11 times transferring schools, 10 times moving house, male student wins full scholarship

(Dan Tri) - His parents divorced, his mother had cancer, in 12 years of high school he had to move house 10 times, change schools 11 times but he still won a university scholarship.

This September, Phan Tuan Minh enrolled in the Software Engineering Program, Faculty of Computer Science & Technology, British University Vietnam (BUV).

I am one of two outstanding students to win the "Founder" scholarship - the school's most prestigious scholarship category in 2025.

This full scholarship covers both undergraduate and graduate programs here, and is awarded to candidates with excellent academic performance, community service spirit and leadership potential.

Minh is one of two outstanding students to win the "Founder" scholarship - the school's most prestigious scholarship category in 2025 (Photo: Cong Thanh).

Essay from my own life

"Tick tock… The clock's hands kept moving, but with each passing second, he felt time passing faster. He was only seven years old, but people called him "trash" and shunned him.

They say he was "uneducated" by his parents because no one taught him, and perhaps they were right - his parents existed, but they were never there for him. Sometimes he cried because he missed his mother, but she was dying of cancer, and he knew that soon, there would be no one in the world who loved him anymore.

He sat at the back of the classroom, head down, lonely, beaten and alienated. He was afraid of people, always avoiding them. One day he looked up and asked God, "What is happiness? Who am I? Why do I have to endure all this?"

But God did not answer"…

Minh expressed his essay with a story from his life (Photo: Cong Thanh).

Above is the opening of Tuan Minh's essay in his 2025 scholarship application. Minh shared that most of the essay's content is the story of his own life throughout 12 years of high school.

The essay has 3 parts: Part 1 is about my unstable childhood, I often had to move house and change schools. Part 2 is the story about the friend who inspired me to fulfill my dreams later. Part 3 records the meeting between me and my "illusion" of myself in the future - after I have achieved success.

"In part 1, I wrote very long at first. It seemed like all the resentment from the years without my parents just poured out on 2 pages," Minh recalled.

Titled "My Dream Date," Minh's essay is not only touching but also demonstrates depth of thought, compassion, and determination to overcome fate.

Along with the desire to study Software Engineering, Minh hopes to develop technological solutions applied to the field of high-tech logistics from personal projects - to be able to contribute more to the community, to revive the country's economic development.

Minh will keep his results from Foreign Trade University to study here (Photo: Cong Thanh).

12 years of high school, 10 house moves, 11 school changes

Sharing with Dan Tri reporter , the male student said that when he was 3 years old, his parents divorced. He lived with his mother. Minh clearly remembers the first days when his mother and he moved out after his parents separated, it was a tiny rented house.

When Minh was 7 years old, his mother was suddenly diagnosed with stage 2 cancer. When he was 8 years old, Minh packed up and moved in with his aunt because his mother had to go in and out of the hospital for treatment.

In 4th grade, Minh had to board at an elementary school in Ba Dinh district because there was no one to take care of him every day.

In grade 5, Minh returned to live with his paternal uncle. After studying for half a year, Minh transferred schools because he had to live with another uncle...

Just like that, in 12 years of high school, Minh had to move 10 times, change schools 11 times and run around from the inner city to the suburbs of Hanoi.

"In 3rd grade, I had hyperactivity disorder. My grandmother said that when she took me to the hospital, the doctor said that my illness was partly due to psychological instability. I thought that the situation had stabilized after a few years, but in 10th grade, after changing schools and houses so many times, I fell into depression again.

At the time of depression, I was living with my foster parents in the suburbs of Hanoi. Many times I asked myself, what am I living for? Am I living or just existing? These questions repeated over and over again in my head. There were times when I thought about buying sleeping pills to free myself, but I don't know what fear or power stopped me," Minh shared.

With the help of his family and foster parents, Minh gradually overcame his depression. He began to socialize with friends and study more on his own. Thanks to the help of his foster parents' daughter, he achieved an IELTS certificate, even though there was no place to take the test in the suburbs.

In 2023, through the combined admission method, Minh passed the Business Administration major, International Faculty, Foreign Trade University.

In 2024, I searched for and was accepted into a Taiwan (China) scholarship. Minh decided to keep his results from the Foreign Trade University to study abroad for 3 months in Taipei.

"Returning from Taiwan, I still cherish the dream of being able to help develop a personal project to develop my homeland.

In 2025, while building a personal project, I happened to have the opportunity to learn about the "Founder" scholarship. From there, I researched and built my profile, wrote an essay, and unexpectedly won a full scholarship from the school," Minh said.

Returning from Taiwan, I still cherish the dream of being able to help develop a personal project to develop my homeland (Photo: NVCC).

Never give up on your dreams

"No matter what happens, never give up on your dreams", not only the meaning of the essay, this is also the inspiration that helps Minh continue to write his dream with a project using drones in the field of fast food delivery in Vietnam.

According to Minh, this method has not been widely applied in Vietnam while it has been effectively implemented abroad for many years.

Therefore, in the coming time, I will continue to reserve my study results at Foreign Trade University to study at the new school. At the same time, during the time of studying and building the project, I hope to find investment sources so that the project can become a reality in the near future.

In the story, Minh mentioned his grandmother many times, the person who always gave him both material and spiritual strength throughout his life.

At the age of 92, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Tuyet Le - Minh's grandmother, was proud and happy to see her grandson receive a scholarship.

"He has had a life of ups and downs, unlike many other children. And today, I also witnessed the moment he grew up. This is the most valuable gift he can give to his loved ones," Minh's grandmother said.

From a quiet student, Minh has become a more confident person, knowing how to cooperate and work in groups (Photo: Cong Thanh).

Commenting on student Phan Tuan Minh, in her recommendation letter, Ms. Tran Viet Hong, the homeroom teacher of the high school, said: "I still remember the day Minh first entered the class, going with his grandmother to apply for admission.

At that time, I learned about Minh's special family situation. His parents divorced when he was young, his mother had cancer, and he had to change schools to live with relatives.

As a quiet, rather obedient, quiet and uncommunicative student, Minh often keeps his distance from friends and is not confident in expressing his thoughts.

Since Minh moved from inner city Hanoi to the suburbs, he was still quite weak due to lack of foundation.

However, after a while, I realized that Minh was a determined and persistent student. Although he faced mental difficulties, Minh never stopped trying to improve himself.

The effort not only helped Minh improve in the math subject I taught but also in other subjects such as physics, biology, English... His scores have improved significantly.

From a quiet student, Minh has become a more confident person, knowing how to cooperate and work in groups.

Also in the recommendation letter, Chen Renmin, a Chinese language instructor at the Chinese Language Center at Ming Chuan University (Taiwan), said that in terms of learning, Minh is a serious and active student who can achieve specific goals in listening and speaking skills set by teachers. In particular, for reports and assignments, he always exceeds expectations and makes breakthroughs.

In the classroom, Tuan Minh always tries to combine learning with practice. He is very intelligent and has an open mind, not a passive student, but always thinks actively.

Outside of school hours, Tuan Minh always takes advantage of every opportunity to improve his language skills. With these valuable qualities, I believe he has great potential when studying at school.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/11-lan-chuyen-truong-10-lan-chuyen-nha-nam-sinh-gianh-hoc-bong-toan-phan-20250511225535952.htm