This blog is losing its cohesiveness due to too many articles being written in a chaotic manner. Therefore, for the time being, I would like to organize the contents of this blog by writing "summary articles" of sorts. I also plan to organize information on malls, restaurants, hotels, etc. in Cebu Island eventually.

Today, I would like to share with you a summary of my MBA study abroad program at the University of Chicago, where I started learning English in 2010, passed the exam in 2011, postponed my study abroad program for a year due to the earthquake disaster, started in 2012, postponed it again in 2013 due to work-related reasons, and finally graduated in 2015. MBA (EMBA) Summary Article.

This article is quite long, but it is a comprehensive summary of the MBA study abroad process, difficulty level, and experience, so please read through it. Please read through the article as it is a comprehensive summary of the MBA study abroad process, difficulty, and experience.

May 2010 - Started learning English

About 8 years ago, I returned to the world with a renewed purpose and started learning English. At first, I started learning English with the intention of attending a full-time MBA program, primarily an MBA in the UK for about a year. Therefore, I started studying for the IELTS test out of the blue.

I was a student of SI-UK, an English language school and agent specializing in study abroad in the UK, located in Shibuya, Tokyo, for about two months. For the first two weeks or so, I had a hard time writing my writing homework because it had been a long time since I had spoken English. Even so, I soon got a 6.5 (6.0 the first time and 6.5 the second time). From there, I had a hard time getting a 7, but since my only experience studying abroad was 3 months in New Zealand a long time ago, it may have been too much to begin with.

Accepted by the University of Chicago in April 2011 to start

When I applied to the University of Chicago, my IELTS submission score was 6.5 (shame). I really had a hard time getting a 7, and my English at that time was really quite low compared to now. I have the impression that for the EMBA program, experience is more important than English ability. In my case, I had started my own business and had achieved a fair amount of success, so I was a rarity among Japanese candidates for the MBA program, and I passed the interview in one shot.

From what I hear from actual applicants, they often do not receive acceptance letters immediately, but in my case, I received an acceptance letter less than a week after the interview. In that sense, the school may have wanted me to come. My English was pretty devastating, though.

On the other hand, in 2011, due to the earthquake that occurred just before the examination, business sales were quite unstable in April-May. Because of this, we postponed the start of the program for one year. In fact, I was so busy with work that I was hardly able to prepare for the program. The only good thing I dared to do as an experience was to attend a two-week program at AIM, a business school in Manila.

Started EMBA at the University of Chicago (June 2012 - Pre-MBA to Kick-Off Week)

I honestly licked it. I think this is what it means to be overconfident in one's abilities: in Pre-MBA, we do math and accounting-related things that I am good at, but at this point, I could barely understand what my professors and classmates were saying. I think I can afford it now, but my English was really poor at that time. I have been learning the abacus since I was a child, and I was a fast calculator, even participating in competitions. Even that kind of calculation ability was slowed down a lot when I tried to do it in English.

Since I was in such a situation even in the Pre-MBA program, I found it difficult to even sit and listen to the first two classes, Microeconomics and Leadership. I am sure all Japanese who have studied abroad for MBA have had similar experiences. I remember that my listening skills were not yet up to the level of MBA students, but even my reading skills, which are crucial for Japanese students, were not up to the level of MBA students. I was not even good at reading cases and the like. I was mentally damaged in this first class. The pimples around my mouth got worse and I think I lost about 3-5 kg in one week. The EMBA program for Executives at the University of Chicago is several times harder than full time. Classes are only about a week a month, but I lost 3 pounds each time.

In the EMBA program at the University of Chicago, there was an international session that brought together classmates from three campuses (the U.S., London, and Singapore (then, now Hong Kong)). It was my first group work and it was really painful because I couldn't understand what people were saying. It was my first group work and it was really painful because I didn't understand what the people around me were saying.

After the kick-off week, Week 1 at the Singapore campus will start with only 3 weeks to go. I remember doing a group work session at the Asia Campus in Singapore via Skype, and I was so confused because I couldn't understand what people around me were saying. I could only answer about 6 out of 10 questions correctly in the online quiz (quiz), and I was wondering what was going to happen to me.

1st Summer Quarter (July & August 2012)

This was the first class at the Singapore campus of my MBA that I would have, or should have, run away from if I were not a naive, daredevil entrepreneurial type. At this point, I think my understanding of the class and progress in my preparation was less than 30%. It was a time when time just flew by, not knowing what to do with the enormous amount of cases and homework assignments.

I no longer have the energy to update my blog, and my blog at the time is a summary post for later. Reading it over again, it seems that at that time, I was not able to understand almost all of the professor's explanations in class. The way I prepared for the class was problematic, and it was almost the first time for me to attend a university lecture in English in the first place. Another major factor was that I participated in an EMBA program, which was difficult to catch up with despite my poor English.

