Education changes lives.
It changed mine. So everything I can share here, I share for free.
My journey to America.
Scene 1 · Chicago · Day one
Photographer
Hold your head still. You can smile.3… 2… 1…
(Click.)
Ten minutes later, the officer handed me my ID card.
Student, University of Chicago.
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Where I come from
A small town in Vietnam. No one I knew had ever studied abroad. Not at one of the world's top universities, and certainly not in America.
I never thought I'd study abroad
Neither did anyone around me. On paper, it wasn't supposed to happen.
- A bachelor's in a different field
- No mentor
- Limited money
- Nobody I knew in America
I went anyway.
Chicago
I didn't come to America to study. I came to find out how far I could go.
New York
After graduating, I moved to New York City, where I now work as an AI engineer.
Thinking back
New York has a strange power: it makes you nostalgic. Sometimes I think back to the moment I decided to try, the effort I put in, the price I paid, the path I drew for myself. Then I look at where I am and what I do now, and I feel grateful. And honestly, a little in disbelief that the kid from that small town made it here.
Why I started byricheese
Those moments made me realize how many young, talented people are standing where I once stood, with no mentor and no information. So I started byricheese to share everything I wish someone had told me: honest information, practical tools, and a mentor for those who want one. No one should have to figure it all out alone.
Why this exists
The mission of byricheese is to bring promising young Vietnamese to the world's leading graduate programs, with applications as singular as the people behind them.
What I hope to see
A generation of Vietnamese who reach the world's top-tier programs as themselves, go further than they ever thought they could, and lift others along the way.
What I believe
For the record
In a few terms
Top-tier graduate program · National scholarship recipient · Multi-country leadership exchange · Career across multi-national companies
For anyone who's curious
Still me
Matcha run, every weekend. Non-negotiable.
Peer pressure and impostor syndrome? Still here. I just keep going.
Some nights I still wonder: what if I hadn't gone that year? What if I'd picked a different country?
If this sounds like you, you're in the right place.
Follow along