Dao, Hien

FY, EA, Fall 2024, 01/19/2006

CEEB: CAID: 36713307
FERPA: Waived

Profile
Personal information
Name Dao, Hien Nhat

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Share different name No
Birthdate 01/19/2006

Contact details
Email, Phone

Permanent address
telephone
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thenitrogen.unilife@gmail.com, +84.911118270, Mobile, No other

26 Alley 134 Ba Trieu Street Phu Hoi Ward Hue, Thua Thien Hue,
530000, VNM
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Demographics
Gender Identity Male
Sex Male
Pronouns He/Him
Military status None
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Language
Vietnamese First Language, Speak, Read, Write, Spoken at Home
English Speak, Read, Write, Spoken at Home
French Read

Geography and nationality

Citizenship status Citizen of non-U.S. country
Birthplace Hue, Viet Nam 0 years US
Other citizenships Viet Nam
Current US Visa None

CA Dao, Hien CEEB: Fall 2024 1 FY EA CAID: 36713307

Intended US Visa F-1 Student

Common App fee waiver

Fee waiver requested Yes, Signed: Hien Nhat Dao

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CA Dao, Hien CEEB: Fall 2024 2 FY EA CAID: 36713307

Family
Household
Parents Married
Home Both Parents

Parent 1

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Mother
Name Tien Phan
Education Graduated from college/university
Bachelors (2006), Hue University of Education, Hue, Thua Thien Hue,

Parent 2
Viet Nam

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Bachelors (1998), Hue College of Education, Hue, Thua Thien Hue, Viet
Nam
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Father
Name Hac Dao
Education Graduated from college/university
Bachelors (1998), Hue University of Sciences, Hue, Thua Thien Hue,
Viet Nam
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Siblings
Han Dao, Age 23

CA Dao, Hien CEEB: Fall 2024 3 FY EA CAID: 36713307

Education
Current or most recent secondary school
Quoc Hoc Hue High School for the Gifted, 12 Le Loi Street, Vinh Ninh Ward, Hue, Thua
Thien Hue, Viet Nam, Public (08/2021 - 05/2024)
Other Nguyen Tri Phuong Secondary School, 63 To Huu Street, Xuan Phu
Ward, Hue, Thua Thien Hue, Viet Nam, Public (08/2017 - 05/2021)

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Progression No change in progression
Graduation Date 05/2024

Colleges & universities

Grades
Rank
GPA
na / 400
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9.9 / 10, Weighted
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Current or most recent year courses
First semester Second semester
MATH - Maths - (ADV) MATH - Maths - (ADV)
OTH/ELE - Vietnamese Literature - (ADV) OTH/ELE - Vietnamese Literature - (ADV)
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PHYS - Physics - (ADV) PHYS - Physics - (ADV)

CHEM - Chemistry - (ADV)
BIOL - Biology - (ADV)
COMPSCI - Informatics - (ADV)
HIST - History - (ADV)
HIST - Geography - (ADV)
LANG - English - (GFTED)
LANG - French - (ADV)
OTH/ELE - Civil Education - (ADV)
OTH/ELE - Technology - (ADV)
PE/HLTH - Physical Education - (REG)
OTH/ELE - National Defense Education - (REG)
CHEM - Chemistry - (ADV)
BIOL - Biology - (ADV)
COMPSCI - Informatics - (ADV)
HIST - History - (ADV)
HIST - Geography - (ADV)
LANG - English - (GFTED)
LANG - French - (ADV)
OTH/ELE - Civil Education - (ADV)
OTH/ELE - Technology - (ADV)
PE/HLTH - Physical Education - (REG)
OTH/ELE - National Defense Education - (REG)

CA Dao, Hien CEEB: Fall 2024 4 FY EA CAID: 36713307

Honors
Third Prize (2023) & National 10, 11
Consolation Prize
(2022), National English
Competition, Majored
Division
Second Prize (2021- State/Regional 9, 10, 11
2023), Thua Thien Hue
Provincial English
Competition, Majored
Division

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First Prize, Thua Thien School, 9
Hue English Eloquence State/Regional
Contest
Silver Medal, American National 9
Math Olympiad

Future plans
Undecided, Masters
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CA Dao, Hien CEEB: Fall 2024 5 FY EA CAID: 36713307

Testing
IELTS
Listening 9 04/29/2023
Reading 9 04/29/2023
Writing 7 04/29/2023
Speaking 8 04/29/2023

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Overall 8.5 04/29/2023
Taken 1
Planned 0

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CA Dao, Hien CEEB: Fall 2024 6 FY EA CAID: 36713307

