Critical thinking and a wide angle of view

Early Decision (ED) is an early application, and the applicant is only allowed to submit profile to one single university. Early Decision is binding, and applicant must be committed to admission if the school receives and meets financial conditions.

Recently, Nguyen Minh Ha (born in 2001, a student of Ha Noi - Amsterdam high School for the gifted) is pleased to receive a letter of admission from Dartmouth University - an Ivy League school.

“I feel really surprised when I received a letter of admission from the school because this is a very competitive school with lowacceptance rate, so I don’t expect I will be selected”, Minh Ha shared with Dan Tri reporter.

Nguyen Minh Ha won a full scholarship from Darmouth University in her ED application.

Rekindling the dream of studying in the US, Minh Ha has grown to love this school ever since the first time she learned about it online. Minh Ha receives a scholarship of about 258,000 USD (nearly 6 billion VND) for 4 years of study.

Right from the early days of secondary school, Minh Ha had dreamed of going to study abroad, but it was not until she entered high school that she really started to prepare her profile

Minh Ha won the second prize in City English Examination for Gifted students in grade, Second Prize in City English Examination for Gifted students  in grade 11, 12 . She also scored 1540 in SAT 1, 800 SAT 2 Math, 780 SAT 2 Chemistry.

Along with having successfully completed the classroom’s work and standardized tests, this active female student participated in a lot of debate activities out of passion and forte.

The 10X student held the position of Deputy Head of the Expertise of Ams Puzzles, Head of Organizing Committee of Hanoi Debate Tournament 2018, Coach at the Summer Debate Camp of Lam Son - Thanh Hoa Specialised school.

In every debate competitions, each team is given a petition and must defend their position (support / objection). The confidence, calmness, deep analytical skills and convincing ability have helped Minh Ha to win many high prizes in national and city debate contests. She is the runner-up of the Vietnam Debate Championship 2017 and Hanoi Debate Tournament 2016.

Gradually growing from extracurricular activities, Ha shared: "Participating in the Ams debate club and competitions helps me cultivate a better critical thinking, as well as having a more open perspective on many areas of life such as education, culture, politics ... There have been many times when I have to defend the view contrary to my thoughts, but such matches give me a more objective view of social issues ”.

Ams high school girl included this hobby in her essay "Why choose this school?" sent to Dartmouth University. I explained that the university’s debate program is different from what I had been learning and I may improve my skills more if I combine both programs together.

As a concerned citizen, in the summer of 2018, Minh Ha founded an organization called "Hub Bright Organization", aimed at helping people affected by Agent Orange in Vietnam war.

I had gone to nursing homes for people who had made great contributions to the country’s revolution and distributed gifts and letters from young people to the wounded soldiers there. She also invited two yoga and nutrition teachers to teach sick soldiers basic exercises and scientific diets to stay healthy.

Before leaving, Minh Ha interviewed the veterans and talked with people there to understand more about one of the two biggest wars of the country. From the materials she gained, Ha boldly opened the exhibition "War Library" to share real stories about wartime. Such conversations helped me convey the message to the admission committee better than through the main essay.

According to Minh Ha, her strength is to set out quite clearly the major she wishes to pursue and she has the opportunity to show her interest in the university in each essay she submits to the school. And the Vietnamese girl revealed, I think the essay is the determining factor in my profile.

Because the events I mentioned in the essay are real, I can recreate my true feelings. Each change of emotions: sadness, joy or anxiety are described very carefully in my essay. I think it convinced the admissions committee to accept me into the school, ”Ha said.

In the main essay (650 words), the girl wrote about the subject of war between the US and Vietnam. My maternal grandfather used to be a soldier, so when I was young, he told me many stories about his military days. However, he only told me the glorious victories of his army had achieved, so in my naive thoughts at that time, I thought that war is a complete victory for Vietnam and I always keep in that thought in mind until later.

“There are events that happen to me like my grandfather being transferred into the emergency room because of a forest fever (a common disease in the army because of the long time spent in the jungle), or the memory when I first visited the Agent Orange Victims Care Center.

At that time, I came to realize that war was not an absolute victory, but that in order to regain peace, we had to sacrifice a lot: the consequences of war 50 years ago still exist among us.

My thoughts on war have changed and I realize that everything has two sides, and that I need to consider it on many aspects to have the most accurate and multidimensional view, ”Ha recalls.

Ha presented gifts to a veteran in Quang Tri.

Having won the ticket to her dream school, Minh Ha still does not forget the days of "tasting spines" to complete the application profile. Coming up with ideas and writing essays is also the biggest challenge for Minh Ha. At the time when she was stuck for ideas, Ha often calmed down, and focused on what had happened in her life, including the smallest and most ordinary things.

Ha said: “I tried to reflect on that event, recalling the feelings at that time and asking myself questions like“ how have I changed since that event? ”or“  What have you learned from that event? ”.

In the short term, the Vietnamese girl intends to pursue International Relations at Dartmouth. After graduation, she may pursue a master degree, or join non-governmental organizations to have the opportunity to gain experience, and do research in many countries around the world.

Minh Ha hopes that with the knowledge and skills she has accumulated in the 4 years of university, she can return to help the community, such as helping people in regional areas to catch up with globalization and the common development of the country.

Translated by Tram Anh - English 1 1720