Quy Nhon student wins big scholarship from University of Chicago

Born and raised in Quy Nhon City in the central province of Binh Dinh, Lam Quang Nhat has won a full scholarship worth VND6 billion from the University of Chicago to study physics, where another Vietnamese citizen – mathematician Ngo Bao Chau, the Fields Medal winner – is a professor.

Nhat said he only began hearing about SAT and universities in the US six months before he applied. “Online learning is the best way for me. Actually I studied for New SAT just for one month, and it was mostly self-taught. My main source for self-study was khanacademy.com,” he said.

His efforts were rewarded with impressive achievements: New SAT I: 1470/1600; SAT II (Physics: 800/800; Math 2: 800/800), IELTS: 8.0.

The student from Binh Dinh province has had impressive results: third prize at the English national competition, third prize at the English Talents’ Olympiad and first prize at IOE, an online English competition.

Nhat participated in extracurricular activities that he found significant to him. “I was once a volunteer at a large physics center in Quy Nhon and I luckily had the opportunity to work as an interpreter for a French physicist,” he said.

“I was also a member of the Model United Nations Club, a school’s English club. And I did many other things such as playing basketball, guitar, piano, rubik, poker cards, reading novels in English and wrote some informatics programs,” he said.

"You’d better choose the school you really love and you find suitable for you, not because the schools have fame,” he said.

When asked how he conquered the hearts of the admission board, Nhat said it is very important to show ones’ personality to the board. “You know, there are thousands of excellent candidates. My strategy is staying confident and honest,” he explained.

Nhat believes the the university focuses on the personality of each individual as well as the differences in way of thinking.

The title of the essay Nhat sent to the school was ‘Find X’. He wrote about the dreams of his childhood and the journey to find X and explore them. 

“Actually, I had quite a bit of stress, but it was great writing the essay,” he said.

Nhat is now studying at Sorewood School in Wisconsin per his parents’ decision. “This will help me prepare well for university study and the cold weather in Chicago,” he said.

Source: Vietnamnet