Stethoscope from http://www.flickr.com/photos/vitualis/137213564/

Last weekend’s story of Yankel the Gunner was a very comical satire of a medical student, and in the spirit of continuing on with OneVietnam’s series on Graduate Schools, this article will focus on what it takes to get into medical school.

While Yankel the Gunner’s story might be a satirical exaggeration of the attributes that a student should possess to get into medical school, some facts are not far from the truth if you’re aiming for the top medical schools and residency program.  I wish that I can give you a perfect formula for getting into a top 10 medical school, but there is really no such thing (unless you’re Yankel).  What I can give is a generic formula that will aid in the process of applying to medical school

Disclaimer:  At the time of writing this article, I am not affiliated with any medical admissions committee.  I am simply sharing facts that have made me and my friends successful in the medical school application process.

Before the application…

Undergraduate Record (School, GPA and difficulty of classes):

This is by far the most important aspect of your application.

School:  The undergraduate institution that you go to does influence where you will end up.  While this is not a make or break factor because we can come up with thousands of examples of successful applicants coming from lesser known school, it does present a slight bias.

GPA: Medical school is very tough and demanding, and the Admissions Committee (AdCom) wants to see proof that you can handle the challenge of intense academic learning.  The higher your GPA, the higher your chances of getting into medical school.  Though, word of advice, don’t get cocky because of your high GPA since it is still possible to not get an acceptance if other parts of your application are lacking.

Difficulty of Classes:  A lower GPA can sometimes be excused depending on how difficult your course load was.  However, do not think that this is an excuse for doing mediocre in a class.  There are students that are getting an “A” in those difficult courses: you want to be one of those students because they’re the ones that are getting into the top medical programs!

Advice:  Aim for at least a 3.3 GPA

MCAT

This goes hand-in-hand with a strong undergraduate record.  You have to get a high MCAT score.  Things to do to prepare:

1.  Check the AAMC Official MCAT website

2.  Take a review course: Kaplan, ExamKrackers, Princeton Review, etc.  You need a way to keep yourself on a good study schedule.

3.  Take TONS and TONS of practice tests.  Nothing will improve your scores more.

Advice:  Aim for an MCAT score of 30.  This means 10 on each section.

Research:

I believe that a doctor is a scientist.  He or she should push the boundaries of medicine.  Therefore, you should do research as a student to appreciate  the complexities and beauty of how modern medicine has developed to the point it is today.

You might not do it in your future practice, but you should do it now and be able to talk about it in an intellectual manner in your application and interview.

Extra-curricular Activities

Clinical: You should shadow a physician, volunteer, and do other clinical related projects to demonstrate that you know what it takes to be a doctor

Do what you love: Passion is what it takes to be a great physician.  You can show passion through anything that you do, so do what you love to do and your application will shine.

Dedication:  You should show commitment to some project by long term involvement.

During the application process

Personal Statement:

This is pretty important because it is the last thing you can do on your application to sell yourself.  Read OneVietnam’s article on Personal Statement for more advice on how to construct an interesting story to tell the AdCom.

Recommendation Letters:

Build STRONG relationships.  Your recommendation letters mean a lot.    Famous names do help, but not if they’re only writing a generic letter.  You want to choose people that can comment highly on your personal attributes.

Advice:  Choose people who know you well and who can write you very positive letters.

Early Application

Primaries: Get your primaries in as early as possible.  AMCAS open on June 1st.  If you’re not done with this, at least you can turn in your transcripts early so that your verification process can be quicker.

Secondaries: People often get their primaries in and then sit on their secondaries until October.  Word of advice:  don’t be late!  Your application is not complete until your secondaries are in.  The first interviews start mid/late August, and if you’re sitting on secondaries, you will miss the first possible round of interviews

Why don’t you want to be late?  Well, from my experience, being late really kills your chances at a lot of school.  I turned in my primaries mid-August and missed out on a lot of interviews I could’ve gotten.  However, I finished my secondaries by the first week of the cycle, allowing me to bypass a lot of procrastinators that have not completed their secondaries.  Hence, I got lucky because people were dilly-dallying on their secondaries.

Advice: Get your primaries in by June and your secondaries done as soon as you receive them!

Choosing the right school

Medical school is a complete crap shoot.  There is no guarantee you’ll get into any school.  Some programs may reject you because you’re not good enough.  Other programs may reject you because you’re too good.  There are no true safety schools: only schools that you have a higher chance of getting into.

Look at the average scores of students who get into those schools and apply to schools that match your range.  Those should be considered “probable safety schools”.  I call them probable safety schools because you have a higher chance of getting into schools in this range than any others.  I applied to about 10 safety schools.

Then apply to schools whose statistics are lower than yours.  Those should be school that “you might get into”.  Unlike the college application process, the typical safety schools are not really safety schools at all.  Each particular program doesn’t want to lower their matriculation rate by accepting students that would end up rejecting their program for a higher ranked program.

Schools whose statistics are higher than yours.  Those are considered “reaches”.  Apply to a few of these.  Hope for the best, expect the worst.

After the application

Interviews:

If you do all of the above as adviced, you should receive invitations to interviews.  If you do, practice practice practice!  Know your application and yourself inside and out: the interviewer expects you to elaborate on the things you wrote in your application and go beyond what you described.  Also, know why you want to go to that particular school and why you like that particular program.

