On the road to get a PhD Part 2

In 2011, while coping with the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake, I enrolled in the Chemistry department of a university in Tokyo. It was until I was in my third year as an undergraduate student when my life was no longer focused on club activities. The weekly student experiments and reports were hard work, but I don't remember studying very hard, except the days before the exams. I don't think I was a highly motivated student.

In my fourth year as an undergraduate student, I was assigned to a laboratory. I chose the laboratory of a chemical engineering professor who seemed to be kind in classes and at social gatherings.

Around the summer of my fourth year of undergraduate school, I took a graduate school examination to apply for a master's degree. Students with good grades from the first year to the third year only needed an interview. But since my grades were below average, I had to take a written exam. I couldn't do well in my major subject, but I managed to pass the exam because my English was good. My adviser was disappointed in me because of my poor performance in my major subjects.

Around the fall, my advisor told me that new master's and doctoral programs would be established next year and asked me if I wanted to take an interview to see if I could try it out. As a young man, I took my advisor's words to heart: he said, "You are suited to be a researcher.” Furthermore, I was told that I would receive a free scholarship, and being a money-loving person, I prepared for the presentation with great enthusiasm and took the exam, but I was beaten up by the interviewers’ questions and failed the exam. I was a little depressed because probably very few people failed that exam. I thought that I would never get into a PhD program.

At the beginning of the year, I presented my thesis and graduated successfully. Then, with cherry blossom petals dancing in the air, I entered a master's program in the same laboratory. To be continued.