From #HomeOfTheEagles alumna to the next horizon

When faced with the choice of what to study and which university to attend, many students feel that they need to have a clear answer: What do I like? What am I good at? And who do I want to become in the future? However, in reality, not every decision is shaped from the very beginning, and the first choices do not always determine the final direction. For talented alumna Le Ngoc Yen Xuan, finding the right field of study has been a journey of trying different options, weighing her choices, and changing her mind along the way.

Through the In Their Words series, Yen Xuan shares her experiences and practical perspectives from her own university decision-making journey with #HomeOfTheEagles who are preparing for this important milestone.

When there are many options ahead, feeling pressured to make an immediate decision can sometimes cause students to narrow their own possibilities. Rather than trying to find a perfect answer right away, Yen Xuan believes that getting to know yourself, exploring new fields, and remaining open to possibilities you may have never considered can be an important part of the decision-making process. “If I could tell current #HomeOfTheEagles one thing, especially those preparing to graduate, it would be: don’t be afraid to explore, and don’t be afraid to change your mind. Explore the fields you are interested in as much as you can. Learn about your strengths and weaknesses, and don’t hesitate to consider majors you never thought of. Don’t choose a major simply because it looks difficult, prestigious, or promising on social media, or because of peer pressure. What you hear about a field online, from someone else, or within a particular community is often only one small part of the picture. You may only truly know whether a major fits you when you experience it as a student.” – Yen Xuan shares. 

Rather than offering advice based on theory, Yen Xuan draws on her own experiences. She herself went through several changes before deciding to pursue Agricultural Science. Each choice came at a different point and reflected what she was interested in at the time. Yen Xuan adds: “I changed my mind many times before committing to Agricultural Sciences. I went from Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Environmental Engineering to wanting to become a teacher, studying Computer Science, and then considering Engineering again. After nearly a year of debating with my dad, I unexpectedly ended up choosing Agricultural Sciences, a field some international students consider niche. Yet I have no regrets. I found something I genuinely enjoy and care about enough to keep going through difficult moments and periods of self-doubt.”

Drawing from her own experience, Yen Xuan also looks at choosing a field of study and a university from a broader perspective: “When choosing a major and university, think beyond rankings. Consider what you want to contribute to your community, who you want to become, the job market and career trajectory over the next 5 – 10 years, affordability, location, and whether the university has researchers, labs, and opportunities aligned with your goals. You don’t have to get it right on your first try. Give yourself room to explore before you commit.”

As we grow, the things we care about can change, new experiences can open up paths we never thought about before, and a choice we make today may be viewed differently tomorrow. Therefore, rather than putting pressure on ourselves to have a definite answer right away, we can give ourselves more time to learn, experience, and listen to ourselves before making a decision.

Yen Xuan’s journey may have begun with many questions, but those changes helped her better understand what she truly cares about and wants to pursue. For #HomeOfTheEagles who are facing their first decisions about what to study and which university to attend, her story offers another perspective: we do not always need to have the answer ready. Sometimes, the answer takes shape through the process of exploration – through each experience, each choice, and each new horizon we choose to pursue.