Anyway, I studied for the exam very seriously because my English was not good and Microeconomics was just too difficult for me to understand at all. I really had to put my work aside to study, so my performance at work was affected a lot. I studied more than any other time in my life. It was the time when I had the greatest sense of crisis that if I didn't do it, I would fail the exam.

2nd Autumn Quarter

I think the first Week 1 was mainly Competitive Managment and Statistics. In both classes, I was still half in the middle of what the professor was doing, and my classmates had almost no idea what was going on. Especially in Competitive Management, we had to do a group presentation, and I completely crushed it. I couldn't stop crying after I got back to my room because my poor English had caused trouble for the group (or so I thought). The reason was that I couldn't speak well after all the practice.

Looking back, it was impossible for a Japanese person who could not speak English well to prepare a manuscript and read it. That was the way it went at the group meeting, and I tried my best for the performance without fully understanding the content, but it was a failure. Even though I tried my best and failed, I couldn't stop crying when I thought I was not good enough. I don't think I will ever feel like that again. Compared to speaking English at work, I can afford it. Anyway, the way I approached it was also no good. I have a fair amount of opportunities to give presentations in English at work now, but I don't get nervous anymore. Maybe it was this experience that made me think that it is okay to speak clearly and openly.

3rd Winter Quarter

Perhaps it was the experience that brought me to tears, but I think I began to understand what I needed to do from then on. My English skills were not yet up to par, so I finally realized that the first contribution I could make to my classmates would be to prepare well in advance and do my homework. Especially for the first group work (homework), my group mates were often not prepared at all, so it was around this time that I started to do it almost completely on my own. It was also the time when I started to somewhat understand how fast to read case studies and how to read them. Anyway, it was around this time that I took the time to do the group homework in advance.

I remember the first homework assignment for Operations Management was to write a process for an operation. I completed it almost perfectly. By doing so, the way the group looked at me changed, and they began to listen to what I had to say. I had done a lot of preparation in advance, so I had a good understanding of the content of the case. I also realized that I had a lot of business experience, so my practical skills were actually quite good. It is difficult to describe, but after reading the cases, I realized that I was able to give rational and persuasive answers to the questions, perhaps because I had more experience than my classmates in making business decisions, such as what will happen in the future or what should be done in the future.

My English was not quite good enough to speak up, but it was probably the moment when I realized once again that it was my English that was not good enough.

4th Spring Quarter

This was also a time when, although I was able to contribute in group work, I struggled to speak up in class most of the time. It was a time when I raised my hand but could not guess, or when I thought, "Oh, I want to talk about this here," but did not have the courage to do so, or when I actually thought about talking about this but later realized that I had missed the point as if I had missed the point. This is a 2-week class in this quarter, and I finished it with a lot of preparation for the class, but after I decided to postpone it for another year, I suddenly decided to just take the exam in Singapore. I got a B on both exams without studying for them at all, so you can see how important class preparation is. I think I could have gotten at least a B+ to A- if I had studied hard for the exams. It was a time when I was beginning to understand a lot about how to prepare for classes.

Deferred MBA for one year altogether

It was not only due to a certain English school in Cebu, but it turned out to be a very good decision to postpone (cancel) my MBA studies for a year from 2013 to 2014. Last year I also made the decision to completely Withdraw from Southwestern University's medical school after the first week of school, and I believe I am capable of making such a decision. I think I am capable of making such decisions. It is a question of letting it go that far in the first place, but the timing of making a last minute decision is not bad. That is why I have been running a company for 17 years.

At that time, I was thinking that using English at work was nothing compared to studying abroad for an MBA. The fact that I succeeded in rebuilding a certain English school was not so much a result of what I learned in the MBA program as it was a result of the hard experiences I had during the MBA program. I was working in the Philippines (Cebu Island) surrounded by Filipinos, so my English did not decline. I think I was able to use English quite well in one year.

June 2014 - MBA resumed

I was able to focus on my work for a year, and thanks to the recovery of a certain English school, I was able to resume my MBA classes with my new classmates in a pretty good mental state. It was a week where I didn't know how to spend my time. I am not socially inclined to make new friends in an English-speaking environment, so I felt very lonely. It was also during this week that I felt a little regret about postponing the class for another year.

My motivation to improve my grades completely dropped when I took the last test of my first year with no preparation at all, and my grades deteriorated. My GPA, which averaged nearly 3.45 at the time, dropped all the way down to 3.2 from there. The memory of getting a B without studying for the test made me realize that I would not fail the exam if I prepared for it, so I stopped studying so much right before the exam from this point on. If anything, I devoted more time to class preparation. Also, during the first year, I mostly neglected my work to participate, but after resuming, I took my work quite seriously. That was probably another reason for the drop in performance.

