The main reason I chose College of Economics was that I had been interested in economics since I was an elementary school student, reading the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, and had a vague desire to start a business, so I thought that understanding the economy and the market would be an advantage. During high school, I was still unsure of my future goals, and wanted to broaden my future possibilities through interdisciplinary learning at university, so I enrolled in College of Economics at Aoyama Gakuin University, where I could acquire a broad education through the "The Aoyama Standard" courses. I also chose Department of Public and Regional Economics because I felt I could learn economics from a multifaceted perspective.

At university, rather than mastering a particular specialty, I was conscious of learning about economics from various angles, and I also took advantage of the system that allowed me to take classes in other faculties. Among them, the areas I personally focused on were "Law" and "IT/Programming". In terms of law, I took about three classes related to commercial law, with an eye toward the possibility of starting a business in the future, and broadened my perspective to build up knowledge. In the field of IT and programming, the class that left the biggest impression on me was "Economic Information". I was able to acquire the fundamental skills for data analysis, from basic Excel operations to simple programming, and the knowledge I gained in this class was useful in other classes and in my internship during my job search. IT and programming are important skills in modern business, but they were also areas that I was unfamiliar with before entering university, so it was a great benefit for me to be able to learn them thoroughly in class.

I started my job hunting by applying for internships from March of my second year to April of my third year. Generally, I think that many students narrow down their desired industry to some extent before applying, but I took the strategy of participating only in leading companies in each industry without narrowing down the industry, because of my curiosity to see various industries and my ambition to aim higher in employment. By doing so, I was able to experience internships at top companies in various industries, such as consulting, finance, automobiles, foreign IT, and developers. As a result, I feel that I was able to determine which work I could use my strengths in and which environment would allow me to maximize my potential. In addition, when interacting with current employees during my internship, I made an effort to ask them frankly about the actual working conditions and treatment.

During the final recruitment process, I applied to multiple industries without narrowing down my focus, and received multiple job offers from major companies. I chose a major consulting firm as my place of employment because I thought it was the company that best suited my aptitude. In consulting work, you are required to work in a team with in-house consultants on projects to address clients' issues and challenges and provide new value. In the process, I felt that I could more effectively utilize the leadership skills I have cultivated through my various leadership experiences and the ability to build relationships with colleagues while working toward goals. Furthermore, I hope that a job that involves communicating with corporate management to solve problems will often lead to opportunities for self-growth.

Job hunting is often associated with the image of being "difficult" and "tough," but I was conscious of enjoying it. Until now, I had lived my life with my eyes on the "future," but job hunting was the first time I looked back on my "past" from birth to the present, and it was a valuable time for me to face my life and think seriously about how my strengths were formed and, conversely, why my weaknesses remain as they are. During the internship, I was able to put the knowledge I learned in class into practice, and I once again realized the "significance of learning." I also enjoyed interacting with interns from other universities. During the final interview, I was able to talk at length with executive-level people I would not normally meet, and it was a strange feeling, like a scene from a drama.

These four years were a time for me to broaden my possibilities. In fact, when I applied to enter another private university, I was hoping to enter a different university, but after entering Aoyama Gakuin University, I was exposed to a wide variety of specialized subjects and the interdisciplinary learning offered by the Faculty of College of Economics, and was able to absorb a lot of knowledge through the broad liberal arts education offered at The Aoyama Standard. In my daily studies, I repeatedly reviewed material until the knowledge was firmly established, and by maintaining my curiosity, spirit of challenge, and ambition, I was able to receive job offers from several major companies, and ultimately choose a place of employment that I was satisfied with. In a way, I think I was able to get revenge for the university entrance exams.

From now on, I aim to create value for the world through my work, and I will do my best to embody the saying, "Bloom where you are planted." I would like to accumulate experience and work hard to further grow and expand my possibilities, with the option of starting my own business in mind someday.