Activities
Foreign Exchange
11, 12 Lead Youth Participant and Project Facilitator, Learn2Link, Denver, CO
Year Facilitated weekly virtual meetings, discussed diversity and 17 SDGs,
6 hr/wk, 44 wk/yr addressed problems in Hue and Colorado, launched a mental health
Continue awareness blog

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Academic
9, 10, 11 Organization Board Member and Regular Volunteer, Free to Learn -
Break Tam Academy, Hue
10 hr/wk, 10 wk/yr Tutored, initiated project design and activities, compiled resources,
Continue arranged & hosted seminars, contacted guests and volunteers,

Other Club/Activity
10, 11
organized outings

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Project Executive, Senior Prom and Graduation Ceremony - Quoc Hoc
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School Senior High School for the Gifted
70 hr/wk, 12 wk/yr Conceptualized event, devised timeline, recruited and managed staff,
oversaw progress, setup, budgeted $2500, managed Facebook page of
12000 followers

Other Club/Activity
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11 Vice of Content Department , Fifteen Orientation Camp - Quoc Hoc

Break Senior High School for the Gifted
20 hr/wk, 10 wk/yr Conceptualized event, worked with 27 school clubs to organize
Continue entertaining games for 360 freshmen introducing them to the school
and the clubs.

Science/Math
11 Collaborator of Content Department, Bong Den Science Summer Camp
Break - Bong Den Hue Non-profit Educational Organization
25 hr/wk, 10 wk/yr Organized activities, hosted science lessons for 80 local campers aged
Continue 11-16, devised lesson plans, executed experiments, crafted engineering
models

CA Dao, Hien CEEB: Fall 2024 7 FY EA CAID: 36713307

Other Club/Activity
11 Member of External Affairs, Lang Kinh Science Project - Quoc Hoc
Break High School for the Gifted
10 hr/wk, 10 wk/yr Contacted philanthropists and sponsors, securing approximately $500
Continue in funding for the development of science-teaching materials.

Theater/Drama
10 Member of Content Department, Campfire, Youth Union Anniversary -

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School Quoc Hoc Senior High School
20 hr/wk, 10 wk/yr Conceptualized event, devised event coordination plan, co-wrote a script
Continue for a 15-minute play and led rehearsals.

Cultural
9
School, Break
70 hr/wk, 52 wk/yr
Continue
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Project Executive, Event: "Race of NTP: The Nguyen Dynasty" - Nguyen
Tri Phuong Secondary School
Researched local feudalism, recruited and managed staff, oversaw
progress, setup, budgeted +$500, managed a Facebook page of 3000
followers
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Academic
12 Mentoring, IELTS Mentor
School, Break Held small-sized study groups, devised the learning curriculum, oriented
10 hr/wk, 20 wk/yr learners' self-study, improved students' academic writing.
Continue
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CA Dao, Hien CEEB: Fall 2024 8 FY EA CAID: 36713307

Writing
Personal essay
Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a
new understanding of yourself or others.

On a breezy afternoon, I sat by the riverside with the guitar resting on my lap. The guitar’s hollow
body filled with the wind’s playful caresses, and the gentle ripples on the river's surface reflected

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the chaos within my mind. I traced the guitar strings absentmindedly, producing a muted,
disjointed sound that mirrored my inner turmoil.

I have often been labelled as "mature beyond my years,” due to my introspective nature and
approach to life, driven by empathy and a quest for harmony. But it is this disposition that has led

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me to perceive others as constantly discordant and one-dimensional. Conversations became mere
background noise in the symphony of my story, which no one seemed to hear. My uniqueness and
detachment from others fed my ever-expanding sense of self. Driven by a desire to understand my
own narrative's place in the world, I invested time, effort, and devotion into self-discovery.
However, what initially felt joyous soon became a burden. I distanced myself from the human
world, deactivating social media accounts, leaving letters unopened, and replying to messages
with brief, casual words. My belief in the uniqueness of my issues made me hesitant to confide in
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anyone. It was as if I had lightly pressed a guitar fret in one hand, and in the other, I struck a string
as hard as I could. My efforts were all in vain.

Then, gently plucking the guitar string, I released the frets that held the notes. The guitar
responded with resonant tones, harmonizing with others, similar to water molecules. A firmer
press on the fret was like holding the shared human experience: if a chord embodied the collection
of vibrations in the present moment, then every person's music, despite differences, contained
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both melancholic and joyful chords. No one is truly unique, and no emotion is entirely personal. We
all experience similar emotional nuances at some point and traverse similar life paths.
Recognizing shared harmonies and unique compositions, the similarity of these notes and
harmonic blends made us alike, while the differences in the chords made us truly unique,
composing a symphony of diversity.

