Joseph grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, in a Vietnamese American family that valued education. “That’s why they immigrated to America in the first place,” Joseph elaborates. However, his family preferred that he stay close to home for college due to the cost of attending college out of state and a desire to maintain close family connections. Most of his classmates at Benjamin Franklin High School, one of the top public schools in his area, were also primarily interested in attending in-state colleges.
Joseph’s high school counselor first introduced him to QuestBridge. Many students at Franklin came from limited-income backgrounds and were encouraged to participate in the QuestBridge College Prep Scholars Program (CPS) to learn more about the college admissions process and the resources that QuestBridge provides.
After completing the CPS program, Joseph did not initially plan to participate in the QuestBridge National College Match, instead intending to attend a public college in Louisiana. However, during September of his senior year, he had a change of heart. “I started looking back on my experiences, and I didn’t want to go to a school where I knew my opportunities would be limited and also where I wouldn’t be able to excel in what I wanted to do,” he says.
As he explored college options, Joseph appreciated the opportunity QuestBridge provided to “tell these top colleges [how my] experience being a first-generation, low-income student has impacted me, access to apply to them if I didn’t match, and they would give me a full financial aid package.” He knew his family would be more supportive of his attending college out of state if the cost was covered.
After changing his mind about QuestBridge, Joseph didn’t have long to complete his application. That September was a whirlwind: “I was [frantically working] to get letters of recommendation from my professors and my college counselor, asking for my transcripts to be sent and typing out all of my essays within a two-week time frame.”
Due to the tight timeline, Joseph didn’t explore many of the resources available to QuestBridge applicants during the fall. Fortunately, the CPS program had provided some foundational knowledge. Thinking about what he learned through CPS and his own application, Joseph encourages current applicants to “[not] be afraid to tell the full story of how you grew up and how you became who you are today academically, professionally and personally.”
Joseph’s biggest challenge wasn’t the application itself: it was navigating the financial aid process. Each QuestBridge partner school has its own financial aid policies, and nobody in his family had applied to college before. He and his parents didn’t fully understand terms such as subsidized versus unsubsidized loans or work-study programs. “We wanted to make sure that we weren’t wasting our time,” he reflects, thinking about the uncertainty he experienced. Applying through QuestBridge did alleviate some of the stress because “I knew if I matched with QuestBridge, I would get a full scholarship and not have to worry about all of these terms.”
Rice University had been on Joseph’s radar ever since his family evacuated New Orleans during a hurricane. He was drawn to Houston’s abundance of activities and culinary scene and began researching universities in the city. After learning about Rice’s residential college system, the research and internship opportunities available in the Texas Medical Center, Houston’s large Vietnamese American community, and the city’s proximity to his family, Rice became a no-brainer.
Although Rice was his first choice and the only school he ranked, Joseph didn’t initially match with Rice. Once he found out, he used the two weeks before the Early Decision deadline to revise his application with help from his English teachers and college counselor. He found the transition to Early Decision through QuestBridge easy to navigate and was admitted to Rice through Early Decision. He remembers, “I opened up [the application decision], saw a bunch of confetti, and I knew I was set.”
Joseph briefly considered studying engineering at Rice but now majors in biosciences and social policy analysis, as he is on the pre-med track and has an interest in health policy. He appreciates how easy Rice makes it for students to explore majors and even to pursue a double major. In addition to exploring his pre-med interests through opportunities in the Texas Medical Center, he works in a lab that focuses on genetically modifying coral to withstand higher sea temperatures and ocean acidification. He also conducts research on sensitive health policy topics, such as vaccine mandates and abortion, at the Baker Institute for Public Policy.
Through the Vietnamese Student Association (VSA), Joseph has connected with other Vietnamese community members at Rice and highlighted Vietnamese culture through campus events. He has also joined the Korean Student Association (KSA) and Chinese Student Association (CSA) to learn about other cultures. Additionally, he joined the Rice Lions Dance team, through which he performed at Lunar New Year celebrations and at a Houston Rockets game.
Joseph is a member of Will Rice College and has planned social events for the community, including the college’s public parties, college nights and cross-college events. He even began a new tradition by organizing the first Will Rice and McMurtry College joint poker event. He finds it rewarding to create opportunities for students to make new connections and form bonds. For this reason, he founded the club Perfect Pair, which connects students with elderly community members to foster intergenerational relationships and combat loneliness.
He has enjoyed attending QuestBridge events to build a support network with students who share similar experiences. As president of the QuestBridge Scholars Network (QSN), he plans to develop more programming to help first-year QuestBridge students connect with upperclassmen in the QSN. Joseph encourages incoming students to take time to enjoy their first year at Rice: “Don’t come in with the mindset that you can’t have a fun college experience [regardless of] your financial status.”
Don’t come in with the mindset that you can’t have a fun college experience [regardless of] your financial status.
Joseph plans to attend medical school after graduating from Rice. Through Rice’s rigorous academic curriculum, he’s proven to himself that he has the will and ability to handle medical school. He is grateful for the opportunities he’s had to explore his medical interests through the Texas Medical Center and other programs at Rice.