17-year-old female student admitted to Harvard with essay sharing reasons for wanting to study history

Phan Linh Lan, 17 years old, grade 12 student at Concordia School ( Hanoi ), was overwhelmed with emotion when she received the letter of acceptance to Harvard University's law program in the early admission round. Linh Lan became the first student of the school to be accepted into this prestigious university.

Phan Linh Lan, a 12th grade student at Concordia International School Hanoi, received news of her admission to Harvard University on December 13 - Photo: NVCC

"At 7am on December 13, I sat down and pressed F5 to wait for the email announcing the results. When I opened the email and saw that I had been accepted to Harvard University's law program, I was very surprised. During the days waiting for the results, I was very worried because in previous years, many students had been accepted to top American schools, but no one had ever been accepted to Harvard.

I even took the initiative to write essays to apply to other schools if I didn't get into Harvard. Luckily, this preparation will not be needed anymore," Linh Lan recounted.

Build a plan to apply to Harvard from middle school

Linh Lan said it took her 3 months to prepare her application for early admission to Harvard University, but in fact she had been preparing since her junior high school years.

In 6th grade, while studying at an international school in England and Australia, but because she was so passionate about studying abroad in the US and loved Harvard University through movies, Linh Lan transferred to Concordia International School Hanoi to have suitable preparation for her personal plan.

From grades 6 to 8, Linh Lan began studying for the ACT, an exam that many top schools in the US use for admission. In October 2024, near the deadline for submitting applications, Linh Lan scored 35/36 on the ACT.

Since grade 9, the female student began joining business clubs, doing scientific research in the fields of history and politics to compete.

Accordingly, in grades 9 and 10, the female student won first prize in the AI ​​JAM research on the conservation of endangered bird species in Vietnam by using AI technology to detect animal sounds, and the AI ​​JAM project on accident prevention by using AI to detect road faults.

In addition, Linh Lan won the bronze medal in the Vietnam DECA 2024 national competition with a creative business case study, demonstrating analytical skills.

Previously, in March 2023, Linh Lan was elected as the president of DECA Vietnam, a member of DECA International - a non-profit organization with many activities for students.

During the summer of 10th grade going to 11th grade and 11th grade going to 12th grade, Linh Lan also attended a summer camp at Harvard, studying for 7 weeks each year. Linh Lan chose to study her favorite subjects at this summer camp such as law and history. Through these two trips, the female student became even more eager to conquer this prestigious school.

Linh Lan said she always works with discipline, the female student makes personal plans every day, every week, every month - Photo: NVCC

Ms. Do Thuy Linh - Linh Lan's mother - said that since she was a little girl, the girl has developed quite evenly in both music and sports. Linh Lan can play many musical instruments, especially the zither, piano and violin. In sports, since primary school, Linh Lan has won many gold medals in swimming; and has competed in football and basketball tournaments in Malaysia and Thailand.

In terms of languages, Linh Lan is strong in English and Spanish, and can also communicate in French and Chinese.

"From primary to high school, Linh Lan studied and communicated 100% in English, and read books in English. Because I was afraid that my child would forget the nation's history and culture, from when she was young, my husband often let her watch movies about Vietnamese history so that she could understand the nation's culture. From here, Linh Lan has a special passion for reading. The books she chooses to read are mostly related to the history and politics of countries around the world," said Linh.

Using passion for history to convince Harvard University

Linh Lan said that when applying for admission, Harvard University requires candidates to write a main essay and 5 supplementary essays. In the main essay of 650 words, Linh Lan chose to write about her passion for history, in order to preserve the cultural and historical values ​​of the nation in the digital age.

Linh Lan’s favorite supplementary essay is about her family’s seafood business. Specifically, in the essay, Linh Lan shared the story of how, at the age of 12, she followed her parents to Canada, Korea, etc. to meet business partners, using English and Spanish to translate for her parents.

The trips gave the 12-year-old girl her first experiences with family work and a better understanding of her parents' work. "This is also the motivation for me to see the importance of English and how the international environment affects me," Linh Lan said.

Sharing her future plans, Linh Lan said she will choose to study at Harvard University to realize her dream of becoming an economic lawyer. In the future, the female student will still study normally to maintain her grades and consider learning another foreign language.

Linh Lan has a special passion for the zither - Photo: NVCC

Mr. Ben Compton - university advisor of Concordia International School (Hanoi) - said that during her studies, Linh Lan was especially interested in complex ideas, especially issues related to history and politics.

In order to pursue learning in the most authentic way, the female student constantly searched for connections between the past and the present to make learning more personalized.

"Linh Lan is a good student, has taken the most rigorous academic program available at Concordia, and has taken advantage of the flexibility of the advanced placement curriculum to explore her love of the social sciences.

In addition to being the president of DECA Vietnam, Linh Lan is also the deputy editor-in-chief of Concordia's school newspaper. Linh Lan is an extremely kind person, a talented historian, and loves the history and culture of the Vietnamese people," said Mr. Compton.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nu-sinh-17-tuoi-trung-tuyen-harvard-voi-bai-luan-chia-se-ly-do-muon-hoc-lich-su-20241217201920112.htm