Studying Taylor Swift’s music, getting into Oxford without an interview

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A student from Vietnam got the chance to study at Oxford University, the world’s leading university, by researching the lyrics of American pop star Taylor Swift. 

The most surprising thing is that the university authorities have given direct admission to this 22-year-old female student without any interview.

The talented student named Huynh Cuong Nguyen received admission letters from both Oxford and Cambridge universities last March. Currently, he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in English Language Education at the University of Nang. 

Key to Nguyen’s incredible success was his research subject. He mainly worked on the ‘conceptual metaphor’ of Taylor Swift’s songs. He began this research while in his second year of university, where he showed how Swift’s songs evoke human emotions and real experiences through various metaphors. For example, seeing love as a ‘journey’, representing memory as a ‘fixed place’, portraying fame as a ‘kingdom’. 

Nguyen argues in her research that these metaphorical patterns allow Swift’s songs to reach so deeply into the hearts of people across cultures and languages.

Interviews are usually a mandatory step for admission to universities such as Oxford or Cambridge. But Nguyen’s independent research skills and his unique perspective impressed the university authorities so much that they decided to offer him direct admission. 

The specialty of his research is to do it entirely on his own initiative without the supervision of any teacher. He shows how using metaphors can make English language learning easier and more lively.

His research also won an award from the Ministry of Education of Vietnam.

Not only research, Nguyen’s academic record is also highly enviable. His CGPA is 3.97 out of 4.00. He is also very active in social activities. This student created a website that over 12,000 teachers have used in their teaching. 

Nguyen has not yet made a final decision, though he has received calls from both Oxford and Cambridge. He is basically waiting for the result of the scholarship. Her long-term goal is to do more in-depth research on the language and bring about effective changes in the English education system in Vietnam. 

Taylor Swift
pop star
Research
Vietnam