Nguyen Xuan Thuong, 34, learned in mid-June that she had been awarded a full Chevening master's scholarship.
Established by the U.K. government in 1983, Chevening is one of the world's most prestigious and competitive scholarships for international students. Each year, about 20-25 Vietnamese applicants are selected.
Thuong will pursue a Master's in Clinical Mental Health Sciences at UCL, which ranks ninth in the 2026 QS World University Rankings by British education analytics firm Quacquarelli Symonds. Her funding, worth about €62,100 (US$83,381), covers tuition, a monthly stipend, and various allowances for one academic year.
"I burst with joy and happiness," Thuong recalled of the moment she received the news. "This scholarship recognizes everything I've worked for -- it tells me who I am and where I stand. I've waited 15 years for this day."
A career change born from reflection
In 2009, Thuong enrolled at the Foreign Trade University in Hanoi to study International Economics, though she barely knew what the program entailed. When she discovered the curriculum focused on logistics and import-export, she felt little interest and requested a transfer to the Finance and Banking program.
"I heard people say graduates in this field could get high-paying jobs," she said.
Seeing many of her friends preparing study-abroad applications, she decided to do the same. After six months of preparation, she achieved an IELTS score of 6.0, enough to apply for overseas study.
She obtained recommendation letters from school administrators and met the requirements for grades and certificates, but ultimately stalled on the essay. Faced with questions like "Who are you?", "What do you plan to do?", and "Why this major and this university?", she couldn't find the answers.
The deadline passed, and she never finished the essay, missing the application round.
"At the time, I didn't realize the problem was that I was studying a major I didn't love. I just thought my English wasn't good enough to write the essay," she recalled.
Entrepreneurship and burnout
Feeling unmotivated, Thuong partnered with a friend to open a small fixed-price shop using VND15 million (US$570) in capital. The business eventually expanded to five stores but later declined due to weak financial and personnel management. By the time she graduated, she was VND70 million in debt.
Unable to find work in finance, she returned to retailing, this time shifting online. Acting as a middleman for orders from China, she imported goods and sold them through forums and Facebook groups. Her sensitivity to trends and reliable suppliers helped her business flourish. She repaid her debts and began saving.
For a while, she thought she could "just live like that." But after years of working 18-hour days, from 6 a.m. to 1-2 a.m., her health began to suffer.
"I realized my life revolved only around money, always comparing myself to others," she reflected. "That's not who I wanted to be."
Falling in love with psychology
During this time, she began attending counseling workshops and mental-health sharing sessions, which expanded her worldview. "For the first time, I found a field I truly loved and wanted to study properly," she said.
Still, it took her nearly three years to let go of her business. In 2020, at age 29, she decided to start over and enrolled in a Psychology degree at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. She lived on her savings to focus fully on her studies.
As a student again, Thuong was more proactive and passionate. She attended extra seminars, joined short courses, and launched several social projects. One of her most cherished is PsyMe, a community class that helps participants engage with psychology and mental health. Founded in 2021 as a small study group, PsyMe has grown to more than 350 participants and continues to hold weekly sessions.
Since mid-2022, she has also organized free counseling activities. She noticed that many people struggled with mental-health issues after Covid-19 but could not afford professional help, while psychology students lacked practical experience. Thuong created a network connecting both groups, offering free counseling sessions supervised by experienced therapists.
"This project helps both sides -- people in need receive real support, and young practitioners gain supervised experience," she explained.
From unsubmitted essays to Chevening success
In 2024, after graduating, Thuong revived her long-delayed dream of studying abroad. She chose the U.K. for its one-year master's programs, which suited her family circumstances, and applied for the Chevening Scholarship because its criteria aligned with her social work.
Applicants must write four essays on leadership, networking, reasons for studying in the U.K., and career plans. This time, instead of running out of ideas, she had to condense nearly 15 years of her journey and experiences into 2,000 words spread across four essays.
Thuong shared that she aims to bring valuable lessons from the U.K.'s mental-health system back to Vietnam by establishing a counseling and therapy center that also offers practical training.
Although she had been building her application deliberately for years, Thuong still doubted herself.
"Few psychology students win Chevening, and I was afraid I was too old," she admitted. "But I told myself: if you don't try, it's 0%. If you do, at least there's 1%."
After three months of waiting, she was shortlisted for interviews and spent a month preparing. "The interviewers mainly asked about my essays," she said. "None of the questions were too difficult." By mid-June, she received her offer.
Nguyen Ba Dat, a lecturer in the Faculty of Psychology who supervised her research and projects, described Thuong as "a leader with strong passion and initiative."
"Coming to psychology as a career changer, Thuong studied with focus and purpose," he said. "I'm very proud our university has a student like her."
Thuong began her master's program at UCL last month. She hopes to make the most of her time by immersing herself in an international environment, learning from global experts, and securing internships within the U.K. mental-health system -- experiences she aims to bring home to expand community projects in Vietnam.
For Thuong, the journey from a 20-year-old who never finished a study-abroad essay to a 34-year-old Chevening scholar is proof that "it's never too late to pursue your dreams -- as long as you're ready and willing to work for them."