In this blog post, I’ll summarize my academic efforts and school activities during high school, examples of my consideration and cooperation, as well as my motivation for applying and my career plans.
Academic Experiences and Reflections
I was deeply shocked when I ranked 200th out of the entire school on my first placement exam as a freshman. Since I had been regarded as a fairly strong student in middle school, this drop in my grades was all the more disconcerting. However, I resolved not to let the shock define me. Instead of giving in to despair, I vowed to create a study plan and study consistently, starting with the Social Studies course—the subject that interested me the most—and mastering it first. I believed that regaining my enthusiasm for my favorite subject would motivate me to tackle the others as well.
Specifically, I began exploring social phenomena by reading study guides every day and clipping newspaper articles. I tried to satisfy my intellectual curiosity—which textbooks alone couldn’t fulfill—through inquiry-based learning linked to current events. As I looked into real-world examples and historical contexts, my interest in learning increased significantly, and I gained the confidence to remain unfazed even when external passages appeared on exams.
During school breaks, I honed my sense of current affairs through newspaper clippings and read ahead in textbooks and study guides for related subjects such as economics, history, and geography. By memorizing the summarized key points from the study guides first, classes at the start of the semester became a form of review, allowing my understanding and retention to fall into place naturally. Attending classes after having covered the material in advance helped the content sink in more deeply and improved my learning efficiency.
Outside of class, I frequently engaged in discussions with friends. During lunch breaks, we discussed social and political issues over meals, and in the evenings, we gathered to delve deeper into these topics. Since we had to avoid making noise after school or during self-study periods, we used chat rooms to work through problems and exchange opinions. With permission from my teacher to use my cell phone for study purposes, I was able to continue these discussions in real time.
By focusing on social studies in this way, my grades in the subject improved significantly, and my school-wide ranking rose. In addition, my logical and critical thinking skills improved, leading to positive changes in my study habits for other core subjects. I learned that the investigative mindset and problem-solving skills I gained through the process were a greater asset than the results themselves.
Major School Activities and Reflections
When I first entered school, I realized there was no practical way to purchase the items necessary for daily life. There were many new items to buy—such as school uniforms, school supplies, and study guides—but due to my family’s financial situation, it was difficult to choose expensive brands. So, I thought that if we created an online marketplace that students could freely use, they could purchase items cost-effectively, and a culture of sharing and exchanging goods would spread.
I turned this idea into action by gathering like-minded friends and creating the online marketplace myself. At first, I set up a bulletin board where students could resell or exchange used textbooks and study guides. I designed the board so that upperclassmen could sell textbooks to underclassmen and planned to link it to the school website, but posting a banner required permission from the administrator and approval documents. Fortunately, with the help of supportive teachers, I was able to post the link after going through the official procedures.
After the site launched, the administrators took the lead in initiating exchange activities and promoting the site to boost user engagement. We promoted the site in each classroom and informed our teachers about it. As a result, within just one semester, about one-fifth of the entire student body had signed up and was actively participating in the marketplace, and our initial goal of facilitating practical exchanges of goods became a reality. Through this process, I gained firsthand experience in the importance of planning, operations, and promotion.
As we expanded the service, we established regulations for school uniform exchanges and diversified the product range by refurbishing and selling indoor shoes. Posts offering to share school supplies or donate notebooks for free also began appearing, which gave me a sense of fulfillment as an administrator. In the second semester, we introduced an auction system, conducting click-based auctions for popular items only; watching the actual bidding process unfold allowed me to appreciate the fun of system design and operation.
Examples of Consideration, Sharing, and Cooperation, and My Reflections
A year after we started running the online marketplace, as the school festival approached, we decided to expand our online activities offline by setting up a booth in the form of a flea market. Although we weren’t an official club, our activities were vibrant, and we were able to secure festival funding from the school to set up the booth. Our goal was to create a space where students could experience in-person transactions—something that had previously only taken place online.
As soon as we announced the event, students who wanted to donate items and those eager to participate in the flea market began to gather. The organizing committee prepared picnic mats, arranged the donated items by donor, and began sales. Since the items were donations, we set prices as low as possible so students could buy them without feeling burdened. For example, we priced bags at 5,000 won, school uniform tops at 8,000 won, and PE uniforms (top and bottom) at around 10,000 won to attract as many students as possible.
In particular, many students who had lost their PE uniforms or had damaged school uniforms came to the event. We didn’t just sell items; we also ran an item exchange program, establishing a rule that exchange forms must be filled out for each transaction. For paid purchases, we provided item warranty certificates to build trust. We also held offline auctions to ensure fair trading of popular items, ultimately creating a system that satisfied donors, participants, and the organizing team alike.
Through this experience, I learned how important it is to go beyond simple transactions to identify the community’s needs and establish rules based on trust. Furthermore, through the process of persuading others, building cooperative systems, and preventing conflicts, I gained a firsthand understanding of the true meaning of leadership and consideration.
Efforts and Preparation Related to Motivation for Application and Career Plans
From a young age, watching my father work as a corporate consultant sparked my interest in the field of business management. My father would visit companies to provide consulting services, communicate with executives, and help drive organizational development. Although I didn’t fully understand the specifics of his work, I was impressed by his proactive approach to problem-solving, and I decided that I, too, should pursue a career in business management.
That resolve took shape through my activities during my school years. After entering high school, I focused on social studies and economics, excelling in those subjects to the point that my peers nicknamed me the “Social Studies Killer.” At the same time, I developed an interest in creating and operating services that met students’ needs, so I planned and ran an online marketplace. This experience went beyond mere student activities; it was valuable hands-on experience in designing and operating actual business processes.
By running an offline marketplace at school festivals to generate revenue and reinvesting those profits back into the site’s operations, I gained a firsthand understanding of capital flow and the importance of reinvestment. I found great fulfillment in facilitating and assisting others’ transactions, and based on this experience, my goal of becoming a professional who directly manages an online shopping mall became clear.
In the long term, I aim to gain experience operating online shopping malls and work as a management consultant who supports other e-commerce business owners. During my undergraduate studies, I plan to strengthen my foundational knowledge of business administration and practical skills in e-commerce, marketing, and customer management to acquire the expertise necessary for startup launch, operations, and consulting. My attitude toward learning in high school and my experience running the marketplace laid the foundation for this, and I will continue to strive to bridge the gap between theory and practice.
