The way to the world's top business school of a Hanoi boy
Having gone through many difficulties and many efforts to go to school and earn a living in Japan, Nguyen Vu Hieu (2001, Hanoi) suddenly stopped to be a first-year student again.
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| Nguyen Vu Hieu. (Photo: Vietnamnet) |
The school that Hieu is attending is IE Business School (IE University, Spain) - one of the world's leading universities in business administration training and startup ecosystem.
Was teased for dreaming of studying abroad
Vu Hieu said that he was once teased for sharing an article about studying abroad on his social networks.
“I shared an article about Tsinghua University in China and wrote that one day I will get a scholarship and study abroad. But in the comments, my friends made fun of me. I don't understand why people act that way", Hieu recalled.
When Vu Hieu was learning at the Vietnam - Poland High School, he decided to go studying abroad in Japan after attending an extra Japanese class there. According to his original plan, after graduating, the male student would go to Japan to study at a Japanese-focused institution and take the entrance exam to university. However, shortly after that, Hieu changed his mind about applying for a scholarship in English and took a gap year to prepare his own application.
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“During that time, I studied English by myself and got 6.5 in IELTS, researched about schools, prepared study abroad documents, participated in extracurricular activities, learned about legal procedures, and applied for a visa”, Hieu said.
As a result, Vu Hieu was admitted to Tokyo International University with 2 scholarships, enough for the student to pay his tuition and living expenses.
However, due to the Covid 19 epidemic, Hieu has been studying online for nearly a year. When the epidemic was partly under control, Hieu immediately managed to work in various jobs in Japan, from working part-time at a convenience store and teaching English to working at a number of startups in Tokyo.
Although things gradually improved, after only 6 months of working, Vu Hieu decided to stop.
“When I went to work in Japan, I realized that the environment here lacks youth’s energy and this might not be the right time to have a peaceful and enjoyable life, but instead I should be rushing to learn more new things and push myself out to a more challenging environment” - Hieu said.
In spite of that, the experience of working in Japan made him realize that he was interested in starting a business. At this time, through a friend, Hieu got to know about Spain.
"I realize that there are more than 20 countries where Spanish is the main language, so if you understand the language, Spain's economy also has many advantages in the labor market."
The way to the world's top business school
After a while of research, Hieu aimed to study Business Administration at IE Business School - 1 of 2 universities in Spain ranked in the top 10 best MBA schools in the world according to the QS Rankings. What attracts Hieu is that the school has a strong startup ecosystem and a wide network. Moreover, the vibrant life in Madrid also raises Hieu’s curiosity.
When Hieu’s parents knew that their child was interested in going to Spain, they responded in an aggressive way.
“My parents were afraid that I could ruin my newly balanced life in Japan by dreaming too big, so they refused me to start my studies again from the first year in Spain” - Hieu recalled.
Even so, Hieu believes that if somebody wants something in life, they might have to trade it for something else equivalent, so he doesn't mind starting again from scratch. At that time, the male student only had about 3 short weeks to prepare his application.
IE Business School requires its candidates to prepare 2 essays, 1 about their personal stories and 1 about why they deserve the scholarship. In his first essay, Hieu expressed his thoughts from his own experience of “gender discrimination” happening around him.
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“People usually have an unfair perspective on people from the LGBT community. I mentioned writing about gender stereotypes. The way I view it in a positive way, living a beautiful life and creating value from community projects" - Hieu said.
In the second essay, Vu Hieu tells the story of his family's situation.
“My father was a soldier on the island, during my growing-up, I had to move houses and change schools many times. That's why I wrote about the process of challenging-the-status-quo: tutoring, working as a waiter to earn extra income, and self-improving my English at the same time. I really understand the importance of education brought to me.”
What surprised Hieu was that IE's admissions committee called his teacher to confirm the information. According to his teacher, the school commented that they really liked Hieu's thinking and perspective on gender equality and development, and how he overcame barriers and difficulties on the journey to find his true connection with education. The project of opening an online English-speaking platform that Hieu participated in was also highly appreciated by the school for its humanity for community development.
As a result, Hieu received an email announcing the 80% Personal Excellence scholarship, the top 12% of outstanding scholars across the whole IE University to enter the IE Foundation Fellows program.
Currently, Hieu is working as an event manager for the IE Entrepreneurship Club and actively helps organize events for the IE Foundation Fellows program.
Taking advantage of the school, Hieu easily found an internship opportunity with a US company having a branch in Spain. The school also developed his passion for the arts by hosting music parties and field trips to many cities.
Returning to Vietnam for the summer vacation at the end of June, Hieu said that he enjoyed his wonderful year in Spain and desired to start a business in education.
