今日の試練の結果

留学をしようと決めてから、そして、教育分野に方向づけてから、
今まで通りの人生を送っていれば、経験しなかっただろうことが続いている。

６月に社内の留学制度に昨年に引き続いて応募し、
一次選考に合格、８月に最終審査で社長にプレゼンし、
その３日後に合格をいただく。

１０月初めには、全社の事業部長（一部事業部のぞく）へ留学についてのプレゼン。
このときにはまだ、留学で実現したいことをうまく言葉にでききれず、
フィードバックも様々な観点でいただいたが、痛い点を突かれるものが多く、
ずっしりと疲れてしまった。

今回も、留学に関連して、自分にとってはチャレンジングなことを行った日だった。
まだ興奮冷めやらないが、とりあえず一安心な結果だった。


【TED】Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are
http://on.ted.com/Cuddy

TEDのこの動画は今の私にとてもグッとくる。
特に後半のくだり。

「それが本当に現実になるまで、自分をだまし続けなさい」
というメッセージ。
今、少し大きな舞台に強制的に引っ張り出される感覚がある時、
不安になる時に、涙が出るほど勇気づけられる。

左足の痛み

左足の足首から下の前半分が痛い。

すぐに必ず良くなると信じて、１か月。代わり映えなく痛みが続いている。
どんな痛みかというと、ぎりぎりと締め上げられて、
さらに断続的に締め上げられていくような痛み。

痛みにも山があって、週に一度は夜中に目が覚めてそこから寝られないほど痛み、
残りの日は、朝起きてから痛みで動けず、
しばらくうずくまってから、何とか動き始めるという感じ。

家を出るころには少しましになってくるけど、
足の裏が地面に着くと痛いので、足の裏の外側の淵で歩いていたら、
パンプスのヒールの片側だけ削れてしまって、修理に出す羽目に。

あまりの痛みに耐えかねて、先日やっと整形外科に行ってみた。
レントゲンもとったが結果は、「わからない、原因不明。」とのこと。
とりあえず血液検査をすることに。

担当医はリュウマチか痛風を疑っているらしく、血液検査の結果に項目を追加している。
「ビール飲みすぎる人は痛風の可能性があるからねぇー。」とかいいながら。
（ひとっことも、アルコールの摂取量聞かれてないんですけど。。）

「リュウマチ？痛風？そんなわけないじゃん！」

といいたくなるのを抑えて、
血液検査の結果で「無実」が証明されることを祈りつつ、
ロキソニンを処方されて釈放。

ロキソニンがよく効くので、
今は「眠れないほどの痛み」はロキソニンでコントロール。

こうやって自分の足が痛いと、これまであまり気にしていなかった、
足の不自由な人、けがをしている人に目が行くようになり、
つらいよねぇ、と共感するようになった。

何はともあれ、早く原因がわかって、痛みが消えてほしい。

GRE対策開始

この１週間、GREについて、OfficialGuideやWEBなどで対策方法を探ってきました。

結果・・

・OfficialGuideに掲載されている問題数が少ない
・revised General Test対応している単語集、問題集があまりない
・revised General Testの勉強方法の情報が少ない
※GREは2011年8月より旧型式からrevised General Testに移行。

などの理由で、何を、どのくらい（期間・分量）取り組めば、
受験できるレベルになるのかがつかめない！
ということを実感。

急きょ今日から始まるAGOSのGRE対策講座へ、
昨日申し込みました。

今日からいよいよ講座が始まったのですが、
上記の疑問が全て解消されたので、申し込んで良かった、
と思っています。

GREはネイティブにも課される難しい試験ではありますが、
MBAで必要なGMATほどの高得点を求められないので、
その分対策に割く時間もGMATほどはかからない様子。

とはいえ、昨日の留学カウンセリングで、
TOEFLの伸びの少なさにあきれられ、TOEFLとGREを並行で進めながらも、
TOEFLのほうに重きを置く方針に。

いよいよ、後に引けなくなりました。
１２月までやりきるしかありません。
クリックお願いします↓

Learning for the future

I was surprised about the article that Sharp Corporation, one of the biggest consumer electronics companies in Japan, had a large deficit in this term. I would never have imagined ten years ago that as big a company as Sharp Corporation would have a difficult time. Now the manufacturing industry of Japan is threatened by that of the other Asian countries, the same as the United States used to be.

