Exciting Learning

Faculty of Policy Management

General Selection

Female

Since I attended a school that went from kindergarten through high school, I had no prior experience with entrance exam studies. Combined with my experience studying abroad in high school and my focus on activities outside of academics, I decided to primarily focus on applying through admission by recommendation. However, my school grades weren't very good, so my application method was inevitably narrowed down to comprehensive selection admissions. At the time, when I searched online for topics I was academically interested in, SFC was the top result. This sparked a vague interest in SFC, and I started attending a Juku to learn more about universities and admission formats where I could pursue my desired studies. The more I learned about various universities, the more I was drawn to SFC's appeal, and I decided to make the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies my first choice.

Originally, I had hoped to finish the admissions process with just the comprehensive selection, but my desire to get into SFC no matter what grew stronger. So, around the spring of my third year of high school, I started studying for the General Selection in addition to preparing my application documents. In the end, I was not accepted through SFC's AO Admissions. Although I was accepted into one other university I had applied to that offered subjects I was interested in, I decided to take a chance on getting into SFC until the very end and took the General Selection exam.

I couldn't say that my preparation for the General Selection was as thorough as others', so for the universities I applied to, I chose schools and faculties where it was easier to score points rather than focusing on what I wanted to study. Specifically, I focused on universities and faculties with a high weighting for English, which is my strong suit, and those where I could leverage my English qualifications. For the Common Test, I concentrated my studies on Japanese, mathematics, and contemporary society. Therefore, I prepared for the General Selection on my own without going to a Juku. Fortunately, the sections I had focused on for the Common Test appeared on the exam, and I was able to get a high score. I used this score to increase the number of universities I applied to. As a result, I was accepted into all the universities and faculties I applied to through the General Selection, except for the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies. However, when I thought about what I really wanted to do at university, my desire to go to SFC remained strong. Considering that you can learn the same things at SFC regardless of the faculty, I decided to enroll in the Faculty of Policy Management.

For English, I only focused on preparing for vocabulary and long-passage reading comprehension. The reasons are that SFC's General Selection is composed of only these two elements, making it easier to score points, and that for general university entrance exams, having these two skills allows you to solve most problems. While I had developed a certain level of English proficiency from studying abroad, it was primarily in listening and speaking for daily use; I had almost no knowledge of grammar or vocabulary.

First, for vocabulary, I memorized the words from a vocabulary book equivalent to the Eiken Grade Pre-1 level that was distributed at school, as well as words from past SFC exam questions, ensuring I could recall the meaning of any word I had seen before. For long-passage reading comprehension, I practiced quickly finding the parts of the text relevant to the questions, skimming the irrelevant parts to grasp the general content, and for the relevant parts, instead of just getting the general meaning, I practiced reading the grammar carefully to be able to translate it accurately into Japanese. Furthermore, for selecting answers, I practiced using the process of elimination to choose options with solid evidence from the text. SFC's long passages are voluminous and require stamina, so I also built up my endurance by reading several long passages in a row using past exams.

I used past exam questions to prepare for the short essay. Unlike other universities, SFC's short essay requires your own ideas and thoughts related to problem identification and resolution for a given theme. So, rather than just memorizing knowledge, I practiced reading the provided materials within the time limit, logically structuring my thoughts to be easily understood, and putting them into writing. For each essay topic, I didn't just solve it once and move on; I tried approaching it with different ideas and thoughts to expand my repertoire of ideas. Also, since studying for exams tends to isolate you from the outside world, I made sure to take breaks and refresh my mind. In the actual entrance exam essay, something I had seen on TV at the time came to mind as a method for social implementation to solve the problem, and I based my idea on that.

I have loved music since I was a child, and I wanted to pursue studies related to music in university. My area of interest was not performance, but rather learning about "the power of music on people." Also, having studied abroad at an American high school, I questioned the Japanese system of narrowing down one's future path at the point of choosing between arts and sciences. Therefore, I wanted to engage in practical, interdisciplinary learning at university. I felt that SFC is an environment where, if you know what you want to do, you can study the necessary subjects across disciplines to achieve it, and even if you don't, you can decide on your own theme from a wealth of options without limiting your potential. While exploring the academic field of music and people, I have come to feel even more strongly since enrolling that SFC is the optimal environment for me to continue searching for new possibilities and passions.

I also wanted to continue improving my English, which is my strong suit, so I am taking advantage of the opportunity to take GIGA Program courses (courses offered in English) at SFC.

My days at SFC are a continuous series of surprises and learning. It's often said that "SFC is a faculty where you can learn anything," but from my experience, I feel it's closer to being "a faculty where you can freely learn what you need for what you want to do." In class, I meet students with diverse backgrounds and passions, and each time I am encouraged, thinking, "I'm learning with such interesting people, so I have to work harder too." I feel it's a wonderful thing to be this excited not just about student life, but about my university studies alone.

Regardless of whether you are aiming for SFC, I want all prospective students to never give up on their chances until the very end. I also recommend attending events at the universities you are interested in. There were many times during my exam preparation when I was about to lose motivation, but at those times, I would recall the excitement and admiration I felt at SFC's Open Research Forum (ORF) and school festival, and that would motivate me to push forward.