HANOI — "Medical school was never even an option for me. It simply isn't the field I'm passionate about." Hoang Huong Giang, 18, Vietnam’s top scorer in the science track of the national high school graduation examination, paused briefly when asked whether she had ever considered studying medicine before giving her answer. Despite earning the highest score nationwide in the science track (mathematics, physics and English), a perfect 1,600 on the SAT and an IELTS score of 8.0, Giang chose neither medical school nor an elite U.S. university. Instead, she will enroll in the Department of Computer Science at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Korea's sience & research hub of Daejeon. She graduated from the High School for Gifted Students affiliated with Hanoi National University of Education, one of Vietnam's leading institutions for nurturing top science and engineering talent. As Korean companies expand investments in Vietnam in advanced industries such as AI and semiconductors, competition to attract top global talent is intensifying. At the same time, t