In this blog post, I will summarize the academic experiences and school activities I gained during my time in high school, along with examples of my consideration and cooperation, my motivation for applying, and my career preparation process.
Writing About Academic Experiences and Reflections
With the support of my parents, who run a small manufacturing business, I attended a high school specializing in business and management. After careful consideration of my career path, I set my sights on becoming a management researcher focused on studying the efficiency of organizations and systems. My goal was not simply to become a CEO running a company, but rather to take an industrial engineering approach—researching ways to streamline business and organizational operations from an engineering perspective. Therefore, starting in high school, I approached my studies with the intention of majoring in industrial engineering or business administration.
Our department’s curriculum went beyond basic economics courses to cover a broad range of knowledge applicable to real-world business settings, including global management, practical marketing and merchandising, financial practices, and accounting information systems. In particular, taking practical courses that directly addressed product sales and management allowed me to gain hands-on experience with the detailed operational processes, in addition to theoretical knowledge, which was extremely beneficial. Through finance and accounting courses, I was able to analyze profit structures in business operations and lay the groundwork necessary for decision-making.
Through this learning, I came to understand the role of a manager in comprehensively managing a company’s resources, developed an interest in e-commerce, and obtained the E-Commerce Management Certification. I also earned the Basic Level Certificate in Business English for International Trade, which I was able to prepare for solely through the curriculum offered at school. Our program equipped us with basic communication skills in three languages: not only Business English but also Business Japanese and Business Chinese.
I believe that the business knowledge, practical experience, and language foundation I built in high school will serve as the cornerstone for my future studies in Industrial and Management Engineering. My foundational math skills, combined with the hands-on education I received, will be of great help in analyzing complex management systems from an engineering perspective.
Major School Activities and Reflections
As the head of the Student Council’s Welfare Department, I proposed and managed a special educational welfare support program. Our Student Council enjoyed a high degree of autonomy, allowing us to make various proposals to improve student welfare. As a result, we consulted with the School Operations Committee and successfully implemented a plan to apply the Education Office’s on-campus welfare program support initiative to our school. In particular, we focused on supporting students from low-income and near-low-income households who lacked opportunities for academic and career exploration.
Prior to implementation, we collected case studies of successful implementations at other schools and survey data, which we analyzed to tailor the program to our school’s specific circumstances. We held meetings with teachers from the Welfare Department, the General Affairs Department, and the School Operations Committee to discuss these findings, and collectively established a framework comprising three programs: level-based after-school tutoring, artistic enrichment, and career exploration activities. A key strength of our role was our ability, as students ourselves, to directly ask the target students about their needs.
As part of the detailed implementation plan, we first organized after-school programs for key subjects required for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) at different proficiency levels to accommodate students who relied on private tutoring or cram schools. Classes were conducted in small, select groups and designed to enhance academic achievement through one-on-one consultations with the subject teachers. The goal was to reduce the academic achievement gap and ensure equal educational opportunities.
Second, through an arts enrichment program, we planned to organize visits to local exhibitions or theater performances at least twice a month, allowing participating students to select the performances or exhibitions themselves and engage in the activities proactively. Third, career exploration programs were structured to allow students to experience companies and job roles aligned with their desired majors in advance, providing opportunities for interviews with industry professionals and hands-on work experience. While designing and implementing these programs, I felt a deep sense of fulfillment and responsibility as I identified students’ practical needs and turned support plans into reality.
Writing About Examples of Consideration, Sharing, and Cooperation, and My Reflections
During my time on the student council, I had an experience resolving a waste sorting issue raised by the Cleaning Committee. It was pointed out that handling waste sorting only on the existing “big cleanup day” had limitations in terms of hygiene management, so a proposal was submitted to the student council to designate a new day for waste sorting to address this. I suggested that instead of a single intensive cleanup at the end of the month, we conduct waste sorting in the middle and at the end of each month—specifically on the 14th and 30th.
During the discussion of the proposal, the question of who would be responsible for waste separation became a point of contention. The Cleaning Committee suggested that classes take turns handling it, while the Student Government Committee proposed recruiting volunteers from the entire student body. I added that voluntary participation would be more efficient in the long run than mandatory assignments, and ultimately, the Student Government Committee’s proposal was adopted, leading to the recruitment of volunteers from the entire student body and a semester-based operation.
Volunteers were awarded school service credits to help them fulfill the required service hours before graduation, and recruitment was conducted on a semester-by-semester basis rather than monthly, ensuring that once selected, volunteers served for six months. Just one month after the system was implemented, positive feedback emerged that the recycling stations had become much cleaner, and through this experience, I realized how crucial swift decision-making and execution are for an operational organization when solving problems.
Furthermore, this process highlighted the importance of collaboration in fostering communication and consensus among various stakeholders—the janitorial staff, the student council, general students, and teachers. When conflicts of opinion arose, I developed conflict management skills by listening to each party’s perspective, reviewing the pros and cons, and working toward a consensus among the majority.
Efforts and Preparation Related to Motivation for Application and Career Plans
In the future, I aspire to work as a researcher specializing in business strategy, particularly focusing on designing and optimizing business environments from a human factors engineering perspective. I believe human factors engineering is highly significant not only for maximizing productivity and efficiency but also for enhancing safety, convenience, and human satisfaction. Designing office spaces and traffic flow, as well as applying leadership that prioritizes dignity and consideration within an organization, is no longer a secondary consideration but has become essential.
This interest aligns with research fields that integrate industrial engineering and business administration. In particular, I am interested in affective engineering research utilizing virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), and I am exploring ways to apply this to the business environment to simultaneously improve employee experience and work efficiency. I decided to apply to the Department of Industrial and Management Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) because it offers a well-equipped environment for integrated research in industrial engineering and business administration, which aligns perfectly with my research goals.
I believe that an essential quality for a researcher is a pioneering spirit—one that embraces innovation and creates new value rather than clinging to existing methods. Through my involvement in student government, I have demonstrated the drive to swiftly move proposals from conception to execution, as well as the ability to immediately find and implement solutions when problems arise during implementation. These traits will be a significant asset in proposing research topics, carrying out projects, and solving problems.
In the future, I plan to build a solid foundation during my undergraduate studies and then pursue in-depth research in affective engineering and human-centered management strategies at the graduate level, ultimately completing my Ph.D. My ultimate goal is to design people-centered management systems through my research and propose new management models that harmoniously combine technology and humanity.