Do not screw this part up!  You have a really good shot!    For example, Stanford interviews only 400 students from an applicant pool of 6,500, accepts slightly over 100 student for a final matriculating class of 90.  Most other schools are like this also.  Therefore, if you got the interview, the school already has their eyes on you, and you have a very high shot of getting in.   The chances of getting into the school after getting an interview ranges from 30-50%.

Advice:Practice interviewing with others.  Know yourself as an applicant, know the school, and demonstrate why you will be a good fit for the program.

Do the best you can

You can send in an update letter in November.  During the few months between first submitting your application and November, do something amazing.   You can update your application with that amazing thing you did.

Wait and Hope

The application process is a waiting game. Just sit steady and hope for the best.  Once you get your interviews, then you can practice some more.  In the mean time, enjoy the psychological torture.

Final Words

Getting into medical school is difficult, but it is not impossible.  If you truly want to get into medical school, you can.  Everyone that truly wants to be a doctor will find their way to become one.  If your application doesn’t succeed and if you don’t have the scores, take a year off, do a post-bac, get a research job, get a masters, take additional classes, and study for your MCAT.

As for getting into top medical schools in the world, be like Yankel!  Aim for that perfect 4.0, that 59 on the MCAT, those first author publications, and the cure for cancer.  I hope you the best during the medical school application process.

But it is known to all that only a select few obtain a coveted seat in the nation’s best medical school – Harvard Medical.  The journey to Boston is not an easy one, but the reward is immense.  While the stories of glory are often told, the real hard labor and life-changing decisions students make are sometimes less mentioned.  It is our goal today to share a poignant story written by Jack Varon, a Harvard Medical Student and staff writer for the HMS literary magazine Third Space.

The story of ‘Yankel the Gunner’ is a universal story of the trials and tribulations of what it takes to be the best medical student.  Be it Yankel or Minh, Nghia, or Trang, any medical student can use this to help guide his/her life towards success.  Please enjoy.

Harvard Medical School

“Yankel the Gunner” by Jack Varon

No gunner was more famous than Yankel the gunner. In many ways Yankel Kalishnikov was the ideal medical school applicant. He had graduated third in his class at a prestigious northeastern university, and then spent no fewer than seventeen months in a small, impoverished African country, practicing a low-cost method of delivering babies using a clean pair of flip-flops and an iced-tea pitcher. He had published several papers (three of which listed him as first author) describing the effects of microwaves on various cheeses when placed within the mouse gut. One such paper had yielded him a patent on a very successful brand of mousetrap.

childrens hospital boston.org

Yankel loved racquetball, a pursuit to which his Marfan-induced flexibility and length made him well adapted. Set on becoming a surgeon, Yankel had also taken up sewing, as he was sure it would be useful preparation. He had majored in German literature, feeling that it would set him apart from what he predicted would be a very competitive applicant pool. Of course, Yankel had been admitted easily to medical school. His 59 on the MCAT was a new record, a feat he’d achieved by exploiting an obscure loophole that allowed him to take the physics section twice.

Few pursuits were more delightful to Yankel than studying in the middle of the night, especially if a test was very far away. He loved being absolutely assured that no one else in his class was studying, and that the chasm between his knowledge and theirs was widening. Every night, from 3 am to 5 am, he would wake up, study for two hours, and return to sleep. Every morning in the lecture hall, he would triumphantly proclaim, “I cannot believe how little I studied! Surely I am the least responsible student in our class!” This perennial proclamation was always met with groans from those sitting near Yankel, as it was clear from his questions in class (they were often accompanied by a bibliography) that this was a lie.

Yankel was a gunner, and the worst kind. He not only wanted to do well; he wanted to do better than everyone else. He would surreptitiously flip the power switch on the surge protector in the computer lab, but only if he was sure someone hadn’t hit the save button in a few pages. He e-mailed out his summary notes, with tiny errors peppered throughout. Yankel’s notes were very popular, as studying them thoroughly always netted the same grade, a 93. This was always exactly 7 points lower than Yankel’s grade.

Brigham and Women Hospital

Once, and only once, Yankel was spotted on his nightly journey to study. Matilda Schmilda, his classmate, was also awake, no doubt fretting about how her ridiculous name made it impossible for her to be taken seriously. It was obvious that Yankel was planning on studying in the dead of night. In a panic, Yankel began to cry, and begged Matilda not to tell the rest of the students. Confused and frightened, Matilda assured Yankel that his secret was safe and that she did not care how he spent his night.

Yankel could not trust Matilda. As far as he was concerned, everyone was as competitive as him, and Matilda was eager to tear him down. So Yankel devised a plot to get Matilda to drop out of medical school. First, he circulated in his famous notes that a rare genetic disease, called Moranis Syndrome, caused one’s arms and torso to shorten in response to tiny amounts of inhaled formalin. Eventually, the collapsing upper body would crush the respiratory system, and the fictitious disease would prove fatal.

At the start of anatomy block, Yankel would sneak into Matilda Shmilda’s room. Using his superior knowledge of sewing, Yankel would quickly lengthen the sleeves of all of Matilda’s shirts by half an inch every other day. At first Matilda thought her sleeves were getting longer in the laundry, though Matilda would later admit that this didn’t really make sense. When she asked her friends if they thought she had Moranis Syndrome, they not so cleverly responded, “Don’t you mean Moranis Shmoranis Syndrome?”

