The 18-year-old, who specializes in English at the competitive Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted in Ho Chi Minh City, said she received her acceptance email on Jan. 20. She re-read it multiple times before believing the news.
“Years of studying and preparing my application were finally recognized,” she told VTC News.
Her overall IELTS band score of 9.0, the maximum possible, comprised Listening 9.0, Reading 9.0, Speaking 9.0 and Writing 8.0. She had originally aimed for 8.5.
Ngoc said she did not prepare by grinding through practice tests. Instead, she built a general English foundation over years, listened to podcasts and TED-Ed talks, and regularly conversed with classmates in English to refine her pronunciation and intonation. She also used AI tools, including ChatGPT, to practice writing and speaking, analyzing how arguments are structured and developing her own style.
“ChatGPT grades essays more strictly and in more detail,” she said, adding that the feedback helped her expand her vocabulary and approach.
For her IELTS Speaking test, she drew on a storytelling method rather than reciting rehearsed answers. When asked to describe an energetic person she knew, she adapted material from a practice prompt about a close friend, weaving in specific anecdotes and natural expressions. In the discussion section, the examiner shifted rapidly between topics, from physical energy to whether construction workers deserve higher pay to mental energy, but Ngoc said her habit of listening to a wide range of subjects helped her respond on the spot.
Her Writing score of 8.0 was the one component that fell short of a perfect mark. She said she ran out of time on the second essay task and could not include a paragraph stating her personal opinion. She credited her preparation with AI-assisted grading tools for pushing her score above her 7.5 target.
At the end of 2024, Ngoc scored 1,500 out of 1,600 on the SAT, rounding out an application profile built around three pillars: technology, education and community impact.
During high school, she founded an education project that taught her to manage teams and build systems, and she led an open-access coding class on Khan Academy that reinforced the technical knowledge behind her chosen field of software engineering.
Her personal essay opened with a detail from the sixth grade: a fascination with online typing speed tests. From there, she traced how that curiosity led to programming when she tried building a website for a group project, and how she came to find meaning in turning code into functional products.
“The essay aimed to show that typing speed is just a number,” Ngoc said. “What matters more is the value and solutions you can create from code.”
Early drafts focused heavily on technical details. After multiple revisions with a teacher, she shifted the emphasis toward a change in mindset, from chasing achievements to searching for purpose.
Rather than joining many activities to pad her resume, Ngoc said she chose depth over breadth, committing to a few long-term pursuits.
“I believe committing to one activity over a long period is more valuable than dabbling in many short-term ones,” she said.
Ngoc plans to study Computer Science at NJIT’s Ying Wu College of Computing, participate in research and internships, and develop projects with practical applications. Her long-term goal is to apply technology to build systems that serve people, particularly in education and business.
“I hope to be not just an engineer who builds products, but someone who can connect technology with real needs in society,” she said.
Drawing from her experience, she advised students not to begin their study-abroad journey by asking how to win a scholarship.
“A scholarship should be a byproduct of developing your abilities and having a clear direction, not the sole objective,” she said.
Minh Nguyen, a study-abroad consultant based in Chicago who worked with Ngoc on her application, described her as a student with strong inner drive.
“The scholarship is a well-deserved result, but the greater value lies in how she has steadily built a clear direction for her future,” he told VTC News.
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