My first choice Ph.D. program is…

My first choice is a Ph.D. program in Physics
at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

f:id:sun_ek2:20190911201222j:plain — The Great Dome.

↓日本語版。

I chose MIT Physics as my first choice last June when I was a first-year graduate student.

I had been wondering what to do in the future and I had thought about various things. But I started to write this article not because I wanted to mention them. I’ll write about them someday.

After deciding my first choice, I’ve worked hard to achieve the goal. I confronted English I’d been avoiding studying for a long time. Finally, I took overall 7.0 in IELTS (International English Language Testing System) which is a minimum score required from MIT Physics.

Though I decided MIT Physics as my first choice and I’ve worked hard, I didn’t want to tell others my goal. So if I was asked by someone, I always said, “My first choice is a university near Boston.” (If someone guessed right, I admitted that.)

Sometimes I was asked the reason I kept my first choice secret. At such times, I told the reason using TED presentation, “Keep your goals to yourself” by Mr. Derek Sivers.

…But to be honest, I didn’t want to say the true reason.

I didn’t have confidence in my ability. I’ve thought I want to go to MIT for more one year but I often though MIT was too far from me. I thought I overreached myself.

In addition to that, I was afraid of what others thought when I told them about my goal. In a high school, I attended, there were people who denied, so-called dream killers. I saw them and I’ve been denied by them. So I hesitated to speak out my goal. I was worried about if my goal became prey of them.

But the application form has already been opened since September 15th.

Though I couldn’t believe in myself and I cared about what others thought, I’ve worked hard to get into MIT physics. The deadline is December 15th. I have less than three months left.

I was frightened by dream killers around me. But I just realized that my worst dream killer was me. Not believing in myself kills my dream.

The application form has already been opened. I have to change the situation.

September 15th is the first day of receiving the application. On that day, I started to write an article written in Japanese (this is the translation) to confront the dream killer in my heart. I believe that words are powerful. With the aid of the power of words, declaring my goal, I’m trying to expel the dream killer from me. Others don’t matter.

I have less than three months left. I'll do my best to get into MIT Physics.