Matilda continued to be alarmed at her apparently shortening arms. Yankel watched with delight as she rolled up her sleeves a little more each week. His delight quickly turned to frustration, as it seemed apparent that Matilda had no intention of leaving medical school. After two months, Matilda’s bunched sleeves were so voluminous that she could no longer rest her arms against her sides; she was beginning to resemble a child in a snowsuit. Every day, Yankel grew more and more anxious that Matilda would expose his obnoxious study habits.

Conflicted about what to do next, Yankel went to one of his mentors, Isaac. All gunners accumulate mentors so as to have every possible advantage in any possible situation. Isaac was just one of many mentors that Yankel had collected, but Isaac was his favorite. Isaac was an anesthesiologist, but not by choice; he had wanted to be a surgeon, but his fingers were too thick to manipulate the instruments. So Isaac accepted as a consolation that he could at least, as an anesthesiologist, tell surgeons what to do, which was the next best thing.

Yankel never met Isaac in his office, but rather, would scrub in on surgeries so that Isaac didn’t have to waste any time. During one such surgery, Yankel confronted Isaac with his dilemma. “Is she hot?” asked Isaac, only half-joking. “Take me seriously!” Yankel whined. “If she tells anyone that I study in the middle of the night, I don’t know what I’ll do.” While Isaac was busy calming Yankel, neither of them had time to notice that Matilda Schmilda was shadowing the same surgery and had heard their entire conversation.

While one might think she would be angry that Yankel had convinced her she was dying just because he didn’t trust her, years of teasing about her name had made Matilda very meek. Relieved that her sleeves had indeed been getting longer, and not her arms getting shorter, she decided that she would find Yankel at his study spot at night and explain to him that he had nothing to worry about, and that he shouldn’t waste his time lengthening her sleeves.

So that night, at 3:07 am, Matilda found Yankel, hunched over a desk while he pored over a notebook. She was wearing jeans and a green turtleneck with sleeves that trailed on the ground. The moment she opened her mouth to whisper “Yankel,” he jumped up with a start, panicked, and hurled a computer monitor in her direction. Computer monitors are much more resilient than movies and television would have one believe, and it fell, unscathed to the ground. Matilda, though, was not so lucky. The monitor had crushed her chest and killed her instantly. Yankel hastily picked up the monitor and placed it back on the desk, and ran from the room.

The next morning, Matilda’s body was found, and it was apparent to everyone that she had finally succumbed to her Moranis syndrome…

Whatever happened to Yankel?  To continue reading the rest of the story, please visit here.
Please don’t forget to comment below.  We’d love to hear what you got from the story.

Credit: Marchin Wichary on Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/mwichary

Vietnam has been on a high real GDP growth rate (which is adjusted for inflation) since it started the economic renovation phase. In fact, its growth rate once ranked 2nd in the world with 8% annual GDP growth rate in the 90′s and 7.5% in the 2000′s up to right before the current global financial crisis. Even in this crisis, Vietnam real GDP’s growth rate is still on the rise and the nation did not face a recession like the US. Also, during the turn of 2007, Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) – an important event that gives signals to investors that the country is putting more effort in stabilizing its economic environment.

With all these good news, many investors are looking into Vietnam as a high potential for their next investment projects. However, starting a business in any nation is not an overnight process. There are many considerations, and in this article, I will focus on several corporate tax issues:

1) the number of procedures and payments,

2) the time it takes to prepare tax documents per year

3) the total amount of tax on profit.

Before we examine the World Bank’s data, it is important to read about the assumption of this data here.

Also, it is very important to note that Vietnam has a strict policy that control the outflow of investment capital. For example, it might be very easy to bring $1M to Vietnam to start a business, but it is not easy to export $1M in profit outside of the country.  This fact has been very discouraging to many investors, and as a student of economic, I disapprove of such stringent control of investment capital.

As we can see from the chart above, on average domestically owned businesses must go through 32 procedures and payments that take them at least 1050 hours to prepare. To put into perspective, it requires an accountant to work full time (8hr/day) for more than 6 months to complete the tax for one year, assuming perfectly available information. Also, the tax takes away 40.1% of the total profit that this domestic firm makes during that year.

Let us compare Vietnam with other country in the region and the OECD countries (high income and developed nations).

As can be observed, Vietnam’s tax rate is relatively high mostly due to high profit tax and labor tax. In addition, the amount of procedures and payments of taxes and the time it take to complete them in Vietnam is exceptionally high in Vietnam, which is very discouraging to international investors. Many people might think that the amount of labor and profit tax will return to the citizens and workers somehow, but this might not be the case because the numerous procedures require many processing departments and personnel that just suck out the income. Also, a discouraging environment for the investors might be detrimental because it can reduce the total amount of employment and wages as the demand for labor decreases.

Vietnam has been growing at an impressive rate in the past 25 years, but its potential has not been reached due to many stringent and unnecessary procedures. There are much room for improvements and we have high hopes for Vietnam’s economic performance.

The Fulbright Program is one of the most prestigious fellowships granted to a student.  Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, the fellowship provides students, scholars, and professionals the opportunity and funding to conduct advanced research, to undertake graduate studies, and/or to teach for one academic year in an international setting.

