Beyond an 8.0 GPA: What International Relations Degree Provided?

I do appreciate my family, the USSH, my lecturers, and friends for giving me chances to access to the high level of education to found my academic background. This post will show what I was taught through 4 years of university and my outstanding results.

International relations is a diverse and expansive area of study

I finished my bachelor's degree in International Relations from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City (USSH). While studying in this major, I learned three main divisions including Economics, Diplomacy, and Cultures - Communication taught in both English and Vietnamese.

Economic-based fields were where I had directed my focus

I always chose to participate in economic-based, cultural-based, and communication-based courses besides the compulsory courses providing political and diplomatic knowledge. Here are some outstanding results I made with my teams and my projects when I was in university.

My Economic-based Subjects' Results based on a 10-point scale

The student research thesis earned the fourth position in the faculty's ranking

In addition, I served as a leader in a 4-member team researching the thesis titled: "The Impact of the Sunflower Movement Initiated by Youth on the Democratic Process of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2014 to 2021." With a score of 87/100, this thesis claimed the fourth spot in the faculty ranking. Our aim in this project was to figure out how the democracy of Taiwan had changed over that period after the Sunflower Movement. Through this project, I not only gained experience and delved into academic knowledge, but also honed my leadership skills.

I chose to research a topic related to politics and humanities instead of one on economics or culture. To be honest, I believed that researching a political topic aligned well with the capabilities of our team at that time. Additionally, we saw this as a suitable opportunity to utilize resources while we were still students to delve deep into finding answers to a political issue that we might not have many opportunities to address in the future. Moreover,

I was interested in the realm of cultural-based subjects and soft-skill classes

I recognized that cultural-based subjects such as Cross-cultural Communication and soft-skill classes such as Business Communication, Critical Thinking, and Public Speaking were interesting and helpful. Participating in these classes helped me become confident in communication in multicultural environments and improved my problem-solving abilities.

My Cultural-based Subjects' and Soft Skills’ Results based on a 10-point scale

My practical learning journey began upon completing my bachelor's degree

Besides some specific knowledge and skills gained from university, I explored the real world and expanded my limits by taking part in various courses, and activities and executing jobs related to events, marketing and communications when I was still a student. Finishing this bachelor's degree is only the first step in my ongoing personal development.

To sum up, finishing this bachelor's degree helps me gain effective tools, useful skills and wide network to start my career path. Moreover, see how I applied my academic knowledge to complete my internship at Sunwah Group Vietnam and contributed to my volunteer journey.