GSQT – Understanding the scholarship program, knowing how to evaluate yourself to stand out from other candidates, always putting yourself in the position of the evaluation board, are the factors that help students win scholarships to study in Singapore.

Recently, at the seminar “Study in Singapore 2021” organized by the Vietnamese Student Association in Singapore (VNYA), Vietnamese students and alumni shared about their learning and how to win scholarships to study in Singapore.

“Singlish” does not affect the quality of education

Having studied abroad since he was in secondary school, Nguyen Phuong Chi (2002), currently a student majoring in Economics, National University of Singapore (NUS), said that in a world leader country, there are many difficulties international students can face.

According to Phuong Chi, for those who intend to study abroad from middle school to high school, it is necessary to consider carefully whether they are independent enough and overcome learning difficulties, cultural differences and loneliness in a new environment. In addition, family finance is also something international students need to consider because at this age, it is not allowed to work part-time in Singapore.

For Chi herself, the most difficult thing a female student ever faced when coming to Singapore was the language problem. “In Singapore, people mostly say “Singlish”. Therefore, when I first arrived, there were a lot of funny situations I had encountered such as not being able to understand what the aunts and uncles outside the campus were saying.

However, Chi also ensures that, in school or other work environments, teachers and students all use standard English. Therefore, “Singlish” will not affect the quality of education. On the contrary, when she has been in Singapore for a long time, Phuong Chi also feels that “Singlish” is quite cute and a bit familiar like the middle words “a, y, nha” in Vietnam.

“STAR” structure when writing a study abroad essay

Not studying abroad since middle school like Chi, Nguyen Lan Huong (1998) was a student at Foreign Trade University. After 1 year of studying in Vietnam, Huong got to win scholarships to study in Singapore and started her study abroad journey at Singapore Institute of Management, then RMIT University.

Sharing about her experience of winning a 100% scholarship, Lan Huong said: “When applying for a scholarship, you need to pay attention to 3 things: Understand the scholarship program well; know how to evaluate yourself to make yourself stand out from other candidates and finally put yourself in the position of the judging panel”.

As for personal essays, Lan Huong has given a few small “tips” to help students take care of their essays. “Don’t just list achievements, be a storyteller and inspire people to talk about your passions. A common way and also the way I used when writing my essay to submit to University of Singapore is to use metaphors to represent myself.

In addition, Huong also encourages people to refer to STAR structure when writing essays and interviews to help answer questions more closely. STAR structure in a personal essay, according to Huong, includes S (Situation, describe a specific situation), T (Tasks, describe your responsibilities in that situation), A (Action, specific action to problem/task solving), R (Results, results and lessons learned for yourse