Fulbright SE Asia Conference:

About two weeks ago, Fulbright scholars from around Southeast Asia were invited to Manila to take part in the annual Fulbright Mid-Year Conference.  When the Vietnam group stepped into the Shangri-la hotel, our new home for the next week, our jaws were on the floor.  A 360 degree view of the lobby will show you a lounge with sky high glass walls, a live band off in the corner, the entryway  to  a beautiful swimming pool, and then Heat restaurant (hands down the best breakfast/lunch buffet I have ever experienced).   By the way that we were reacting, the other scholars most likely thought that this trip was the first time we had been welcomed back into civilization in months.

The next day, Fulbright students and scholars from Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines engaged in a multidisciplinary discourse that included both academic and cultural experiences.  The level of excitement in the room far surpassed that which was elicited from us when we saw our accommodations (keep in mind this is coming from someone who has been eating off street carts for the past 7 months, so you know the Conference was good!).  Everyone was genuinely interested in the research that was being conducted within these respective countries, and even more so, learning about these current developments helped us all to understand the progress in our own host nations as well as the region as a whole.  It was truly a remarkable experience, made even better when I crossed paths with a fellow Anteater!

Before coming to the conference, I had been so entrenched in my work that it had completely slipped my mind that I would have the opportunity to meet our Thailand scholar—Andy Hoang.  It was truly a pleasure to be able to meet with Andy and hear about his current research.  He discussed how social norms in Thailand affect the treatment of children with special needs, which paralleled research he had previously conducted in Vietnam.
I found Andy’s perspective and research particularly interesting because of an experience that I had a few days before coming to Manila……..

My Visit to the Agent Orange Village in Tu Du Hospital:

When I had first agreed to teach at HUFLIT University, one of the stipulations that the President and I had agreed upon was that a portion of the money that I earned would be donated to the victims of Agent Orange. As the Chairman of the Board for the Ho Chi Minh City Association for Victims of Agent Orange, he was pushing for me to visit the Tu Du village, which is part of the local hospital.  As the time neared to make the donation and visit the children, I was hesitant to go.

If you venture around the most populous parts of the city (particularly in tourist hot spots), you are bound to see a person afflicted with physical deformities associated with Agent Orange.  So, one would assume that after an extended period of living in this city, I had seen enough of this to desensitize myself from what I was going to see at the hospital.  Even so, I felt very uneasy about my impending visit.  I was afraid of what I was going to see and how I would react.  On the eve of my visit I continued to mull over the necessity of visiting the site.  Needless to say, I decided that the right thing to do was to go and to face my fears.

When I stepped into the village area, where about 60 children live, I was greeted with smiles—all of the children were so excited to have new visitors to interact with.  An area approximately the size of the UCI Scholarship office hosted doctor’s offices and beds for all 60 children (ranging from the age of 3-28).

Some children were bedridden because of the growing tumors and mental disabilities, and others were free to roam around on the floor outside. The first few moments you are in one of their bedrooms, and their reality sets in, your heart begins to sink.   In a country with a healthcare system that is already poor, children with special needs are particularly marginalized (on many different levels).   Not only have many of these children been abandoned by their parents, but to say that their medical treatment and living facilities are subpar would be a major understatement.  Seeing a life in suffering is never easy, the natural reaction is to feel sorry for them.  However, when I interacted with them—I could not keep the smile off my face.  These children were so full of life and just genuinely happy to be playing with my friend and I.  Whatever physical disabilities they had did not obstruct their jovial nature—it was a challenge to keep up with their pace!

In exploring one of the rooms reserved for older girls, I met a girl named Hong.  I had been tired out by the younger kids and wanted to take a break, so I sat down on the floor and she happened to come up and talk to me.  I found out that she is a student at HUFLIT (the school I am teaching at) and that she will be completing her degree in Information Technology this year, and already has a job lined up as a manager after she graduates.  She lives in the hospital in a small room with about 12 other girls, and when she is not studying for her own schooling, she helps tutor the younger students who are able to attend general school. Every day she drives her motorbike to the university without any special assistance.  Hong has no legs and one functioning arm.

Finally, I understood what my roommate had told me (she is a fellow Fulbright student working on healthcare reform): to feel sorry for these children would be to undermine everything they have accomplished.  It is truly amazing.

I am in the process of obtaining permission to volunteer at the village on a weekly basis.

Now, when I really think about where I want my work to take me…it is not to places like the Shangri-la.  It is to the people that inspire you, like the children of Tu Du village.

In my last post, I discussed how to write a Personal Statement.  Knowing that many of you are currently facing the choice of which graduate school to attend, I want to focus today’s post on how to choose your graduate school.

I spent last weekend with bright-eyed admitted students visiting Harvard Law School, each grasping tightly onto their red folders and bursting with smiles.  Amidst the variety of questions circulating the conversations, one remained most salient: why did you choose to go to Harvard?

I wanted to give the simplest—and perhaps most honest—answer of “It just felt right,” but I knew that would be unsatisfying to the inquisitive students facing such tough decisions.  Let me start with this: 

 You are in a great position to have options and you can—and will—be successful regardless of which school you choose.  

