7月15日(月)、「FedEx Express/Junior Achievement International Trade Challenge 2019」国内予選大会にて高校インターナショナルコースの2チーム(高校1年・2年)が、8月に開催されるマレーシア国際大会への出場権を獲得致しました。

6月22日(土)、インターナショナルコース生徒と保護者を対象に卒業生による海外大学説明会を行いました。

4月22日(月)、インターナショナルコース高校希望生徒を対象に米国3大学説明会(Middlebury College, Claremont McKenna College, Davidson College)を行いました。

ボストンの大学見学の様子を生徒の日記とともにお伝えします。

Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music is known for its specific educational program dedicated to music. It has one of the best facilities and environments to study and pursue a career in music. It has a total undergraduate student population of around 6,500, which, compared to the school’s small campus, is a large community. There are mainly 12 majors to choose from, although there are double majors and many minors available. The campus is located in the city of Boston which makes the school very accessible, however, in return, it has a smaller campus compared to other schools. Berklee has many buildings including concert halls and performance theatres. This allows the students of Berklee to get hands-on experience with the latest equipment as well as learning how to run an event which is a skill they would rather have when you work in the music industry. The application is simple for Berklee: although your GPA and SATs are a good way to appeal yourself as a student, almost all the decision is based on an audition. In the audition, there are four steps: Prepared Performance, Improvisation, Ear Training, and Sight Reading. Each of the steps allows showing different skills of your musical talent which becomes a very important component to pass the audition. Although the school is very competitive, looking at the campus and curriculum, I think it is worth trying to apply to this school to develop further knowledge for your passion towards music.
I personally was looking forward to seeing Berklee as my future college because I have a huge interest in music. It was very appealing that not only you could learn how to play an instrument, you could also learn the business and marketing as well as the real hands-on experience that you can get by attending to many of the student-run events and concerts.
– M.N. (H1 boy)

On the last day of the tour, we visited Berklee College of Music, which is the largest music college in the world. It was founded in 1945 as a jazz school, but it teaches every music genre to students from many countries now. There are many famous alumni from this college such as Charlie Puth and John Mayer who even I am familiar with. The campus is close to Hynes Convention Center station and is split into 4 buildings. There are some places where the students can perform with passing an audition in the buildings. Also, Berklee has another campus in Valencia, Spain, where students can study abroad. By the way, I saw many interesting American shops like Trader Joe’s and J.P. Licks near the school, so school life looks fun.
In the school, there are 12 majors, 12 minors and 20 summer programs in which each student can study various types of music skills, not only composing and playing. For example, as a music business major, the students learn and think about the legal, financial, and ethical aspects of the music business, and as a film scoring major, the students learn about making sounds and music for a variety of industries. There being many types of professional students, there are a lot of productions and performances made by only students. Also, recording studios, performance venues and over 400 ensembles in the school make Berklee very special. We went to a studio which had great microphones and machines in the basement, and took a picture!
During the campus tour, a male student who studies music business guided us politely, but also a Hiroo Gakuen alumnus talked in more detail to us in Japanese. He said the school security is pretty good even though it’s in the middle of the Boston business district. The students and the staff at Berklee need an ID card to enter any building and there is a smartphone app for the school security, too. Also, many people were greeting their friends on campus and it looked nice to us.
If you want to go to Berklee, you need to apply online from its website and pass an audition and an interview. They take place in major cities around the world so you don’t have to go to Boston to take an interview. In the audition, you’ll be required to perform a prepared piece, improvisation, ear training skill, and sightseeing skill, and the interview takes 15 minutes. From what I heard, Berklee requires great music talent in order to get in, regardless of form and genre. To speak of extremes, it means you actually don’t need to be good at playing the instruments so we were surprised. However, it’s better to learn to play the instruments because it really helps you to improve your music skills. Als,o international students are required to send a TOEFL/IELTS score, and ACT/SAT score optionally. The early action application deadline is on November 1st and the regular one is on January 15th. The audition date depends on the time when the application was submitted, but it takes place in August through March.
In the tour, I thought that Berklee is the place where many dreams gather. Although I just like music and think music colleges are strict to traditional music, the school made me interested in studying music, because the school teaches contemporary music to the students and offers them many opportunities to make productions by themselves. I felt that the future of music is there.
– M.K. (M3 girl)

