Why do we have to study Business Administration at  the University of Economics? It may surprise you that studying Business Administration in engineering universities, particularly Bach Khoa, also brings you interesting knowledge and experience.

“Until now, I believe I had made the right decision to choose Bach Khoa.” is Khanh Nhan’s frank confession from the far-away USA when being asked about his experience while studying Economics – Administration in such an ancient engineering university like Bach Khoa. Nhan was a former student majoring in Business Administration in transfer program batch 12. 

Let’s see what Nhan had experienced through four years studying here!

*Hi Nhan, could you please introduce a little bit about yourself?

Hi Thu, my name is Le Khanh Nhan, a former student majoring in Business Administration in transfer program batch 2012. At  the beginning of 2015, I was transferred to the University  of Illinois at Springfield (UIS), USA to finish my last two year there. In May 2017, I graduated with Bachelor Degree at UIS. Luckily, after that, I received a full MBA scholarship from UIS. The summer semester in 2019 was my last semester at UIS. 

*Back then, what made you decide to choose Bach Khoa to be the place where you would spend your precious four years?

Right from high school, I had always been looking for opportunities to study abroad in developing countries to expose to updated knowledge in Economics – Administration sector and to explore the world out there, especially the USA. However, at that time, my English was not good enough and I was not ready to live alone. In addition, that tuition fee of American universities are pretty high made my parents and I consider a lot. Fortunately, before attending the national graduation exam, I got to know about the transfer program at the Office for International Study Program (OISP), Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (Bach Khoa).

After careful consideration upon the curriculum, I decided to choose Bach Khoa for these following reasons. Firstly, Pre-University program would help me to improve my English and soft skills. Moreover, spending the first two years studying fundamental subjects in Bach Khoa was a lot cheaper than in the USA. The most important factor is that all subjects were  delivered in English, which gave me a better chance of improving my English.

In short, until now,  I believe I had made the right decision to choose Bach Khoa.

*Being one of the first generations of Bach Khoa, did you have any difficulty or problems in attending the program?

Actually, I could not be considered as the first generation, as there are K9, K10 and K11 seniors, from whom I could ask for their experience. There were not many obstacles in the first two years in Bach Khoa as the program quality was great.

Bach Khoa is more famous for engineering, of course, but other programs are great, too. Actually, teachers from the Faculty of Industrial Management had given our class pretty much useful and realistic economic knowledge.

Also, all subjects are delivered in English, thus, when I got transferred, I could catch up quite quickly with studying curriculum there.

*How were your two years in UIS? How long did it take you to get used to the new environment?

To be honest, when I first transferred to UIS, I and some exchange students got into a lot of difficulties, the biggest of all is the language barrier.

I eventually understood that the English that we learnt could only help us to follow up with the lectures, whereas in small talks with American, I could not catch up with their pace and their accents were totally different from what we have learnt.

In order to improve this, the only thing I could do was to actively engage in making conversations with them, even though I did not understand anything as the American were empathetic to non-natives and willing to repeat what they had just said. This also gave me the chance to expose to culture difference and lifestyle there. I used to be shy and hesitate in speaking with Americans as I could not understand what they said, but I tried to talk to other international students from India, China, Japan, Korea and African countries, too. When my listening and speaking skills got better, I started to communicate with Asian Americans as their accents were easier to understand. After only one semester, I was confident to start conversations with almost everyone.

*Was searching for MBA scholarships in your plan? Could you please share more about this decision?

Actually, I have one semester left to finish my MBA. The graduation ceremony was held early as UIS only holds it once a year, and I was arranged to attend in spring semester in May.

Continuing study as MBA was not in my initial plan because I had intended to get an internship after bachelor graduation. However, I was luckily offered the MBA scholarship by UIS.

The scholarship was given by Graduate Public Service Intern (GPSI), if students with bachelor degree want to level up to Master degree, they can submit their profile to recruiters. These recruiters are Illinois administrative body and they all have the head office in Springfield city. I was encouraged by seniors to send application and fortunately offered a job in Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Therefore, I made up my mind to study MBA.

*One of the most common concerns of students when preparing to study abroad is opportunities for getting a job and working after graduation. What is your personal view about this? Are there many opportunities for Vietnamese students?

My experiences tell that the job market for international students in the USA is actually large, not only for graduates. In fact, UIS always support international students with opportunities of working as student workers, which means they could only work for the universities and get paid for that.

Almost all students transferring from Bach Khoa to UIS, including me, apply to be a student worker in various positions, such as libraries, gyms, canteens and other departments. Programs like GPSI or Graduate Assistant are also good choices for students to accumulate experience and build up attractive CV.

After graduation, students can apply for being OPT (Optional Practice Training) to work as interns in companies from 1 to 2 years depending on their major. International student support department is always helpful in supporting students with the application process. Of course, those who do well in the companies could be offered to stay longer.

Opportunities for Vietnamese students to be sponsored to stay is very few but not impossible.

*Last but not least, could you please share your experiences of how to study and live well abroad to Bach Khoa students who are going to transfer soon?

In my opinion, you guys just need to focus on these following things:

Firstly, you should improve your English as much as you can while you are studying in Bach Khoa. At first, it is inevitable that you may feel like a fish out of water, but your accumulated English in Vietnam will help you to shorten the adaptation period and catch up with the lectures. After the exchange, the most important thing is to study really really hard to get good academic results as your GPA is a critical criteria when you apply for jobs, either in the USA or in Vietnam.

However, you also need to balance between studying and extracurricular activities , take your time to communicate with everyone and establish relationships in the community to understand the environment and lifestyle of people there. These relationships eventually become vital in your employment process. Lastly, whether you stay in shared rooms or dormitory, you should actively talk and share with your roommates about lifestyle, culture and time schedule to avoid culture shock as your roommates may come from a very different culture from us.

I hope that with these sharings, you could have really nice and successful time abroad in the partner universities.