 With that in mind, there are several factors I considered in making my decision that may be worth contemplating. 

  1.      Location

Do you prefer cities or suburbs?  Mom-and-pop or chain stores?  These questions may seem superficial at first, but they are crucial in shaping your graduate school experience.  For example, Stanford is in beautiful, sunny Palo Alto, away from the city and full of spacious roads to drive through.  Harvard, on the other hand, is in the vibrant city of Cambridge and a short subway-ride from Boston, one of the U.S.’s largest and most historic cities.  Ultimately, consider the impact of location on everything from jobs prospects in that area to even food and weather.  As one of my Californian classmates jokes, “Go to where the weather sucks the most – you’ll study more.” (Julia Choe, HLS ’12) 

Location, Reference: http://go.hrw.com/atlas/norm_map/usa.gif

2.      Size  

 Size matters!  You may want to have a tight, close-knit community, or you may want to have the opportunity to meet new people everyday.  In considering small class sizes, for example, picture yourself in your third or fourth year of graduate school.  Would you be tired of knowing everyone’s business or would you feel fortunate to have the support of your entire class?  With large class sizes, you may fear being lost in the crowd, or you may relish the opportunity to find friends form a greater pool of diverse students.  

Class Size, Reference: http://img.dailymail.co.uk/

 3.      Student Life  

Location and size impact student life more generally.  You should notice the atmosphere of the school both inside and outside the classroom.  Are students generally more collaborative or independent?  Friendly or aggressive?  What environment would suit your personality and bring out your best?  How diverse is the student body?  To be honest, you’ll face all types of personalities wherever you decide to go, so this may not necessarily be the dispositive factor.  Lastly, look to the types of student groups and activities available outside of the curriculum, making sure to find those with interests you share. 

Student Life, Reference: http://www.sa.ucsb.edu

 4.      Curriculum  

 Do the schools differ much in terms of curriculum, especially the variety of courses or style of teaching?  What is the grading system?  Would you prefer a quarter or semester system?  Although most schools probably offer the same “foundation” courses, some have more developed programs in certain areas of interest.  For example, one reason I chose Harvard was for its Program on Negotiation, which none of the other schools I considered offered.  Stanford, on the other hand, was quite appealing for its focus on a variety of law clinics. 5.      Faculty  

 I assume that most schools have outstanding faculty, so similar to curriculum considerations, faculty should factor into your decision if there are outstanding professors in particular areas in which you have a strong interest.  This may be especially important if you want to pursue academia. More generally, you may want to consider faculty diversity and accessibility. 

Faculty, http://www.independentschools.com

  6.      Financial Aid  

 My advice with financial aid is simple: unless you are facing serious financial concerns or you are considering a full ride scholarship, discrepancies with financial aid should not make or break your decision.  You can always try to negotiate with a comparable school that gives you less financial aid.  More importantly, what may seem to be a noticeable discrepancy in money now is actually not much of a difference when paying back loans over an extended period of time. 

With so many issues to consider, I understand that the decision you face may seem quite daunting.  However, I’m simply going to repeat myself: You are in a great position to have options and you can—and will—be successful regardless of which school you choose.  

At the end of the day, do what feels right.  Your intuition, above all else, may be the best advice to follow.

Harvard Law School, Image from http://www.pensionriskmatters.com

To be completely frank, I have no idea why Harvard Law School decided to take a risk with this seemingly ordinary Vietnamese guy.  So whenever graduate school hopefuls ask me for the “formula” of getting into Harvard, I always provide the same simple answer:

Sell yourself.

Graduate school applications are as easy as that.  Regardless of whether you graduate top of your class or score a perfect 180 on your LSAT, you still need to convince schools that you deserve one of those coveted seats in their classrooms.  Qualified candidates without a coherent purpose or narrative can be easily lost in the crowd.  Thus, approach your applications as though you’re trying to sell a product in the most competitive market—namely, selling yourself against thousands of other applicants.

This means “packaging” yourself as an attractive candidate through a coherent application.  Dig deep to discover a narrative of who you are and what you hope to accomplish.  Your personal statement, recommendations, resume, and perhaps even test scores should all reflect a narrative that you can use as your selling point.  Put differently, these seemingly distinct parts of your application should work together to build a coherent and convincing story.  Think of this “holistic process” as developing that thirty-second “elevator pitch” to an overburdened and jaded admissions officer.

My Story:

Family during Holiday. (Left to Right: Sister, mom, dad, me)

For example, I grounded my narrative on my background as a son of Vietnamese refugees who worked relentlessly to create his own opportunities.  My resume, personal statement, and recommendations developed that story, highlighting academic and extracurricular activities that reflect my initiative and commitment to helping those from backgrounds similar to my own.  Of course, your narrative may adopt an entirely different approach, so focus on your unique story that now leads you to graduate school.

To Sum Up…

I apologize for not offering a more concrete formula to successful applications.  As mentioned earlier, no one can really identify the perfect mix of qualities that admissions officers seek in admitting applicants.  Rather, you should spend time discovering how to mold and piece together each factor to create your own unique narrative.  As obvious as that sounds, a good sales pitch can earn admissions to any graduate school, so be strategic in selling yourself.

