Discovering My Research Theme
Faculty of Policy Management
AO entrance examination
Female
High School | Kobe Kaisei Girls' High School |
|---|---|
Current Year | 2nd year, Ph.D. program, Graduate School of Media and Governance |
Primary Research Group Affiliation | Takashi Iba Laboratory (since my first year of undergraduate studies) |
Major of Affiliated Research Group | Creative Practice Studies, Pattern Language (Humanities and Social Sciences) |
My Research Theme | How to Cultivate an Exciting Life (I am trying to position this within the fields of career design studies and qualitative psychology) |
What I focus on in my student life | Taking many language classes (I took German, Chinese, Italian, and Korean). My research group became like a club activity, and I was at school five days a week for all four years of my undergraduate studies. Although I could have graduated with 123 credits, I wanted to make the most of the university environment, so I think I graduated with about 146 credits. |
High School Club Activities | Basketball club, student council (I was vice president in my first year and president in my second year of high school) |
How long were you in your high school club activities? | Until the winter of my second year of high school |
Favorite Subject | I don't have one, but I got relatively good grades in contemporary Japanese. |
What I focused on in high school | The student council also served as the cultural festival executive committee. The "on-campus stamp rally" had been declining in popularity, with only about three participants each year, and there was even a proposal to abolish it. However, the teachers wanted to keep it as it also served as a school tour, so they asked us to do something about it. I transformed this long-neglected problem into an event that drew long lines of participants. It seems that this method was passed down for several years after that. |
What I'm proud of about my high school | Even though it was a combined junior and senior high school for girls, our sports festival was a competition between grades. Because of this, in our third year, the motto was, "If you want to study for exams, do the ball toss. If you're serious about winning, come to morning practice." We took it seriously and won two years in a row in our second and third years. I came in first in the three-legged race I participated in. There was also an event I didn't participate in called "The Epic! Giant Ball Drop," where our grade's strategy was so clever that the rules had to be changed the following year. That's how seriously we all took the sports festival. Also, our high school trip was to France. |
When did you learn about SFC? | In the spring of my third year of high school |
Did you participate in an SFC Open Campus (including online)? | No, I didn't. |
Did you use a Juku or prep school? | I had been studying for written exams since around my second year of high school, but I didn't attend any Juku specifically for the AO entrance examination. |
Did you take a gap year to study for entrance exams? | No |
When did you decide to apply to SFC? | In June of my third year of high school |
Which entrance examination did you pass to get into SFC? | AO entrance examination |
What track did you apply for? | Japanese Language Track / April Enrollment |
Did you take any other entrance examinations besides the one you passed? | No |
What was your preference ranking for SFC? | First choice |
Did you apply to any other faculties? | No |
Did you apply to any other universities? | No |
What Made Me Choose SFC, and the Journey to University Admission
Even in my third year of high school, I had no idea which university I wanted to go to or what I wanted to do. I couldn't focus on studying for exams in that state. Then, my cousin, who had entered SFC three years earlier, told me, "At SFC, you can find what you want to do after you enroll, and there are people doing all sorts of things, so I recommend it." At the time, I didn't really understand what that meant, but the name "Keio" was enough to make me think, "I'll give it a try." That's what initially made me choose SFC.
At that time, my cousin told me, "There's something called the Camp for Designing the Future, you should go!" I was able to participate, and following that, thinking "the more chances, the better," I applied through the AO entrance examination. My school teachers and Juku instructors told me I would "definitely not pass," so I continued studying for the general entrance examination while preparing my AO application documents.
Actually, I considered applying to Doshisha University's Faculty of Business and Commerce, which also had an AO entrance examination, but I thought, "It's not a world where you can succeed by chasing two rabbits at once. I'll focus on one and give SFC my all." So, I only applied to SFC.
What's Your Recommended Study Method?
Don't try to be eccentric. Express your thoughts honestly. Professors can immediately see through fabricated documents that high school students or Juku instructors have tried to make look impressive. If you approach it as your true self without trying to look cool, there's a chance they'll see you as a diamond in the rough. And if they discover that potential, they will open the door to the SFC environment for you, so you don't remain just a pebble.
The Connection from My High School Studies to My Current Learning at SFC
There's nothing that cool to report. But since I was young, I've always been involved in small-scale projects, like figuring out "how to increase participation in the school festival's on-campus stamp rally," or dealing with the "school's designated bag being too ugly." The bag was designed by the mothers' association, so the teachers couldn't easily change it. So I thought, "Maybe if I survey the entire student body and present it as the children's opinion, they might accept it." As a result, I collected surveys from the whole school (about 900 students), with around 98% saying they wanted the bag changed because it was ugly. Due to existing stock, the change happened after I graduated, but the design was actually changed.
At SFC, I am undergoing training to become a person who can practice "what I can do to make the world a better place"—not by chance, but with certainty—within society. I am doing this by taking the things I used to do intuitively in high school, placing them on an academic footing, and learning to master them theoretically under the guidance of professors.
A Message for Prospective Students
Until high school, I had always lived by society's standards. I judged my own worth based on vague criteria I felt from unseen, indistinct people. But at SFC, there are so many different kinds of people, and thanks to being constantly showered with their positive influence, those values have been completely uprooted. I am truly grateful. My life is fun now.
If I had remained the person I was in high school, I believe I would still be living a life conscious of "someone else's" standards, feeling dissatisfied and anxious while comparing myself to others.
Now, in a way I couldn't have imagined back in high school, I have clearly found what I love to do. I've encountered a research theme that I want to work on even if it means losing sleep, and before I knew it, I'm in the Doctoral Programs. Once I obtain my Ph.D., I want to give back what I have received—and of course, much more—to my family, to SFC, and to the world. I want to continue working on what I can do to help myself and others live better lives in this world.