Learn2Link played a pivotal role during this turning point in my life, guiding me to embrace
diversity and recognize the common threads that connect us all. Despite the initial distance in the
online encounters of this virtual exchange program, we soon shared stories and nurtured common
values, including empathy, respect for diversity, and collaboration. With deep listening, mindful
speech, and self-reflection practices, I discovered that I knew nothing about life in Richmond,
Virginia—apart from the unique perspectives of my exchange partners, John, Riley, and Landon. I
realized that every individual's story defied the stereotypes I once held. This realization made me
feel remarkably humble. I became more modest in my understanding of my own narrative. This
recognition, born from moments of mindfulness, made me feel like part of a larger whole. It was

CA Dao, Hien CEEB: Fall 2024 9 FY EA CAID: 36713307

as if we were all sitting side-by-side, with hearts full of empathy and the simple desire to connect
to another human. Those moments, though scarce in everyday life, reminded us how, despite
cultural differences, language barriers, and countless dissimilarities in our personal lives, we, with
our hearts and stories naked, are plainly and strikingly similar. The geographical barriers were
powerless to stop the human connection.

These realizations are the seeds of community action I am now digging into, where our unique
stories and strengths unite to solve shared problems. Empathy connects us through shared
emotions; diversity inspires humility and appreciation; and collaboration amplifies our impact. I
have found my unique way to contribute: telling stories through writing. Sharing and listening to
personal stories reminds us of our beautiful differences and striking similarities. By connecting

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with others, I connect with myself. By connecting with the world, I have learned to create a
harmonious symphony, blending myself with countless other melodies in life's diverse
compositions.

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CA Dao, Hien CEEB: Fall 2024 10 FY EA CAID: 36713307

Education progression
Details
Education progression No change in progression
details

Required explanation

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Secondary school change

The transition from Secondary school to High school occurs after 9th grade in the Vietnamese
education system.

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CA Dao, Hien CEEB: Fall 2024 11 FY EA CAID: 36713307

Colorado College questions
General
Term Fall 2024
Admission plan Early Action
Testing plan Yes, I want my standardized test scores considered for admission.
Financial aid Yes

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Narrative Selection Describe how your personal experiences with a particular community
make you a student who would benefit from Colorado College’s Block
Plan.

Narrative

When I accepted to lead a diverse group of youth participants in the Learn2Link US-Vietnam

transformation.
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exchange program, I had no idea I would be embarking on a journey of personal growth and

Through Learn2Link, I had the privilege to explore and connect with the life, culture, and
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development of my hometown, Hue City, while also sharing my unique local perspective with our
international exchange partners in virtual meetings. These interactions, however, were not just
one-way experiences. Youths from America offered me an opportunity to understand their world
views and daily lives from the mountainsides of Richmond, Colorado. It became apparent during
our discussions that the danger of generalizing a community's culture is the oversimplification of
the rich tapestry of individual stories and experiences.

Furthermore, as we delved into the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, our conversations led to
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the identification of shared issues that transcended geographical and cultural boundaries: limited
access to mental healthcare, discrimination, cyberbullying, traffic issues, and academic pressures
in both of our communities. These discussions went beyond identifying problems as they fostered
an environment of empathy, shared experiences, and mutual support, creating a community bound
by a collective commitment to bring about positive change.

Multicultural interactions within Learn2Link have nurtured the unique experiences that led me to
Colorado College's Block Plan. I hope to delve into the Social Psychology course at CC to explore
the science of prejudice and discuss its implications with cross-cultured peers, incorporate the
psychological motivating factors of learning in the Educational Psychology course into building
learning models that can best facilitate learning seemingly lacking in Vietnam.

CA Dao, Hien CEEB: Fall 2024 12 FY EA CAID: 36713307

Block Plan's subject-focused classes with multi-perspective discussions and specialized guidance
will empower me to apply comprehensive and hands-on knowledge gained toward meaningful
community initiatives that address societal challenges and contribute to positive change on a
broader scale.

Portfolio Slideroom No
Citizenship Vietnam

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Academics
First Program of Psychology
Preference
Second Program of Education
Preference
Third Program of
Preference

Contacts
Sociology

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Previously applied No
If you wish to be I consent to be contacted by Colorado College at the mobile phone
contacted via mobile number provided below.
phone, please provide
your phone number.
Mobile Phone Number: +84.911118270
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Family
Sibling applied No
Relatives attended No
member
Relative employed at No
member

Affirmations
By submitting this application, I affirm my understanding of and agreement to the statements
found here: http://www.commonapp.org/affirmations.

CA Dao, Hien CEEB: Fall 2024 13 FY EA CAID: 36713307