Stanford Law School

After my first article on getting into law school I received some requests from readers to talk more about diversity (yes you can contact me about my articles!) in law school. I’m glad to talk about it, but before I go on let me give one disclaimer: unfortunately, GPA and your LSAT score are hands-down the most important part of any law school application, primarily though because they’re two of the most important variables the US News and World Report uses to calculate their infamous top law school rankings every year. And even between law schools, there’re differences in how much each one values diversity. Some are very numbers oriented and some actively try to build very diverse student bodies. So all you future law students out there, don’t start skipping your classes just yet!

That being said, diversity is valued and I am constantly impressed by the how diverse in both background and experience the law students not only at my law school, UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall, but at every other school I’ve been to. There are CIA analysts, union organizers, rock stars and professional gamblers. There are students who worked in jungle research stations, founded start-up gaming companies, and fought in Iraq. There are former corporate consultants and Big Four auditors. There are those who’ve traveled the world, taught in Asia and and worked domestic abuse centers in Detroit. There’s the 17 year old genius, and the 39 year old biotech kickboxer and everything in between.  The variety is endless but whatever it is that makes your life story and accomplishments that much more compelling or interesting, don’t be afraid to let it shine through because you’re the kind of people we want in law school!

And I do mean we, because a little known fact is that at many schools students form a a part of the admissions committee and do have some influence on admissions decisions, and if you don’t believe that professors and law school admissions officials care about diversity, you can sure bet the students do! The people the school admits are going to be our classmates for the next few years and the last thing we want are boring and uninteresting people droning through classes with us.

Now, it may seem that  ”getting” diversity requires you to take some time off in-between law school. And while I would personally recommend that as a great idea and tend to agree that a lot of the people with interesting experiences at my school took some or a lot of time off before coming to law school, it is by no means necessary. Diversity spans your whole life and starts from the moment you’re born. It includes the struggles you overcame, the unique cultural viewpoints you bring, and of course all the cool stuff you did in college like tutor high schoolers and study abroad (maybe not so much all those frat parties though). Yes, that can include race though it’ll probably require a lot more than saying I’m ethnicity X (which in California is also illegal after Prop 209′s ban on affirmative action).

Generally, you’ll need to at least try to tie whatever it is you want to emphasize back to the practice of law somehow. That can be an interest in a particular area of law (for example, jungle researcher wants to practice environmental law) or a motivation to practice law (working with refugees makes you want to want learn more about law). Whatever it is will vary and can be deeply personal, but don’t be afraid to let it out if it’s an important part of your desire to go to law school.

So whatever it is that makes you unique, whether you’re applying to law school straight out of college or venturing back into academia after years outside the ivory tower, let it shine through because we want to know about it, and more than likely we want you!

In many societies, particularly developing countries, girls are perceived as less desirable than boys. For example, China’s one-child policy combined with a preference for boys has led to a substantial imbalance between the sexes. A report in the Economist states that in China, there are 108 boys to 100 girls for the generation born in the late 1980s and 124 to 100 in the early 2000s; the ratio is as high as 130 to 100 in some Chinese provinces. Vietnam also sees a growing difference in sex ratio, logging about 110 boys born to every 100 girls, according to a New York Times article in 2007. A United Nations report estimated that Asia was short 163 million females in 2005 when compared with overall population balances of men and women elsewhere in the world, where the sex ratio generally hover around 105 boys to 100 girls. As reported by OneVietnam, one unfortunate result of the sex imbalance is increased human trafficking, where many of the victims are women and children of average age between 15 and 17 years old. However, there is increasing recognition of sex bias at birth and there are programs designed to empower girls and women, better preparing them to defend against social biases.

Investment in Girls

The idea of investing in girls as a mean of combating social biases have been adopted by numerous humanitarians, including Greg Mortenson, a mountaineer turned humanitarian. Mortenson, who wrote about his experience in Three Cups of Tea, describes how his promise to build a school in the desolate region of Korakoram in Pakistan turned into a journey that resulted in the construction of 50 schools, particularly for girls, in Pakistan and Afghanistan over a 10-year period. Mortenson reasons that while most schools are strictly for boys, who subsequently participate in the work force and spend less time at home than girls, girls are typically expected to attend to their household and, if women are educated, they are more likely to transfer their knowledge to their children.

Studies have found that in developing countries, the majority of girls reside in rural areas to support their household via farming, raise children and maintain their property. They get married at a younger age, resulting in fewer years of school and usually earlier pregnancies, which leads to more repeated pregnancies and a higher chance of death during childbirth. Women’s contributions are often essential to the national economy, but they are the most exploited and least privileged members of households. Investing in girls help break the cycle of poverty by delaying marriage, resulting in more education and higher literacy rates, and leading to perhaps fewer repeated pregnancies. Some theorize that such investments will lead to more women finding jobs and migrating from subsistence farming while still supporting their household. In addition, there may be slower population growth and fewer deaths at childbirth.

Battling Sex Trafficking with Education

In the case of human trafficking, the problem has many causes, including poverty, lack of education, lack of awareness of trafficking, and family conflict among others.  These causes are mostly preventable with increased education and training to empower women. An example showing the benefits of educating and empowering women is the Culinary Arts Program, a program jointly sponsored by LIN/ADAPT that provides scholarships to women who are most at risk of being trafficked. These women participate in a culinary arts program in Ho Chi Minh City, and with training and mentorship, they become self-sustainable and can save enough money for their future while remitting money to their family.