The environment of our lives changes rapidly. Flourishing industries or companies are soon passed by other industries or companies. Cathy Davidson said in her book that "65 percent of today's grade-school kids may end up doing work that hasn't been invented yet."  I think her theory is plausible.

For example, three weeks ago, I met a man whom my friend introduced me to. His work is a proposal of an agenda for a politician. He asks specialists' opinions and writes documents and proposes them to the politician. I think this is one of the new works.

People have to adapt to technological innovations, globalization, and political changes so portable skills (communication skills, problem solving skills and so on) become important for us. In Japan, a lot of universities adopt the liberal arts in their curriculum, which is one solution to adapt to social changes. To strengthen portable skills, a lot of universities also change their curriculum.

I think portable skills and liberal arts are not an objective but a means to adapt to social changes. Special knowledge interconnects potable skills and liberal arts. Making the bridge between special knowledge and potable skills & liberal arts will become important in the future.

What's Your Major? Working Toward the Uninvented Job



(c) .foto project

TOEFLスコア遅延

先日、夏休み明けに受けたTOEFLの結果が、
２週間近くたつのになかなか返ってきません。
通常１週間ちょっとで返ってくるのですが。。

今回は、祈るような気持ちで受けたので、
結果を胃の縮む思いで毎日待っていたのですが、、
何と今日 ↓ のようなメールが届きました。

----------------------------
TOEFL scores delayed for August 19 test date

There will be a slight delay in reporting the scores from the August 19 TOEFL iBT® test.
We expect to release the scores no later than September 7. You will receive another email letting you know when your scores are available.
Feel free to provide a copy of this email to your prospective institution(s) if there is a chance that you will miss an application deadline.
We regret any inconvenience this may cause.
----------------------------

大丈夫か！？私の解答。。
クリックお願いします↓

鶯谷テストセンターとiSERVE目黒テストセンター

TOEFLの試験会場を選ぶ際、必ず検索してみて、
口コミサイトで高評価だったり、
写真で雰囲気がよさそうなところを選ぶようにしています。

最近はピアソン認定試験センターが増えてきて、
よい環境でテストを受けられる機会が増えてきました。

最近追加されたテストセンターは口コミが少なく、
受験に指定するかどうか判断に迷うことがあるので、
直近で受験した会場の様子をお伝えします。

8/25受験
鶯谷テストセンター
ピアソンVUE社の認定試験センター。
鶯谷駅からも近くて便利。
ふる～いマンションの一室のため、試験会場に入るまでは、
大丈夫か？！と心配になったが、試験会場自体はきれい。
一人ひとり仕切りがあり、ある程度の広さもあるので、快適。

8/26受験
iSERVE目黒テストセンター
こちらもおそらくピアソンVUE社の認定試験センター。
若干区分けの幅が狭い気がするが、気にならない程度。
こちらもなかなか快適だった。

この試験の日はなんと、
先月TOEFLを個人で教えていただいていた方に入口で出会い、
その方の隣で受験する羽目に。。
隣にいると色々と参考になる部分があったので、
次回から取り入れてみようと思います。
クリックお願いします↓

Japanese and arts

One year ago, I bought an art work that an art college student drew. I met with her at a party and she showed me some of her works. I was surprised by the gap between the image of her works and the image of herself. I felt her works very powerful but she was a quiet, gentle girl in person. I felt her and her works interesting, so I bought one of her works.

In Japan, many people would think that they aren't good at painting because they have little experience of enjoying drawing. For me, I liked drawing since my childhood. Once I focused on drawing, I forgot time. Now, I'm not an artist so I enjoy going to museums. Also, I belonged to an art gallery club where the members of the club went to art galleries once a month. The owner of the club said that only a few Japanese people buy art so the artists can't earn enough money as an artist. To support the artists, he bought their works ( He continued buying art works for thirty years!).

Thanks to him, I was interested in buying art works so I decided to buy the work. I feel that the art work in my room helps cheer me up. Some people think that buying art works means investment, others think it is only to decorate their room. But for me, I felt happy with the art work.

What I did in the rest day

Yesterday, I took one day of rest and did all that I wanted to do.

