Three notes to win a high scholarship

Information shared by Master Le Dinh Hieu – CEO of MAX Education at the seminar The SACE Journey – Unlocking Gen Z number 6, topic “Scholarships to study abroad and untold stories”, broadcast on VnExpressApril 26.

According to Mr. Dinh Hieu, candidates must know where their starting point is, what their core competencies are. “When applying to the school, you need to clarify if you get a scholarship, what is your output, what will you contribute to society, or how it will impact the related industry. In other words, you need to understand If you have a clear starting point and destination, you will have a high chance of winning a scholarship,” he said.

The CEO of MAX Education further shared, Gen Z should start finding out information about schools and scholarships from 10th and 11th grade to make the path smoother, instead of going to grade 12, the preparation will be rushed.

Also a speaker at the seminar, journalist Do Thien Head of Television Department – Ho Chi Minh City Law Newspaper took an example from his own experience to clarify the factor “who am I, what are my core competencies?” “.

He recalled an interview with the admission committee of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Institute in Vietnam to apply for a master’s scholarship. Because he applied for the Journalism – Communication major, he claimed to have built a story to study abroad quite macro. He studied international relations, in the second year began to collaborate with a number of newspapers on socio-political issues. On the day of the interview, he brought along a number of Vietnamese articles and English abstracts, emphasizing his passion for writing about the East Sea and international political and diplomatic issues.

“The stories I mentioned made it difficult for me because I did not expect the judges to be all experts in the field I was working in. I remember being ‘attacked’ constantly with many very interesting questions. good but also very difficult for me”, he recalls.

He also revealed that he received questions such as “if you were the chancellor of Germany, how would you decide on the German immigration issue (a very hot issue in 2015)?”, or “I see you answer He speaks well about international relations, he also completed his bachelor’s degree and is nearing completion of a master’s degree in International Relations in Vietnam. “Why don’t you continue studying for a PhD student in International Relations”. Some members of the jury even suggested that he would consider changing his wish, instead of applying for a master’s degree in Journalism and Communication, he would switch to a PhD student in International Relations. If successful, the scholarship will be higher.

In this case, according to Mr. Do Thien, if the candidate is not confident and does not understand clearly about his capacity, destination as well as passion, it will be very difficult to pass the interview. Determining the spirit and goal early on, he answered clearly, and that may be the reason to convince the admissions committee.

To this day, he still remembers his answer back then, something like “It’s true that I graduated with a major in International Relations and completed my master’s degree in this field in Vietnam, but that process I used the knowledge I had learned. I want to be a journalist who writes about international politics, but I find myself unsuitable and unqualified to pursue the position of an expert or a researcher. in the field of international relations. Therefore, I would like to pursue my studies in journalism – communication, which is also the expertise that I am lacking in my current and long-term position.”

After the interview round, a judge told him: “If you choose to change your wish at the suggestion of a member of the jury to apply for a PhD scholarship, you will be rejected immediately. reasonable with his dreams and plans in this case is necessary”.

Besides the factor of knowing who you are and the path you are about to go, it is also important for each individual to know what he or she wants in the future, especially what you will contribute to society, or how you can contribute to the future. impact on related industries. In this regard, Master Tran Thanh Van – Founder of Saigon Improv House said that in her application for the Fulbright Master of Communication Scholarship in the US (2019), she shared her plans and dreams to become a Fulbright student. clearly contribute to society.

She recalls, in 2016, 2017, the youtube trend emerged with many products to help young people expand their knowledge; Besides, there are also products that are only viewed for entertainment and then forget. For her part, she talked about her dream of creating inspirational media products that bring positive meaning to life. “I want to create products that can contribute to inspiring young people, just like the people who have inspired me before,” she wrote in her scholarship application.

Finally, the skill of telling a story, persuading the admissions officer to believe his story.

Mr. Dinh Hieu used his own example, when writing his bachelor’s essay he told the story of his mother – turning 30, how she became deaf and how she coped with how is life. When he was a little older, when he applied for a Social Enterprise scholarship or a PhD scholarship, he focused on telling about a student girl, thanks to her, he dared to quit his job at a consulting company and become a student. like a teacher.

“I consider my life fortunate to have met people who give me great inspiration – who act as a turning point that changes my life,” said Mr. Hieu.

Master Dinh Hieu has studied abroad 3 times from bachelors, entrepreneurs and masters. When applying for the master’s course, Mr. Hieu affirmed that he had clearly defined what he wanted, which was an educational model for the community, not a commercial one – how to serve the community but still have quality. He wrote to the admissions committee about his journey to build a company and talked about his dream of creating an educational model and wanting to use education to change the community. At that time, he had two years of teaching English, informatics and life skills for deaf and dumb children. As a result, after two months he received an admission letter.

“I think I’m not good if I’m in the good group, if I’m in the poor group, I’m not poor, but I have conquered the opportunity to go to school because of the interesting story and the ability to make changes and get a scholarship. good scholarship”, Mr. Hieu added.

Nguyen Phuong