Investing in girls will result in numerous benefits that extend beyond the educated person into the household and community, thereby breaking the cycle of poverty. As one saying goes, “When you educate a boy, you educate an individual, when you educate a girl, you educate a nation.”

Tet in Boston brought together the community for cultural entertainment and performances from local talents.  There were numerous booths and local vendors.   Those who were feeling lucky that day can place bets at tens of game tables.   For a California boy (such as myself), the welcomed custom of appreciating spring and Tet usually meant enjoying the festivities in the outdoors.  Southern Californians know what I mean – the Tet festival extravaganza next to Bolsa Grande High.

Where do Bostonians go for a taste of culture in zero-degree weather…? Harbor Middle School.  Yes, boys and girls, we had our Tet festival in the gym of a middle school. My day volunteering at the event was predictable like all the other years – except 2008 when I unexpectedly met Nhu Loan (jealous?).   2010 was different. I was very fortunate to run into Van from VietHope, a nonprofit organization hoping to “provide access to education to financially disadvantaged students in Vietnam”.

Unlike the other years where I would come home from the event tired but satisfied, I came home that night in deep contemplation. The stories and personal accounts of VietHope volunteers made me think about the hundreds of children who had crossed my path within the past 5 years.   VietHope volunteers have graciously shared their stories with our readers, please listen to their heartwarming accounts:

~Tim Bui ~

“Last summer, we joined four other families to Vietnam to do charity work and to introduce our children to our country.  We visited several cities and villages from way south to almost the 17th parallel, building houses for the poor, giving bicycles to students, wheelchairs and prosthetic legs to the handicapped, and distributing food to orphanages.  The food made quite an impression on our children. They saw how beautiful Vietnam is and also saw first-hand the meaning of poverity –   “homes” with mud floor that could not keep occupants dry in normal rain, people drinking and washing their clothes from the same ponds where water buffalo soak, children without shoes, laborers toil for one or two dollars a day, orphanages without running water, handicapped people using bamboo sticks as artificial legs.  There is still so much suffering… One event that made the most impact on me was a walk in downtown Saigon. One late night, as I was snapping pictures of Saigon night life with my camera, a young girl at the age of about 16 to 18 approached me and asked if I wanted to go on a date, in broken English, assuming that I am a foreigner, for my being too fat for a typical Vietnamese.  I turned her down, but then watched her as she walked away. Two hundred yards further, she accosted another man, probably offering the same thing.  A sad feeling overwhelmed me. If I were her father, I would be heart broken. Denying education is the most effective way to eliminate or reduce one’s future.  The contrary is also true.  Giving education is the best way to live one’s life out of darkness.“

What would that girl’s life have been like today if she were given a college education.  Tim’s account caused my heart to ache; I wanted to hear more, to know more.

I then heard…

~Van~

“Walking 20 kms and staying for 2 weeks near the market, these Sapa girls were selling bracelets and wallets to tourists for less than 1 penny which took them at least 1-2 days to make. Be Thu asked me “Chi ten la vi? Chi o dau?” (What is your name? Where do you live?) She proceeded to give me a bracelet as a sign of friendships. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by at least half a dozen girls age 6-12 offering to give me these knick knacks that they had spent days laboriously making. I only spent 1.5 days in Sapa, but was struck by the poverty of the locals, mortality rate, and lack of modernity. When I finished my breakfast to return to the tour bus on our way back down the mountains, one girl asked me if she could have my address to write to me. None of these girls knew how to read, they spoke their native dialect and not completely fluent in vietnamese. How would they have money for ink, paper and stamp to send me the letter? My heart ached and I didn’t want to go. I also felt a profound sadness for these girls who might be married off when I come back for another visit in a few years to a man perhaps twice their age, with no opportunities for pursuit of their own happiness which may include education.

My return from Vietnam that year hit a nerve within me that still lingers to this day. On those tough days when life and work is just frustratingly difficult, my vivid memories of those faces and sad eyes of Be Thu and other Sapa girls remind me of how fortunate and blessed I am. It also fortified my commitment to VietHope, to help children in all regions of Vietnam who are poor and most deserving of the hope and possibility of something better than the status quo of their existing life. It made me realize that education was their access to these doors of opportunities.”

Education can save lives.  It is during those late night cram sessions where my body is so fatigued that it barely functions on IV caffeine drips that I become revitalized to study more because of the images of the girl on the Saigon street or the Sapa girls.  I am alive and doing well because education has been fueling my mind and body.

Please support VietHope in their noble efforts to bring education opportunities for the children of Vietnam.

A reading club of youths met on a monthly basis to discuss vietnamese literature of famous novels and poems. The group started discussing what they can do in addition to discussing their love for vietnamese literature to make Vietnam, their beloved homeland, a more prosperous country. As they were students attending elite universities in Boston, they understood that their educational opportunities and the promise of the successful career and comfortable life it will afford them upon graduation was unattainable to their counterparts in Vietnam. Highly ambitious with hearts of gold, the members of the reading club formed VietHope with the mission: “VietHope shares the dream that Vietnam shall become a prosperous country where every child will grow up with the opportunity to reach his or her full potential.VietHope’s mission is to provide access to education to financially disadvantaged students in Vietnam.