First, I visited a hot spring resort that was near my house. In the hot spring resort, there are six kinds of hot springs and a steam sauna. One of the hot springs was electrical and another was a Jacuzzi one which helps people improve their blood stream and discharge body waste. Saturday is the most crowded day of the week, but there were not so many people that day so I could enjoy all of the hot springs.

After taking the bath, I had a head massage for thirty minutes. I relaxed so much that I slept during the massage.

In the afternoon, I went to see a movie; TOTAL RECALL. TOTAL RECALL is an action movie and the story is about the near future on earth. The story is not new and it is a typical love and action story, but the images of the movie are great. The story would attract some people who feel that their job is not fit for them or that there are other jobs other than their current job. I enjoyed the image of the movie very much.

When I came back home, I cleaned my room. I have been busy and tired these days so my room was untidy.
I enjoyed my one day of rest and I will restart my studies from tomorrow.

Taking a one day rest

From today, I have a summer vacation. It is only for five days, but it is a precious time for me because it is a good time to study English.

Anyway, I have felt a pain in my left instep for three days. It is difficult for me to walk naturally with the pain so I went to the hospital. But the doctor said that he couldn't find the cause of my pain and this hospital(dermatology) wasn't right place but he couldn't say what hospital was good for me.

I have had the same experience three times so far and every time the doctor said that he could not find the cause of pain. My first experience was when I was a high school student, one month before the test for my university. The second experience was when I was a University student and I had a trip to Myanmar. I went to a local hospital and the doctor diagnosed me a finger on my hand as well as my foot. It was a very interesting experience for me and thanks to his prescription, I recovered soon.

I think my pain was the sign that my body needed to rest so I will take a rest today.

Getting an allowance from my company

Today, I got an allowance from my company's system of studying abroad. As I wrote before, I failed last year, so it was a great pleasure for me. If I hadn't applied last year, I would have failed this year because my company's human resource development team said that they appreciated my strong will to apply in two consecutive years. They also appreciated my effort to achieve my goals such as researching the school teachers, interviews with the people who went to the school and contact with the professor.

Of course, the most important thing is the contrition of our company's business and to what extent my studies in the university were effective in contributing to my company's business. However, I felt they appreciated more my strong will than the contribution. I will have an interview and hear the needs of my company's member, and need to rethink the contribution.

Now, I realized that the number of people who I want to thank has increased since last year. Based on this experience, I believe that I can't achieve the highest goal by myself. Cooperating with the other people helps people to easily achieve their goal. Therefore, I decided that I would help people who want to achieve their goals.

Meeting with an attractive woman

I met a woman last friday who is going to the graduate university to which I plan to go. She was an open-minded, very kind and attractive woman. We had some common features such as university subject, working at a private education related company and living place. Though her program at the university was technology and education, she didn't prioritize using technology in education. She said that technology is a means of education and a face to face relationship is more important. I felt sympathy with her way of thinking.

She advised my anxiety about the university's application process and added that working experience in the private sector was a unique feature in the program, which I did not realize up to then. I also realized that the unique feature of the university was that the university allows not only taking credit for different subjects in the university but also taking credit for different universities that are cooperated with the university.

I want to learn not only about education but also business because I work at a private company and our goal is making profits as well as social benefits. Moreover, I think we need to apply business knowledge to education to improve the quality of education so it is an ideal condition if I take a business related course in the university.

She said that the number of Japanese who go to the university was very few so she hoped more Japanese would go to the university. In Japan, many people work at a company from graduation from school to retirement age. They change their job field sometimes and get promoted so they need to improve their knowledge and skills. If they stop learning, their learning curve would soon be stable. People need to continue studying and be in stimulating circumstances for a fixed period because the world is changing and the way of working is also changing.

It was a very exciting experience for me to talk with her and I felt thankful so much to her

My presentation done

I finished the presentation for my company's president last Monday that was the final process of applying to a system for going abroad to study. I prepared the presentation for about two weeks and reflected on last year's reflection. I also had a chance to do a presentation last year but I failed. One of the causes of the failure was a lack of information which was related in my presentation and the other was I couldn't get the president's consent to the contribution of my company. At this time, I showed my presentation to my colleague who belongs to a different division from me. She gave me very important advise and asked another person who's job was related to my presentation. Thanks to her, I changed the contents of my presentation that was related to the contribution of my company. I think the contribution was the most important part of my presentation so her information was very helpful for me.

