SINGAPORE: Mr Le Duc Minh, a Vietnamese student, has undoubtedly brought honour to the prestigious school he attends, Hwa Chong Institution, as he has gotten admission to top universities in four different countries.
He can now choose to study in one of the following institutions: the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, the University of Toronto in Canada, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and several other universities in the United States.
Amid these numerous choices, the 20-year-old Mr Le has yet to decide on where to study, but he is already certain about his major, Computer Science.
Vietnamese media outlet VN Express reported on Apr 10 (Wednesday) that the Hwa Chong student his “portfolio full of Mathematics and Computer Science awards” is the reason he has been admitted to numerous top institutions all over the world.
For example, Mr Le is listed among the gold medalists at the 26th National Olympiad in Informatics last year. VN Express notes that he won two national gold medals in Mathematics and Informatics.
It should also come as no surprise that his SAT score, long considered to be key to college and university admissions in the US was 1,590 out of 1,600.
His achievements are very impressive given that he only came to Singapore to study in 2020 as a recipient of an ASEAN scholarship. The move was by no means easy, as he had to adjust to his new life while studying for the A-levels.
“After two years, I realized I couldn’t just bury myself in books. I started to find it overwhelming and ineffective. Therefore, I sought change, got involved in more extracurricular activities, and explored new experiences with friends,” he is quoted as saying to VN Express.
One of his pivotal changes came when he began to tutor middle school students in Singapore in maths and Computer Science, which helped his communication skills.
With a friend, he also did a research project about artificial intelligence “with the goal of reducing antibiotic resistance in medical treatment,” VN Express wrote, adding, “Minh said the research developed a machine learning model to predict substances that could effectively kill viruses. The outcome of the research significantly contributed to shortening the real-life testing time for each drug.”
Mr Le’s achievement in getting admitted to so many top schools may be a first, according to his application adviser in Hanoi, Ms Tran Phuong Hoa.
“I am impressed by Minh’s calmness, persistence, and meticulousness,” she said. /TISG
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