9X Ha Tinh won a PhD scholarship to a top school in the US

Nguyen Van The (1998) is an alumnus of the talented Bachelor of Mathematics class, Faculty of Mathematics – Mechanical – Informatics, University of Natural Sciences (Vietnam National University, Hanoi). When he was a final year student at this school, The was well known for his research published in the Journal of Number Theory – a famous American professional magazine in the Q1 category. SCI.

For a student, this is not easy. But at that time, The thought that the problems that he could solve all stem from questions that arise very naturally.

“That result was just a small joy, nothing big, a stepping stone for me to continue pursuing the path of mathematical research later on,” said The.

Always feel happy when doing math

Then began to realize that she had a dream to pursue math research since she was a math major at Ha Tinh High School for the Gifted. “At that time, I was always happy to do math.”

Also thanks to his love of math, the boy born in 1998 has won many achievements related to this subject such as the third prize for national excellent students or the first prize of the Math Olympiad for students for two consecutive years in 2017. 2018,…

But when starting to study math, The noticed that, unlike learning, math research often starts with questions that you don’t know whether it’s right or wrong, but have to find the answer yourself.

Therefore, from the second year of university, The began to spend more time thinking and answering difficult questions.

The problem-solving problem in additive combinatorics, published in the Journal of Number Theory in early 2020, is also one of the “answers to my questions” that The has diligently researched throughout the year. 10 months.

The study and research of math, according to The, is also “relatively a headache”.

“But even though it’s hard, the feeling after solving a new math problem is often very happy,” said The.

Becoming an excellent student of the Faculty of Mathematics – Mechanical – Informatics and graduating valedictorian with a GPA of 3.7, Nguyen Van The is one of the very few students to receive a master’s scholarship in Data Science. data of Vingroup within 2 years.

This scholarship helps That not to worry about tuition fees or living expenses, so 9X has more time to focus on studying and researching.

Thanks to that, It took only 1.5 years to complete this program.

“I often set myself short-term goals and control them well. Of course, I still do many things at the same time, but when I need to tackle a goal, I usually do it very focused.”

Outside of research, The is still working and teaching. In 2020, The was invited by Prof. Dr. Le Anh Vinh – the leader of the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) team to teach the team. By 2021, because of the Covid-19 epidemic, Then also undertakes “online classes”.

“Starting as a math major, I also went to the national competition for excellent students, so I had the opportunity to be exposed to difficult forms of math. When teaching for the IMO team, I mainly implement them by topics, teaching with love and the knowledge that I have about math.

Postponing plans to go to the US to “experience more”

Passionate about math, The is always looking for opportunities to come to the US to pursue this field of study. “When I was a student, I always had a complete set of documents and an essay ready to “apply” when the opportunity came. Scholarship funds will often ask about your family background, why are you different? So, when I receive a notice from the funds, if I find it suitable, I will apply.”

In 2021, The received a full PhD scholarship from the University of Florida and Tulane University (USA). These were all top schools, but after much deliberation, he decided to refuse admission.

“The reason I decided not to go to school was because I didn’t feel really suitable, and I wanted to have more time to experience more. My dream is to travel through Vietnam before studying abroad. But for many reasons, this wish could not be fulfilled. But up to now, I have also set foot in about 30 provinces and cities of Vietnam.”

The decision to delay a year on the journey to the US, but for The, it is not a regret.

“With this graduate scholarship, I find I have more time to prepare. Last year, because I was in a hurry to apply, I was not accepted by some of the top schools. This year, with careful preparation, my essay has also become more mature in words.”

In addition, according to The, this period is also for him to improve his English ability.

“Actually, I have a pretty low starting point in English, almost losing my roots. Meanwhile, studying for a talented bachelor’s program needs a lot of English. In the first stage, I mainly had to use Google translate, I asked you what I didn’t know. Gradually, because I read a lot, I started to get used to the words, just skimming to understand the main idea.

In the 3rd year, also thanks to the time spent studying abroad, my English ability also gradually improved. Thanks to that, I no longer feel afraid to study in an international environment.”

Earlier this year, The received good news when he won a full scholarship for a PhD in Mathematics at a series of US universities, including the University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign.

This school is ranked 48th in the world according to the Times Higher Education rankings. In terms of Mathematics, this school is in the top 20 of the best universities in the US. The school is willing to give The World a full scholarship covering tuition fees and a “salary” worth more than $22,000/year for 5 years.

Assessing the overall profile, The said that, in addition to scientific articles and essays, the quality recommendation letter is also one of the deciding factors.

“Letters need to know who they are and why they are special. Candidates need to limit asking people who can only mention their name in a general, cliché, “The said.

This August, the young Ha Tinh will leave for the US to pursue a doctorate in Mathematics, with a deeper focus on discrete and combinatorial mathematics. Choosing to continue pursuing mathematics, 9X believes that math plays an important role in many industries, for example, Information Security Cryptography or Financial Risk Calculation.

“Of course, these fields need the participation of many disciplines, but it can be said that mathematics plays a central role. When you study math enough and deep enough, you will find that math is actually very meaningful,” said The.

Thuy Nga – Hoai Huong