I did my best during the presentation so I didn't have any regrets about it. Whether I would get an allowance from my company or not, I decided to go to graduate school because I want to change my life. I can imagine my future easily if I continue working in my company. I believe that going to graduate school abroad is one way that I can change my life. If I don't do anything, my life will continue the same as now. I will get the result of my presentation next Tuesday. My decision won't change whatever the result is and I continue preparing my study to go to graduate school.

ＭＢＡ関連のイベントに参加して

今日は有志の人が企画した、ＭＢＡ関連のイベントに行っていました。
すでに学校が決まった人が、自分の体験談を語る、というもので、
出発直前の忙しい時期に時間を割いてくれた合格者のみなさま、
アプリカントにも関わらず、企画してくれたみなさまには本当に頭が下がります。

直前まで、会社の方の出張に行くか迷っていたけど、
このイベントは行ってよかった！と心から思えました。

これは実行しよう！と思ったり、目からうろこのTipsは以下の通り。

・ＴＯＥＦＬとＧＭＡＴとエッセイの準備時期
→私自身、昨年度済し崩し的に、ＴＯＥＦＬとＧＭＡＴの両方を手掛けていました。
このやり方では成功していない＆平日ほぼ勉強時間をとることが難しいので、
なるべくかぶらないように心がけようと思います。

・リーダーシップの定義
→「リーダー」と冠がついていた時に行ったものだったり、
ぐいぐいと引っ張っていく、というものではなく、自分の定義でとらえる、
経験から学ぶ、ということが大切。

・エッセイ全般のスタンス
→つよいエッセイにこだわる必要はない。むしろ強ければ強いほど、
Why　MBA？が薄れるという逆効果になりかねない。
improveしたい部分があるから、ＭＢＡに出願している、というスタンスをうまくからめる。

・出願時のスコアにこだわらなくていい
→スコアはあったほうがよいが、低いからと言って、出願しない理由にしなくてもいい。
本当に受けたい大学があったら、低くても出願はすべき。（出願してもよいかを確認したうえで）
アドミニとのコミュニケーションの取り方、状況の伝え方（内容、人など）で挽回のチャンスはある。

・何よりも人とのつながりが大事
→これはどの人にも共通。ＭＢＡ自体がキャリアチェンジの役割を持っているため、
海外でキャリアチェンジの際に重視されるネットワーク構築力を、
事前にどれだけ備えているかも問われる。

米沢富美子さんの生き方

日経新聞の「私の履歴書」の米沢富美子さんの連載から目が離せない。
物理学者として、世界で活躍しつつ、３人の女の子も育て上げた人だ。

２０代後半で妊娠中に夫に「怠けてないか」と言われ、
「世界的」といわれる研究を成し遂げたり、
国際学会を提案して一人で切り盛りして実現したり、
今日の記事では、なんとがん手術を５回切り抜けたそうだ。
バイタリティたるや、すさまじい。

また、「私の履歴書」の白黒写真でさえも、
キュートで、おしゃれな雰囲気が伝わってきて、
本当に魅力的な方だ。

ものすごく刺激を受けるし、
自分自身もがんばろう、と心から思えた。

English Coaching

I am taking English coaching this month from my acquaintance. My first lesson is this article and I took the third coaching session today. In the first and second lesson, we discussed my problems and decided to work on the listening part of the Toefl exam, which is the most difficult part for me. The coaching was effective for me because I could focus the lesson on my weak point. My problem is that my listening score doesn't improve despite tackling many problems. Thanks to the lesson, I realized that I had been tackling the problems insufficiently and found out what point I should focus on. Moreover, I mistook the problems because I can not understand how to solve the problems following the ETS's trend. This experience is helpful for me to understand which parts I lost points on. I hope it will help me  improve my Toefl listening score!

Get Acceptance Letter

I got an acceptance letter from one university last Saturday, which was a great pleasure for me. I applied to the university at the end of May, and had an interview one week later.

First, I was very surprised when I saw the e-mail which began "Congratulations", because I was anxious that I could not answer the questions in the interview appropriately due to my poor English skills. I felt very happy with the acceptance.

