The secret to improving your profile helps 9X win Korean government scholarship

Tran Thi Thu Oanh, commonly known as Akai, 26 years old, graduated with a bachelor's degree in International Relations, International Studies, Faculty of International Studies, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU-USSH). After that, she worked at a number of private enterprises in the fields of technology, communications and marketing.
 
Since September 2024, Oanh has been studying at the Faculty of Political Science and Diplomacy, Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) in the city of Jeonju in southwestern Korea. She is sponsored by the Korean government for three years, including one year of Korean language study and two years of master's degree study. The GKS scholarship covers all expenses during her studies, including visa fees, airfare, tuition, living expenses, and insurance.
Sharing with reporters from Tien Phong Newspaper’s Vietnamese Student Page, Oanh said she had heard about the GKS scholarship many years ago. However, considering the prestige and level of competition of this scholarship, she always thought it was out of reach.
Academically, Oanh graduated with honors with a score of 3.41/4. Compared to other GKS applicants, she did not have high scores, no scientific research awards or publications in specialized journals. Her TOPIK Korean certificate and TOEIC English certificate scores were also not outstanding.
She has a number of extracurricular achievements related to her major and research orientation: co-founder and first president of an academic club; intern at the International Studies department; member of the organizing committee of a non-traditional security competition for students.
 
In 2023, the first time she tried to apply for GKS, she was rejected right from the document round. At the age of 25, with a stable job, a long-term relationship and friends around her getting married, Oanh was still groping her way to the country she had always dreamed of.
The second time she applied for the scholarship, Oanh spent a lot of time reflecting to find out her shortcomings and find ways to improve her scholarship application. “Failure is not something to be ashamed of. For me, failure helps me see what I lack, understand myself better, and become more mature to find the path to success,” she confided.
Oanh realized that there were factors that could not be improved, such as university graduation scores, or factors that could not be improved, such as research projects and scientific articles. However, there were still factors that could be improved, such as certificate scores, extracurricular activities, essays, and study plans.
Oanh tries to increase the “Korean element” to create consistency, continuity and demonstrate determination. She admits that although she has loved the land of Kimchi for a long time, everything has only stopped at the level of “interest” without any “action”.

She actively studied and successfully passed the exam to obtain a higher level Korean language certificate. She also registered and was selected to participate in a cultural dissemination program organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea, becoming a content creator for a series of videos about Korean culture posted on the social networking sites of the Korean Cultural Center and the Korean Embassy in Vietnam.
  Participating in these activities made Oanh feel her motivation to apply for the scholarship and her desire to set foot in Korea even stronger and clearer. From there, she proactively changed her mindset, perspective and way of expressing herself in her essays and study plans.
“I realized that no matter how grand and literary an essay is, if it lacks real-life evidence, it will not fool the judges. It took me a long time to answer the question 'What do I want, what will I do, and why do I need to do it?'.
I have found the definition and role of politics and diplomacy for myself. Instead of vague and general things, I have established the most detailed roadmap possible to realize the ideal I want to pursue," she recalled.
To “keep” the judges, Oanh began her essay with a question about the difference in coverage and ranking of Vietnam and South Korea on the soft power rankings of countries in the world. She pointed out that, although both emerged from many difficulties after the war in the last century, South Korea has done very well in cultural diplomacy to gain soft power in international relations.
 
Oanh believes that Korea is an ideal place for her to study Politics and Diplomacy, because of its valuable resources and high practicality in public diplomacy and people's diplomacy. She hopes to learn many useful lessons about Korean public diplomacy, as well as contribute to the Vietnam - Korea relationship in the future.
At the end of the essay, she linked all the “pieces” of knowledge, experience and experiences in studying, extracurricular activities, and skills to affirm: “I have motivation. I have goals. I have researched and prepared carefully. I have, am, and will definitely continue to make efforts. And I believe that I deserve this scholarship.”
The GKS scholarship only requires a letter of recommendation from a university lecturer or a leader at work. Oanh received a letter of recommendation from Dr. Nguyen Thi Thuy Trang, currently Head of the International Development Research Department at the Faculty of International Studies. Ms. Thuy Trang is both a lecturer and a leader managing Oanh's internship, so she understands her student's ability, personality, and research orientation.
 
During the interview round, Oanh was a bit confused when JBNU conducted the interview via phone. The school did not have a specific time but only announced a general time within four days from April 25 to 28, 2024.
Oanh did not know when she would receive the call, so she was always anxious and impatient during those days. It was not until around 6:30 p.m. on the final interview day that she received a call from the school, ending many days of “sitting on fire”.
"Everyone should proactively learn about the interview format: phone, video call on software like Zoom, Google Meet or recording a video of the topic; about the interviewer: teachers from the International Cooperation Department, scholarship fund staff or professors and lecturers in the field they are applying for. It is also necessary to prepare mentally, practice answering frequently asked questions and do not forget to check the technical equipment," Oanh shared.
Talking about her future plans, Oanh hopes to gain closer access to the fields of Korean political science and diplomacy, specifically the country’s communication and public diplomacy policies. Along with that, she also wants to comprehensively develop her skills, expand her relationships and contribute more to the community through extracurricular activities.
 
After studying and training, Oanh hopes to continue pursuing a career related to politics and diplomacy, to narrow the gap between macro and micro, theory and practice, so that politics and diplomacy are no longer something big, dry and distant.
Once she has accumulated enough qualities and expertise, Oanh wants to become an expert and teach public diplomacy, helping people realize that each of us plays a certain role in diplomacy and increasing Vietnam's soft power.
To the young readers of the Vietnamese Student Page, Tien Phong newspaper, Oanh said: “The Koreans have a great saying, ‘Beginning is half the success’. If that day I just sat there and watched without starting, I would not have had the success I have today.”