You Don’t Need to Be a Top Student to Get into Harvard

Although Trang attended Hanoi International School for high school, she was never outstanding in her academic achievements. What made her stand out to her teachers and peers was her enthusiastic involvement in extracurricular activities and her special passion for dancing. In fact, when Trang expressed her desire to apply for a scholarship to Harvard University after graduating from Hanoi International School, her mother didn’t expect much and said, “Let’s see what you can achieve.”
Trang began her scholarship application journey in 11th grade. She painstakingly researched college rankings and carefully studied the requirements of U.S. universities on websites such as CHEA, USNews, Collegeboard, and others.
It took Trang three attempts to score high enough on the SAT to submit her application. However, according to Trang, a high SAT score isn’t necessarily the key factor for top U.S. universities when selecting students. In reality, Trang only completed 63% of the SAT exam, and her essay wasn’t particularly well-received. This shows that the reasons Harvard University selects its students are quite… varied!

Though not exceptionally strong in academics, Trang had participated in numerous volunteer activities such as Operation Smile (raising funds for surgeries for children with cleft lips), Friendship Village (advocating for victims of Agent Orange), and co-authoring several theatrical and artistic works staged by the Hanoi International Theatre Society. For Trang, these were the things that truly helped her reach the U.S.
“Academic performance is just one part of the overall evaluation by U.S. universities. Of course, you have to be smart, but you don’t necessarily have to be at the top of the Olympia in every field. What’s more important is that they – U.S. universities – look at what you have done, are doing, and will do for society,” Trang shared.

Dancing in the U.S.

Trang has been passionate about dancing since she was a child. In fact, her mother had to spend half of her monthly salary so Trang could attend both academic and dance classes at Hanoi International School.
When she first “set foot” at Harvard University, Trang took up a part-time job at the Widener Library, working 20 hours a week to save money for dance lessons. In her second year, she began cycling from Harvard to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to work as a teaching assistant and to study dance there. She did this 3 to 4 days a week, starting around 6 p.m. and finishing at 11 p.m. Many days, by the time she got home, it was already the next day!
Currently, the number of dance styles Trang can perform is countless, ranging from classical to modern, including Mambo, Swing, Salsa, Reggae, Waltz, Tango, Twist, Rock&Roll, Jazz, Meringué, as well as traditional dances from Vietnam, India, China, Thailand, and the Philippines. She is almost never absent from any student festival, not only at Harvard but also at MIT, Boston, Dartmouth, Wesleyan, and more.
As a co-chair and one of the few Asian instructors of Harvard’s dance club, Trang has “led her troops” to compete across Massachusetts and has won numerous arts and sports awards over the past two years.
Trang is currently pursuing dual degrees in Mathematics and Psychology. After graduating, she says she plans to return to Vietnam to seek opportunities in the education sector.