I learned many things from my application process. For example, I requested a recommendation letter from my current boss and previous boss. They not only cooperated with the letter but also advised to strengthen it, which I appreciate them so much for. Also, I considered well my future so I recognized that my current job will be helpful for my future, which had an impact on my way of working. I got to always be aware of the way of doing business and what to do in business deserves a recommendation.

Though I got the acceptance, I am continuing to prepare for other schools and my company's system to support studying abroad.

This sweet is my reward for finishing the interview.

Computerization of School Education

I went to New Education Expo 2012 last Saturday and that was a very impressive experience for me. One conference was about the problems and present states of teacher training of digital education materials in Korea and Singapore.

Dr.Cho said that Korea is planning that all schools need to use digital textbooks in classrooms by 2014. But the problem is whether teachers can use digital textbooks efficiently.

The Government of Korea started computerization of school education in 1996, fourteen years earlier than Japan. The Government of Japan has planned that all schools need to introduce digital textbooks by 2020, so the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Technology have trials for computerization of education in some schools.

Korea is progressing the field of computerization of education in school earlier than Japan so I think Japan will have the same problems as Korea: The way that teachers use digital materials efficiently in the classroom.

In Korea, the government policy is that economic disparity should not affect educational disparities, so the government has prepared an education platform which connects school education and work at home and every student can use education materials through the internet. But in reality, Dr.Cho said, students in urban areas are very busy with cram schools. Even a law that prohibits cram schools from being open after midnight was enacted recently so it is impossible for them to do homework within their busy schedule.

Anyway, the situation is different between Korea and Japan but I think the problem will be same so we need to prepare computerization of school education and a support service for teachers who have to use digital education material in their classrooms.

ＴＯＥＦＬ特訓

今日は４時間ぶっ通しで、ＴＯＥＦＬ特訓＠六本木ヒルズ。

昨年、多くの問題集をこなしたものの、スコアの伸びが少なく、
数か月前に変えた取り組み方も、大きな伸びにつながらず、
行き詰まり感を覚えていたＴＯＥＦＬ。

思いがけない出会いから、知り合いの方に、
短期集中で特訓をお願いすることに。

試験の準備、心構えから、１つの問題の深め方まで。
本当に濃い４時間で、終わったころにはくたくたに。
アドバイス通りに、４つのパートの目標スコアと、期限を出すことで、
気持ちがきゅっと引き締まりました。

ＴＯＥＦＬの取り組み方だけでなく、
英語への接し方という意味でも気づきがあった時間でした。
６月はＴＯＥＦＬ強化月間として、
集中して取り組みます。

ご冥福をお祈りします

6/2は二胡の先生の葬儀に参列し、出棺までを見届けました。
その後、久しぶりに再会した昔の二胡のクラス仲間と、
中華料理店へ。

４人掛けの席に３人で座り、
空いていた１席に、先生の分、とういことで好きだった紹興酒入りのグラスを。
その場に先生がいるような気がして、
一緒に食事をした光景がよみがえってきて、 涙ぐんでしいまいました。


ウィーンでの弦四重奏とのコラボ。
今年の９月に同様のコンサートをオペラシティで予定していたそうで、
実現しなかったのが残念です。

リハーサルの様子。

もう、この音色が聞けないのが残念です。
先生のご冥福をお祈りします。

The death of my Erhu teacher

To my sorrow, my Erhu teacher died last Sunday during his concert tour suddenly. He was fine the day before his death and played Erhu passionately as usual.



He was a very energetic and cheerful person and attracted many people.
I had lessons twice a month and after every lesson, the class fellows and the teacher went to a Chinese restaurant. It was a fun time for me and we enjoyed our conversations very much. Sometimes he played Erhu in the restaurant, which delighted the restaurant owner and customers.
I have stopped my lessons for one year to prepare for studying abroad, but I am looking forward to restarting my lessons. I feel very sad and I can't believe it.

Change the purpose to join an MBA program

I took a third interview with my counselor the day before yesterday and it was very beneficial for me. He advised me that I had better choose graduate school following an extension of my current career because it is difficult to change career drastically at my age. I planned a career change to being a business consultant through an MBA program so the change of purpose to join an MBA program had a big effect on my career. He said that it might have taken a long time for me to go to the top business school where I wanted to go and have the advantage of becoming a consultant. Moreover, if I choose a school which follows an extension of my current career, I will not need to be anxious about my age anymore.