VietHope is dedicated to Vietnam’s socioeconomic development, which we believe must be based on long-term perspectives and sustainable results. It is our conviction that good education is a requisite to attaining this goal.”

How to Help
– Cocktails night, House parties, BBQs, and any other events with donations going towards VietHope

– Cultural shows, sports tournaments, walk-a-thons, bike-a-thons with a mini-presentation about VietHope to guests

– Start your own chapter of VietHope to recruit volunteers, raise awareness, support VietHope.

– Contact local magazine and/or radio to promote VietHope to your community. Add VietHope as your friend on facebook, twitter and other social networking sites. Post events related to VietHope and invite your friends to attend those events.

– For questions or suggestions, contact VietHope at info@viethope.org

“According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death.  Death is number two.  Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if a you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” ~ Jerry Seinfeld

One of our readers, Nguyen Do, shared with us the article entitled:  “Do Your Own Homework’ — Asian Students Should Learn to Think for Themselves”. Finding it a topic that resonates pretty closely to our own educational experience, we at OneVietnam wanted to reflect on this article.

For those of you who haven’t read it, this article discusses a Vietnamese American author’s frustration that Asian students do not know how to analyze and come up with their own opinions after reading literature.  Every few months, students would e-mail the author, Mr. Andrew Lam, to have him give them concrete answers about readings.  Lam’s frustrations arise because he wishes these students would realize that there are no definite answers in literature.  He believes that Asian students are raised to memorize and recite, to not oppose authority, and to not be individuals.  Each Vietnamese person exists as a part of a whole–as only one person whose ego is humbled so that he can exist in harmony and conform to the group.  For this reason, many students do not vocalize their opinions.  They would rather get a “definite” answer that would earn them the good grade, therefore eliminating their need to think for themselves.  The personal pronoun “I” is not often heard in Asian culture.

Brian’s Reflections:

Isabella’s Reflections:

Agreeing with what Brian said, I also felt a lot of intimidation when sharing my thoughts.  It is something that I struggle with still to this day.  I’ve always thought that it is more of my problem than a result of my education.  Author Lam discussed a very relevant topic because I saw this not only in myself, but in many students during my time in Asia.

Firstly, I want to share with you my experience leading a seminar on HIV/AIDS at the Harvard Summit for Young Leaders of China.  When we were studying this topic in class, I wanted my students to read the material and share their interpretations.  Many of them came in having memorized the readings instead.  When I asked them something related to the readings (such as “How is HIV treated?” “How many people are affected?, etc.), they would answer factually.  When I asked them how they felt about the epidemic and how they see it affecting development, the class was usually silent.  I had to slowly ease the students into the discussion and make them feel comfortable; in doing that, many of my students came out of their shells.  I learned that it was some inborn fear that prevented them for sharing their thoughts.

So how do we fix this problem?  I do not believe that a revolution can happen in the education system nor can it happen anytime soon.  The problems with being unable to self-analyze is an inborn trait in the culture and not just a function of the classroom.  However, Asian students are intelligent.  It is about teasing out their inner capabilities.  This will be a long process, but I believe that it will be possible.

I think my course helped these students on their path toward thinking for themselves, but I believe that it will take a lot of work to show Asian students that they are important individuals whose opinions matter.  I say this because I am a victim to the problems that author Lam discussed.  Though I spent my young adult life in America, I was raised in a traditional Vietnamese family where the female is supposed to be timid.  My opinions never mattered as much as the opinions of elders or my male cousins. So I naturally fell into a position to be more submissive.  Whenever I shared anything, I felt that I was breaking some sort of rule.  Yet, I often felt frustrated when I was timid because I never got my way.  So I realized that while it is a struggle, I had to be more outspoken, to be more creative, to be more innovative because that is the only way to succeed in any competitive field.  Realizing my weaknesses, I hope this will help me succeed in the future at Stanford School of Medicine where I will be expected to think for myself and learn, allowing me to one day save the world!

Stephen Cook Sr., our superfan at OneVietnam Network, shared with us two articles entitled “VIETNAM: Minister orders greater university transparency” and Forbes.com’s “Outsourcing to Vietnam”.  Both these article comment on the education system in Vietnam and suggest things that need to be done.  Our team will expand and share our opinions on these issues at another time.  However, we want to highlight some of the points discussed in this article because we believe it is relevant.

People think that the main problem that Asian students have is the inability to think for themselves, as suggested in Author Lam’s article.  However, this is not completely true.  The articles that Cook shared with us demonstrate that there are a lot more factors at play:  the lack of autonomy of universities, the inadequate attention students receive during class,  the low pay of teachers, and the high cost of education.  We also want to add that another problem that Asian students have as they move through their education is due to the way they were raised.

We hope that our reflections can show that Asian students can think for themselves.  We also want to emphasize that this problem still exists within us: two individuals who were practically raised in America.  Hence, we realize that it isn’t just the Asian education system, but also a cultural phenomenon that propagates this mindset.  Nevertheless, we do believe that reform and a better understanding of the Information Age can really help improve the way education is presented and the way people interpret information.

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For related articles, consider our special report on Vietnamese students lacking soft skills.

Sometimes its not about WHAT you say, but HOW much confidence you have when you say it.  Case in Point: George B. Freestylin’ to his own beat!