Study abroad with low GPA - Why not?

Ms. Hoang Tu Quynh, an international student from Amsterdam University - the school is rated as the best in the Netherlands and ranked 58 in the world according to the QS (QS University Rankings), sharing her secret of applying.

Ms. Hoang Tu Quynh, a Vietnamese student in the Netherlands, shared the secret of applying to top universities despite the low GPA

An obsession called GPA

Although I have more than 5 years working in the field of communication, I am quite inferior to GPA in college.

When reading the articles online, I still see many people saying that low GPA will not have a chance to enter a good school. So I have repeatedly decided not to apply to the University of Amsterdam, where GPA requirements are very high.

I hope that through your story and experience, you will have more confidence to strive for your favorite school.

You can achieve your dream by carefully preparing your application and having a motivational letter. The master's door at the top 100 schools in the world is not just for people with high academic achievement!

6 steps to prepare a profile

If you do not have the advantage of GPA, you need to have a clear "operational" plan.
1. Select industry: I often hear the phrase "choose a school - choose a field" but in my opinion I should change it to "choose a field - choose a school". It is important to go to any school, but first you have to study the field that you like first. It is pointless to go to a good school but you are not passionate about the field.

To choose a field of study, think about your future career orientation and reflect on your strengths and passions throughout the learning and working process. Another factor that cannot be considered anymore is the labor demand of society after you graduate.

2. Select a school: Just use Google and you will be able to find a school with your major. The most important step is to filter out which school is right for you. You should go to the website of the school, to the field of your choice to read the introduction of the field, curriculum, content of each subject, and career opportunities after graduation.

Thanks to thorough study of the curriculum, I was able to clearly state in the motivation letter why I want to study here rather than anywhere else.

3. School requirements: Schools usually require the same documents. However, you need to note in detail the requirements of each document.

For example, how many words does a motivational letter have to answer; résumé has special requirements; does the school require any form of the school (there are some schools you must write motivational, résumé on its own form); How many minimum / maximum pages of essay must be, how to name files ...

All this information is available on the school's website for admission.

4. Letters of Recommendation: A letter of recommendation is one of the important parts of the application. Schools usually require at least 2 letters of recommendation and 1 of these 2 people has been your professor.

Note that you should ask for a letter of recommendation from the teacher who taught the subject you are interested in in. Please ask at least 3 weeks in advance as teachers can be busy or on business trips or summer vacations.

If the letter of introduction is not good at English, you can ask them to write in Vietnamese for you to translate, then you send the English version for them to sign.

When asking for a letter of recommendation, you try to provide full information: what industry you are enrolling in, which school, the application deadline, what school / requirements for the recommendation letter, your evaluation. how she talked about you during the study (if you have graduated a long time should remind again), you want to emphasize what strengths in the letter. Try to provide brief, complete information.

5. Motivational letter: With an unsatisfactory GPA, this letter is a means to unpack your image and persuade the approval board.

There are many sample letters online for you to read and refer to. However, you must ensure that your content is unique, expressing your personality, qualities, and especially your potential.

I have been stuck with this letter for months, not knowing where to start. Until one day I imagined that I was writing to a friend to tell about my dream and passion, the word kept flowing automatically.

Of course this is just a draft, the words are so lengthy, then I write a whole new letter, use the important ideas in the draft and add other ideas that the school requires.

The leading universities are gradually tending to attach more importance to motivation in selecting candidates
Motivational letters should answer at least the following questions:

- What subjects does your undergraduate degree relate to in which field you are currently pursuing a master's degree?
- Which areas are you most interested in? Why?
- At work, what did you do related to this field? What have you achieved?
- Why did you choose this school? What is the most important subject for your master's thesis?
- What is your career plan after graduation? How can this master's program help with that plan?
- And this point is especially for those who have a low GPA like me: Looking back on the college process, why is the score low? Or why the study time is long?

If the reason is that you are not good at a certain point, you must show how hard you are working to change / repair. If it is an objective reason, you also have to prove that it no longer affects your work and study.

- Conclusion should summarize your value to the school, why you are a potential student of the school.

My advice is to write a letter that is honest, sincere and full of courage and confidence. Don't worry if you don't have a good, dramatic story to tell.

I am simply writing about my dream, why I am determined to pursue it and emphasize my work experience, knowledge in the industry and achievements in the job.

My motivational letter is evaluated to show my passion throughout, have a clear career plan and a strong preparation for my next study.

6. Check your records: You will inevitably make mistakes when preparing your application, so ask at least two people to reread the file to review the errors for you. You should also print it for reading because when reading on a computer, it's easy to ignore minor errors.

The process of actually making my profile was only 2 months but before that it was a long time to learn and plan. Please prepare the profile very thoughtful, thorough.