For the above reasons, I changed the plan from going to a two year MBA program to going to a one year program of a professional education course that is related to my current job and a one year MBA program. I was very excited with the plan. I wanted to become a consultant because I wanted to make use of my business knowledge from my current job. I am progressing to my dream little by little thanks to my counselor.

今日の勉強（4/28）

今日からＧＷ開始。

IELTSの模試を受けたけど、ひどい点数。
accuracyに欠けたのが点数を落とした大きな要因の１つとのＦＢ。
5月以降どちらを中心に勉強するか判断するために受けてみたけれど、
accuracyにまったく自信のない私は、選択式のTOEFLで腹をくくるかな。。

5月末のGMAT受験を想定したGW中の勉強計画をざっくりとたて、
明日からの1日の過ごし方がイメージできたところで就寝。

■今日やったこと
・IELTSの模試受験　⇒　なんとOverall5。。。
・GMAT CR （授業の宿題）　⇒16時～22時半までGMATの学校

■勉強時間
・模試や学校の時間を除くと2時間半

ようやく。。

へこみがちだった今週も、
いつもより多めに睡眠をとって、
いつもより多めに人と話をしていたら、
気持ちがだいぶ上がっていました。（単純・・）

仕事へのモチベーションや気持ちの変化が、
勉強のほうにもダイレクトに響くので、
色々なことを中途半端にしたり、おろそかにするよりも、
しっかりやりきったほうが、勉強に集中できます。

そろそろ、ゴールデンウィーク目前。
これまでの傾向から、長時間集中して取り組むと、
伸びた実感があるので、とっても大切な時期。
今回も年に数回しかない、長時間集中のチャンス！

Verbalで心底役立つ！と思えた、Manhattan GMAT。
今度はMathシリーズを手に入れ、
さらに3週間ほど前に予約していたGMAT OG 13thが届いたので、
ゴールデンウィークはしっかり取り組んでいこうと思います。

弱音を吐いてもいいですか。

久しぶりに、へこみまくり。。
数週間前からきっかけになる兆候はあったんだけど、
それがドカンと来た感じ。


来るときは重なってくる。
そして原因は同じ。
ああ、ねじを戻してもう一度やり直したい。


こうなると、
何も手につかなくなり、
出社拒否したくなり（でもできない・・）、
ひたすら寝てみるものの、
すっきりせずに目覚める。
そして、ぐだぐだのまま出社。


謝っても失った信頼は戻ってこない。
何もなかったようにふるまうけれど、
ずっと心が重く、
さらに、思わぬ追い打ちまである。


このブログにこんなこと書いているのも、
楽になりたいからで、
誰もこのブログを見ないのを知っているからで、
弱音を吐ける場がないから。


弱音を吐いてもいいですか。

English examinations

I started a consultation service for my MBA and had my first appointment last Saturday. My first priority was to increase my TOEFL score and apply to the class with the September intake, but the counselor advised me that it is too early to apply for the class and to take another English exams such as IELTS or TOEIC.

There are many MBA programs which accept English exams other than the TOEFL so it is effective that I understand which test is suitable for me.

By the way, I think my listening skills are hopeless because I can't understand much. I did many exercises to repeat words after the voice of an English speaker so I am able to listen English words or phrases but I am not able to understand at the same speed a speaker speaks. I added and changed my study of listening to the following one month ago.

First, I read as many books as possible. I think reading a lot of books helps me to understand at the same speed as I listen.

Second, I listen to English while being aware of the construction and I analyze which part of English is used in the answer. I realize the main topic of the English and answers or examples of the main topic are used in the answer of the test.

Thanks to these methods, I realize little by little which point I should listen to in the exam. I will try to continue to improve my English.