MCPHS
The last university we visited was the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Science, or MCPHS in short. Founded in 1823, the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Science is the oldest college in Boston. MCPHS specialises medical and pharmaceutical fields, and health science. We took a tour around the campus, followed by an information session.
Despite being the oldest college in Boston, MCPHS puts emphasis on utilising the newest cutting edge technology in its many labs. MCPHS has an undergraduate enrollment of 3,882, the student to faculty ratio is 15:1, and 20% of the student body is comprised of international students. The ratio of men to women is about 29:71, and when asked about this, our tour guide confirmed this by stating that she sees a lot more girls around, but there is no apparent reason as to why this is.
MCPHS offers a well-rounded, advanced medical and health science education that gives students not only knowledge, but hands-on experience as well. MCPHS offers direct entry pharmacy courses to its students, meaning that while it would normally take 8 years to become a pharmacist, the course specialises in pharmacy, giving students a more concentrated education, so they can finish pre-med and medical school in just 6 years. Although it does take the same amount of time as any other schools in different areas, MCPHS allows students to get hands-on experience by letting students use high tech labs from the Harvard medical school.
Although it seemed like everyone needed to have a clear idea of what they wanted to be in order to get in to MCPHS, I soon found out that there are many people who change their majors a few years in. Because MCPHS gives its students such a versatile and well-rounded education in the medical and health science fields, it is not hard for students to change majors when they actually experience the field they are studying. For example, we were told in the information session that there is usually at least one person every year who faints when they see actual blood and decides to change majors, which is perfectly fine. This is something that would be impossible in other colleges that cannot give students hands-on experience, and I personally felt that this well-rounded system is much more friendly for the students, and gives more flexibility despite being a medical school.
Even though I am personally not very interested in medical and health science, I felt like MCPHS is a college that offers an advanced education in the medical and health science fields and gives students more than just knowledge by giving them hands-on experience, but still manages to keep the education versatile and well-rounded. Walking through the campus gave me a good idea of what campus life is like, and this trip overall gave me a better general idea of what universities are like in the Boston area.
– K.S. (M3 boy)

ボストンの大学見学の様子を生徒の日記とともにお伝えします。

Babson College
Babson College is a medium sized college that has an undergraduate enrollment of 2,342 students. Approximately about 30% of the students are international students, representing 78 countries from all over the world. Babson is dedicated to business, especially entrepreneurship. FME (Foundations of Management and Entrepreneurship) course is one of the things that makes Babson different from other universities. FME course is a required course for first-year students to take and students will be able to actually run their own business in this course. The college invests up to $3,000 to businesses that students come up with. If the business became successful, all of the profits will be donated to local service organizations and even if the business ends in a failure, there is no need for students to return the money to the college. These opportunities make students develop an entrepreneur thought and action, make them understand more deeply on how business works, and also make them get ready for real-life business and entrepreneurship. Another thing that makes Babson different is that they do not make students decide on their majors. This means that students can take any courses that they want for four years until they find their area of interest. 99% of the undergraduate students who attended Babson were employed or attended graduate school within six months of graduation. 89% of the students had at least one internship while attending Babson and over half of the students experienced study abroad programs.
Babson college was a great college with a beautiful campus, friendly people, and a great academic curriculum. I was personally attracted to the part where students can take both business majors and liberal arts majors because I am interested in business but also want to learn other majors too. I also liked that Babson has partnerships with Wellesley College and Olin College of Engineering because it widens up the opportunities that the students can have in both academic and social perspectives.
– R.K. (H1 girl)