Around the World with an MBA

The curriculum was accidentally changed at the time of the one-year postponement, and it became impossible to graduate in one year without taking classes on a very unreasonable schedule.

July 18 Tokyo-Osaka (Shinkansen Shinagawa-Osaka)
*Actually, today, Japan... Sweat.
July 21 Osaka (Kansai International Airport) - Taiwan - Singapore
July 22 Singapore-Istanbul
July 26 Istanbul-London
London Tuition (1 week)
August 2 London-Chicago (3 consecutive weeks of classes)
Chicago Tuition (2 weeks)
August 17-18 Chicago - Tokyo

Normally Executive MBA classes are taught at a very fast pace, learning all at once in one week a month. At the University of Chicago, the homework, the amount you learn, and the scores required on the exams are exactly the same because the degree is the same as a full time MBA. I mentioned that my grades were down, and this schedule probably had a lot to do with it. Because I was forced to follow such a rigid schedule, I did a lot of things, such as forgetting to turn in homework on time. I am glad that I was able to follow up and manage as a result.

The two weeks of elective classes at the University of Chicago, which is considered to be the most significant mountainous point of the University of Chicago, were quite tough. This one is open to alumni, and I definitely hope to participate in it in the future. After that, the last class in Singapore was actually the toughest. I never imagined that the hardest physical experience of my life would be right after I reached my 40s. Well, I deserved it.

Toughest classes during MBA (January 2015 - Singapore)

After the international session in Chicago, I had no classes until January 2015, so I was able to work on many things, including my job. Around this time, my oldest daughter wanted to study abroad from high school, so we decided to go to the UK in December 2014. Although I was successful in passing the exam, I had to return to Singapore from the UK and take MBA classes directly there, which was really tough. So,

Time difference.

I know that people experience all kinds of physical hardships, but I have tasted how hard it is to get enough sleep. And this is an MBA week where MBA classes are held from 9-5 in the morning and group work is done every night from 6pm to midnight, and even then, I still have trouble getting enough sleep. I slept only 8 hours during the week. (I didn't sleep at all for two days, and only got about 8 hours of sleep in three days.)

Sleep 8 hours for 5 days

The time difference completely threw my body clock off, and I could not sleep at all for several days after the group work. I even passed out in class on several occasions, and it was physically impossible to get back to sleep. After class on Saturday, I went back to my office and had a real blast sleeping while my oldest daughter was waiting for me, 13 hours. My eldest daughter thought, "What a hard MBA!

Two lonely experiences and eventual graduation

I had to take one class in Hong Kong with one classmate one year below me, despite a hard schedule due to a year postponement and curriculum change. while my classmates were celebrating their graduation in March 2015, I was left with classes in May and June 2015. Looking back now, I think this was the beginning of many new encounters for me. I enrolled in a batch called AXP-13, joined AXP-14 a year later, and graduated at AXP-15. In fact, each of my classmates had their own unique characteristics, and I still keep in touch with each of them.

The Russian who came to Cebu the other day is AXP-13, my very good friend in Manila (who passed the National Accountancy Exam 9th) is AXP-14, and the man with 10 billion dollars is AXP-15. Moreover, none of the friends I have mentioned here are Japanese, and the 10 Billion Man has already sent several Chinese students to our English school, and we also have a business relationship. So, MBA study abroad is a very good networking and friend-making opportunity for businessmen.

I myself officially graduated on August 28, 2015 when all credits were available. I did not participate in the graduation ceremony, but I was congratulated in front of the AXP-15 members during my last class in Hong Kong. I wasn't expecting it at all, but it was something that made me feel like I was the only one being celebrated and treated special. It seems that they provide this kind of occasion every time for graduates who have earned credits along the way. I usually don't post photos of my students, but this time I would like to post a photo of the event. (I'm sweating...)

Finally, a summary of MBA study abroad

We know that there are pros and cons about studying for an MBA. It is often said that an MBA is not necessary to start a business or that an MBA is not necessary for Japanese people. However, as a graduate and MBA holder, I would like to reiterate that if you have the chance, you should study abroad for an MBA. In reality, the knowledge you learn in MBA study abroad will not be that useful in practical situations. When I think about it now, I learned more from the harsh environment, the hardships, and the excellent classmates. The better classmates are the ones who are making the effort to go to their professors more often. I wrote this article as a summary for those who are planning to study abroad (high school, university, graduate school). I apologize for the length of this article.

Thank you for your support.