Vu Anh Phuong, a 23 year-old K59KHCTT student (advanced Crop Science Program) has been accepted to study her doctorate in Purdue University, the number 1 university in the U.S, the 8th in the world for Agriculture (according to the US news and QS World ranking).
Vu Anh Phuong is an ex-student of Biology specialized class of Hanoi – Amsterdam High School for the Gifted. Like many Amsers, she had a dream to study in the U.S and in 2014, Phuong chose Vietnam National University of Agriculture to study because of her passion for biology, despite passing the entrance exams to Banking Academy of Vietnam. VNUA has then become a nurturing place and a solid foundation for her to realize her dream before receiving her diploma.
For her time at VNUA, Vu Anh Phuong has always been seeking scholarships. She has continuously received many international student exchange scholarships, including two full scholarships to the U.S with a total value of US $29,000 (equivalent to 560 million VND). In addition, Phuong also owned 8 awards, school merit certificates and 6 different types of scholarships, such as: First prize in Specialized Knowledge Contest, Second prize in Olympic English Contest, Third prize at the Grade A Championship, Certificate and sponsorship from Kovalevskaia Award.
Vu Anh Phuong receiving the certificate and sponsorship from Kovalevskaia
from the Vietnam Women’s Union for her scientific research as a third-year student.
Vu Anh Phuong (first from left), in front of the National Assembly Headquarters in Washington D.C,
the United States, participated in the 2017 Young South East Asian Leadership Initiative (YSEALI) Program.
Recently, Phuong was delighted to receive an acceptance letter from Purdue University for a doctoral degree, a school which had 3 Nobel prizes in Science, where the great astronaut Neil Armstrong once studied,.
“I was really surprised when receiving the acceptance letter because it is a leading US school for agriculture, not to mention that I applied for a direct PhD program and not a Master, so I didn’t dare to expect too much. At last, when the letter came with a congratulation, it changed me a lot, helping me to value my own ability and learn to not underestimate myself” – Vu Anh Phuong shared.
Despite winning the ticket to her dream school, Vu Anh Phuong still didn’t forget all her hard days. Phuong confides that English is really a big challenge since she used to focus only on Math – Bio – Chem for university entrance exams. Phuong shared with us “During the first 3 years of college, I never had a real holiday. All summer as well as Tet, I spent about 8-10 hours/day to learn English, and no less than 30 new words/day”. Not only did I spend a lot of time on studying but also had to make sure that I actively took part in extracurricular activities to have a competitive profile. In addition, the application process was quite stressful when you had just conducted scientific research in the United States, and have just taken a post-graduate entrance exam, contacted teachers and wrote essays. Talking about the whole process of making application checklist, Phuong concluded that it is the road of self-reflecting and discovering. That process has been for parents’ and teachers’ great efforts, whom have elicited passion, orientation, encouragement and care for you every day.
Vu Anh Phuong received a scholarship to undertake her graduation thesis at the University of Missouri.
Vu Anh Phuong in the Lab of University of Missouri, USA.
In the short term, she plans to pursue Plant Pathology at Purdue University. After graduating, Phuong hopes to learn more to follow her dream of being a university lecturer, teaching and conveying her knowledge and experience to generations of students in the future.
Currently, Phuong has set up Scholarship EZ- a fanpage to share scholarship information, articles and videos to share experiences in finding international scholarships and successful application. Phuong is also the one who directly mentors and has very useful sharing videos from her own experiences with the desire to help others to find their opportunities to study aboard.