua University, Mai Trang had published two papers in international journals as the lead author.

“Thanks to scientific research, I truly understand what I want to pursue. Economics is a broad field, but through research I realized I am interested in management, more specifically management in international trade associated with sustainable development. In addition, I want to combine interdisciplinary studies with artificial intelligence to solve the dual problem of economic growth and environmental protection,” Trang said.

Trang did not list achievements in her personal statement. Instead, she focused on demonstrating her suitability. She showed that this was not an impulsive decision, but a direction she had prepared for over time.

She also clearly conveyed this during her interview with the Tsinghua University admissions committee. When asked, “How will you fill the technology gap?”, Trang confidently shared that although she studies management, she is still capable of conducting scientific research related to trade and the environment.

Thuy Nga