Boston College
Boston College is known as the first institution of higher education to operate in the city of Boston. It offers a variety of majors and minors in various fields, including the Carroll School Management, Connell School of Nursing, Lynch School of Education, and so on. I was very proud to be able to go to such a famous and attractive college. Although we didn’t have time to go around the campus, we were able to ask some questions to the people studying in the college about the college life, and from a person working for the admissions. We were also able to meet a graduate student of Hiroo Gakuen. He gave us a mini tour, showing us the gymnasium, classrooms, etc.
Listening at the Q&A from the students in the Boston College, I found out that they were having a very fulfilling life. 80% of the students in the college completed at least one internship, 50% of the students had studied abroad during their 4 years, 49% of the students engage in service or volunteer work every week, 96% of the students are employed six months after graduation. These numbers show the motivation in every student, the support that the school provides, and how successful the students have been.
From the person working in the admissions, we got to know the admission details, which consists of financial aid, scholarships, and the detailed dates of the application deadlines. First of all, for the financial aid, Boston College offers both merit based and need based (only merit based for international students). However, the merit based financial aid is very competitive since many students from all over the world apply for it. The school only offers it for 10 to 15 students. Undergraduate students receive BC grants and scholarships totalling $154 million. Lastly, for the application deadlines, Boston College has an early decision and a regular decision. The first early decision is from November 1 to December 15, and the second early decision is from January 1 to February 15. The regular decision is from January 1 to April 1.
The graduate student of Hiroo Gakuen gave us some advices of what we should do in our high school life. He explained that we should not be that nervous, and not be too stressed. I felt a lot more relieved hearing this since I used to think to get into such a good university, you needed to get good scores in tests, do a lot of extracurricular activities and so on. He was also kind enough to talk to us about what he did when he was in high school, and his GPA and SAT scores.
– S.G. (H1 boy)

Wellesley College
Wellesley college, a private women’s college founded in 1870, is known for being the nation’s top women’s college, producing many famous scholars, including Hillary Clinton.
I myself have never been interested in an all-women’s college, because I had this misconception that the school buildings, teaching methods, dress code, and faculties were old-fashioned and restricted. However, I was wrong. Starting from the atmosphere of the school, the students looked very lively and fulfilled and I learnt that the professors and students were closely connected. Also the school has partnerships with Babson University and cross-registration with MIT.
We couldn’t go to every one of the buildings but I personally favored the library because there were so many books about identity, women and gender aligned neatly on the table at the front. I was very excited to see these books and I sensed that this school values ideas of feminism and women’s rights, which I am very interested in and plan to pursue in the future.
Moreover, from the further explanation we got, I found out that students are fully engaged in classes, and their voices and opinions are valued.
In the past, colleges were only limited to male scholars and people thought that women had no need to experience further education and so many opportunities were restricted. Although, many progress has been made thanks to the authors and activists throughout centuries, predominance of men still exists in many different forms. Wellesley trains women in leadership and pushes women scholars to have an interest in STEM subjects and computer science as well as making students aware of gender issues and the imbalance of society. Consequently, from visiting Wellesley College, I believe it was a pretty well-fit school for me because I think I can find a community; people who have similar interests as me, where we could exchange our perspectives on these issues.
It was where I had the chance to imagine myself actually going to the college, the place where I hope to grow as a person, reflect on who I am and think about who I want to be.
– N.H. (M3 girl)

After lunch, we went to Wellesley College, which is a women’s school. It is known as the college which Hillary R. Clinton graduated from.
Their mission is to provide an excellent liberal arts education for women who will make a difference in the world. Many of my friends thought that it’s nice to push the student to be the leaders of the next generation, and some boys said it was such a nice school that they would want to enter the school if they were girl.
We were able to go around and see a lot of facilities, and we also could hear about the campus, school life, housing, food and curriculum from a tour guide. After the tour, we listened to an information session. They have over 2,300 undergraduate students, over 50 majors and about 1,000 programs. As I mentioned before, Hillary Clinton graduated from this school. She was a United States Senator, and two out of the three women Secretaries of State (the second highest position of power in the US Government) graduated from this school, which means they train women into responsible leaders.
Before I heard the information session or went on the tour I wasn’t really interested in this college, but after that I understood that they make students who have leadership and will be the leader of the world, so I thought it is great school for us.
– I.H. (M3 girl)