Trang, born in 1997, did not have any prizes and extracurricular activities related to computer science, and had to study basic knowledge of the field. She unexpectedly was granted a scholarship from Worcester.

“The school cares about the development potential of candidates, rather than prizes and achievements,” Trang said. “They many have seen me as person ready to learn and get out of a rut."

Her personality was shown by Trang in her essay.

Trang’s mother expected a boy after having three ultrasound tests. But she finally gave birth to a girl.

Trang was like a boy. She was mischievous and liked playing football. The mother did not like this, saying that a girl needs to be gentle and feminine, and sent Trang to a ballet class.

One day, Trang scored a goal at a football match at the primary school thanks to her skills she learned by practicing ballet. This made her realize that it would be better not to set limits on what men and women can do. She is always ready to learn and try everything.

Receiving letters of invitation from 10 schools, Trang finally chose Worcester Academy because she thought this was her fate.

Before leaving for the US, Trang spent two summer months reading documents and studying information technology.

However, at university she had to stay late at night and learn hard to catch up with male students in the class, who had a firm foundation in IT. Some of them had won prizes in coding.

Her great efforts were rewarded. After four years of study, Trang got a 3.91/4.0 GPA, and was among the best students at the school.

Trang was offered a paid internship from PayPal when she was a third-year student.

But to many people’s surprise, Trang decided not to work there after graduation.

“The work assigned to me just required repeated operations, which did not require much thinking ability,” she explained, adding that she did not feel fully contented.

Trang now works for a startup that makes devices that control safety for vehicle drivers via phone apps.

“The most important thing is to find significance in my work,” she said. 

Thuy Nga

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