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Won US government scholarship after two ‘finish’ disappointments

To conquer Fulbright, Dieu Huong accumulated experience from a short term in the US and failed to apply twice to study abroad.

Nguyen Thi Dieu Huong, 28, a native of Thai Nguyen, is a holder of a Fulbright scholarship from the US government in 2021. In August this year, the English teacher from Thai Nguyen High School for the Gifted will study abroad to major in Language Education and Cultural Sciences reading and writing.

“Five years ago, I graduated from university and struggled to find my career goals. This achievement came to me after a long journey of studying and struggling to pursue the values ​​I wanted to contribute to education,” said Huong.

At the age of 11, Dieu Huong began studying English. Accessing a new language excited him, but unlike Huong had imagined, the school’s program focused on grammar. Wanting to broaden her worldview, she took the entrance exam to specialize in English, then studied English Pedagogy, but still learns the language through grammar exercises. “For almost 10 years, I studied without knowing what I was using English for and lost my orientation,” says Huong.

As a quiet and reserved student, Huong rarely spoke. He is satisfied with being silent, listening to lectures and completing all the assigned tasks. Achieving good results thanks to hard work, Huong once thought “it’s okay”. Everything was fine until 2014, when he got the chance to go to the US for four months on a UGRAD Global exchange scholarship.





Dieu Huong, US government Fulbright scholarship holder in 2021. Photo: Provided by Characters

Dieu Huong, recipient of a Fulbright scholarship from the US government in 2021. Photo: Characters provided

At first in the US, Huong was helpless with more than half the subject. When American lecturers ask to read 100-200 pages of material per week, discuss in groups and work on projects, Huong is overwhelmed by her limited language skills and doesn’t know how to think. Desperate at the top, she crawled into the closet, crying alone. “The professor and friends were waiting for me to give my opinion, but I didn’t have a critical mind, nor a personal opinion. The belief that ‘completing a given task calmly’ collapsed. For the first time, I found myself reaching the bottom, where two the word ‘failure’ awaited,” recalls Huong.

Huong accepts “I lost this glue”. Always remembering his father’s advice to “lose one thing after another”, he thought that only by acknowledging and seeing failure could he stand up.

Thai girl Nguyen goes to the subject professor, shares her difficulties and expresses her desire to improve. Every day, he goes to the Writing Center, taking advantage of a free 30-minute session to review essays. Huong also goes to the library every week, reads children’s literature books – what she dreamed of when she started studying English, and asks for emails from classmates who are kind and attractive in class to discuss learning materials. .

Receiving a perfect score of 4.0 after the exchange semester, Huong finds himself in a different person: self-sufficient, knows how to think and dares to express and share his personal views. Professor Joyce Gulley, Huong’s lecturer during the exchange at Southern Indiana University (USA), emphasized that his students have impressive academic skills and are eager to discover new knowledge. Therefore, Huong was always in the group with the highest scores in the class. Also after this trip, he set a goal to study abroad to understand and develop himself. However, Huong continued to “hit the bottom”, a second time.





Dieu Huong and his classmates during an exchange trip to the US in 2014. Photo: Provided by character

Dieu Huong and his classmates during an exchange trip to the US in 2014. Photo: Characters provided

Having the opportunity to come to America, he wanted to try England, one of the most highly educated countries in the world. In the two years 2018 and 2020, the 1994-born girl applied for the British government’s Chevening scholarship and was rejected. At that time, Huong graduated from university and became an English teacher at Thai Nguyen High School for the Gifted. Many colleagues who are equal to or younger than Huong have completed graduate school and earned master’s degrees. Faced with a lot of pressure and prejudice, repeatedly failed scholarships, feelings of failure returned to Huong.

During a difficult time, family events occurred, his father fell seriously ill and died. In the last days with his father, encouraged by his father to “pursue his ambition”, Huong was motivated.

He reviewed the files Chevening had created and found “a basket of errors.” When she first applied, she didn’t know how to properly compose an essay, nor did she focus on reference research. For the second time, Huong was “more advanced”, knowing how to find the source but applying it indiscriminately in his essay.

This time, Huong decided to apply for a Fulbright scholarship from the US government. Eight years ago, the American education that inspired Huong, is now also the goal to empower him. When it was decided to change course, the Fulbright application deadline was only two months. He tries to make the best use of his time to really understand the terms and procedures and read the sample essays. “After days of struggling to find a message for my essay, I decided to write about the simple stories my father used to tell, relating them to my experiences of discovering the value of education and the purpose of language learning.” Huong recalled.

Twice rejected by Chevening made Huong understand that understanding himself is important, thus building a profile that shows his personality and goals. Therefore, in a Fulbright essay or interview, he or she focuses on sharing personal stories and experiences and is happy to receive positive feedback.





Dieu Huong and students at Thai Nguyen High School for the Gifted.  Photo: Characters provided

Dieu Huong (black shirt, center) with students at Thai Nguyen High School for the Gifted. Photo: Characters provided

In September 2021, Huong received Fulbright receipts from the US Embassy in Vietnam. “Very happy,” he recalled at the time. Following the announcement of Fulbright acceptance, the candidates (now called .) finalist) give the four schools you wish to study (in order of preference) based on the majors listed. The embassy and related units will support the application process to the school.

Huong selected four universities, including Purdue, Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Ohio State and Illinois at Chicago. These are all the best schools in the US for language training. Currently, the girl from Thailand Nguyen is still waiting for a response from the school to start the fall semester this year in the US.

Keeping in touch with Huong since 2014, Professor Joyce Gulley watches her student’s journey to win a scholarship. With more than 20 years of experience in the profession, Professor Gulley confirms that Huong is in the top 1% of the top students he teaches, with “very smooth” English speaking and writing skills. “Huong is an avid learner, ready to face challenges. Witnessing Huong’s efforts and dedication to her studies and teaching career, I believe she can make a great contribution to education and transmission of inspiration to generations of students,” he stressed.

After much experience, Huong believes that scholarships find suitable candidates, not necessarily the best. Therefore, understanding yourself is very important. “Only when you understand yourself can you set the right goal, and at the same time know how to let go of a path that is not for you”, Huong shared and affirmed, the world is wide but always gives people opportunities. determination.

Thanh Hang

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