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Minh learned he was accepted to Stanford in March. The California school, ranked sixth globally by QS 2025, has annual tuition topping US$67,000.

He was also admitted to other top-20 schools, including the University of Pennsylvania, Duke, Northwestern and UCLA.

“My family was really happy. The only headache was deciding which school to choose,” Minh said. “I chose Stanford because its Economics program ranks third in the world.”

Minh’s dream of studying abroad began in middle school after watching YouTube videos about the lives of Vietnamese international students. By high school, he had set his sights firmly on economics.

At the end of 10th grade, he competed in the Vietnam Economics Olympiad, advanced to the international round and won a bronze medal. Inspired by peers and mentors, he became even more determined to pursue the subject.

Studying in the International Baccalaureate program, Minh took Economics at a higher level alongside Math and Science. He worked ahead in class, completed assignments early and practiced past papers at home. He also read economic news daily from The Economic Times, Financial Times and Vietnamese outlets to stay informed.

Minh started preparing his college applications at the end of 11th grade, balancing coursework, SAT prep, extracurriculars and essays.

“That was my busiest time. I often stayed up until 2 or 3 a.m.,” he said.

Realizing it was unsustainable, he created a daily timetable, delegated some extracurricular tasks and carved out an hour each day for exercise.

After scoring 1450 on his first SAT, Minh retook the test five or six times, earning a superscore of 1570. By mid-February, he also secured a predicted IB score of 45/45.

Minh said essays were the toughest part of the U.S. application process. For Stanford, he wrote one main essay and eight supplemental essays.

The 650-word main essay asked for a personal story. Minh chose to write about his father’s work selling ice cream, tying it to his passion for economics.

In his youth, Minh’s father sold ice cream outside school gates to make a living. Despite hard work, some days he returned home empty-handed.

When Minh later learned the concept of “intergenerational income elasticity” in economics, he realized his father’s story reflected broader issues of structural inequality. He also saw that most Vietnamese high school students had little exposure to economics, motivating him to create programs to share basic economic knowledge.

The essay took two months to complete and went through 12 drafts.

Among his supplemental essays, his favorite was a 250-word letter to his future roommate. He imagined meeting them over bowls of pho in the morning, chasing campus cats at noon, hitting the gym in the afternoon and studying in the library at night.

“This essay not only reflected my personality but also showed the admissions committee that I know about Stanford’s facilities. I mentioned specific clubs and the name of the gym,” Minh said.

Minh submitted his application in early January and interviewed a month later with a Vietnamese Stanford alum over Zoom.

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram, his advisor, said his academic strengths and community involvement helped him stand out.

“He’s humble, hardworking, meticulous and caring. Minh once ran a tea business to raise funds for people affected by flooding in central Vietnam,” Tram said.

Minh will head to the U.S. in early September. Until then, he is exercising to build his health and learning to drive. He plans to return to Vietnam to work after graduation.