IESEのケーススタディセッション

昨日は、IESEのケーススタディセッションに参加しました。
IESEは昨年の9月にもケーススタディセッションがあったのですが、
台風のため、電車が動かなくなり、やむなく欠席。

今回こそは！と指折り数えていたところ、
なんとセッション当日は、台風ではないものの、
またもや暴風警報で、大荒れ。

これは、縁がないのか！？と思ったものの、「絶対たどり着いてやる！」と決心。
幸い電車は遅れはしたものの止まらず、
無事にたどり着くことができました。

行って、大正解。
欧州ＭＢＡは最近目を向け始めたのですが、
どの学校も個性があり、自分のキャリアに武器を与えてくれる、
または、目指すキャリアとのギャップを埋めてくれる学校はどこか、
をより意識した学校選びが必要だと思います。

これまでは、アルムナイの方と話をした時の「フィット感」が、
自分にとって大切だと思っていましたが、
今回のセッションでは、さらに卒業後、こういうことをしたいなぁ、
というイメージが持てました。

こんな感覚を持ったのも、
お話しされていた、Dr Kaseの人柄によるところが大きかったです。
感謝！

Prioritize study and my job

Last week, I had an evaluation interview with my bosses. They told me that they rated my work highly but I should prioritize my work to improve my skills, because I do every my job perfectly without considering my effectiveness. I need to prioritize my work and decide which point is most important for success.

This advice is the same as studying for business school. Many people who study TOEFL or GMAT to go to the business school are working. They have to work hard and study hard. If they don't do the best performance in their business, they will find it difficult to demonstrate their ability and do well in their business school essays. Meanwhile, if they don't have a good test score, they won't be able to go to the top business school. For these reasons, they have to prioritize their work and studies.

For me, I have difficult time prioritizing and balancing my work and studies. At the present time, I am busy with my job, but I want do well in my job because the result of my work is concerned with essays. And, due to my business, I have little time to study. I will continue to consider my priorities.

TOEFL test ＠ 泉岳寺

Today, I took a TOEFL exam at a test center in Sengakuji in which I have never took a test, and I felt that it is one of the vest test centers to take a TOEFL exam that I have ever used. In a TOEFL exam, an environment of taking test is very important so I took the test with satisfaction.

After the test, I went to TOEFL speaking school. The teacher advised me that I am good at delivery but I have to improve the language use such as grammar. I can not only learn template for speaking but also learn what point is good or bad. It is very helpful for me because I can focus on my weak point in the speaking section, so I can exercise speaking effectively.

Women as leaders

Are Women Better Leaders than Men?
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/03/a_study_in_leadership_women_do.html

The author of the article said that in the real world, the majority of leaders are men, and the higher the level, the more men there are. On the other hand, the author's survey that rated the effectiveness of the leadership shows that women got a higher score than the men, so he argues that women have fundamental behavior that drives the success of a leader.

I'm interested in this article because the number of women employees is greater than that of men in my company, but the higher the level, the less women there are. The situation is same as the article. I wonder why there are these situations.

One reason I think is that women must take care of their children so it is impossible to work hard. For example, one of my colleagues who was a manager and had children had a difficult time in her business. She had to come home by five to pick up her children and couldn't attend some important meetings because of her children's sudden illness. Consequently, sharing important information was delayed sometimes, which confused the section members.

Another reason I think is that women tend to be emotional. My colleague has a great ability to be an efficient leader but she gets emotional and talks with her heart sometimes. At that time, I feel that it is hard to work with her. People want to be happy at work, so they would avoid working with an emotional person.

motivation control

Yesterday, I took a TOEFL exam at a test center in Saitama, but due to a system breakdown, the examination was canceled. Today, I got an e-mail from prometric which said that I can choose either a refund or a reschedule. This weekend, I will take the exam too, so I hope there won't be the same problem.

By the way, I think about motivation control these days because my motivation lowered when I finished the GMAT in the middle of February. It took two or three weeks to regain my motivation. I regained my motivation for two reasons:

Firstly, I took part in a lecture that was put on by my company. The theme was related to studying English, so I asked the lecturer what she thought of the MBA program. She said it was a waste of time because the MBA program takes two years, and during this period, people have to put their career on hold. Of course, she didn't know I was interested in the MBA program. This opinion was understandable, as I thought about it this way before. However I became convinced of the benefit of the MBA program; therefore, I thought this period would be beneficial for me and I don't want to compromise.

Secondly, I realize the time pressure. I want to apply in 2012 so the deadline will be in June. I need a TOEFL and GMAT score at the latest in May, to prepare for my essay. If I don't study hard now, I won't have the chance to go to the dream school.

自己紹介

はじめまして。三十路半ばになって、ようやっと重い腰を上げ、ＭＢＡ受験を目指すことにしました。日々の気づきなどをつづっていきますので、どうぞよろしくお願いします。