[KUSPH #1] Accepted to Postgraduate School!

On 10 September 2021, I was accepted to the Clinical Biostatistics Course, School of Public Health, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University (KUSPH) (Japan). This course is a Professional Degree Course: Master of Public Health, which was established to improve the quality of clinical research in Japan by fostering clinical biostatisticians, who are currently lacking in Japan. From now on, I would like to contribute to medicine from the viewpoint of clinical biostatistics.

Logo of KUSPH.

From the beginning of May, when I started studying, to the 25th and 26th of August, the days of the entrance exam, I had less than four months, but I managed to pass the exam. It was a reckless challenge to change my career path from my current postgraduate school, which is mainly in experimental science, to a postgraduate school in clinical biostatistics, but it seems that I have been able to make my way step by step. I would like to thank my parents for having allowed me to make this decision and for having encouraged me throughout my exam studies. I would like to thank my undergraduate supervisor and my current supervisor for their advice. I would like to thank my friend at university and my part-time colleagues for their warm support. During the four months of studying for the exam, I started a part-time job, repeatedly submitted an article, my maternal grandfather passed away, and I received the COVID-19 vaccinations, but I think that the lack of time enabled me to concentrate on studying for the exam.

Due to the pandemic of COVID-19, the written exam was held on 25 August and the oral exam on 26 August online. As a highly sensitive person (HSP), the fact that I was able to take the exam at home was probably a big factor in my passing. Also, the fact that I had experienced the online entrance exam for my current postgraduate school last year may have come in handy. However, in the written exam on the 25th, I couldn't answer the question of statistics so much, and in the oral exam on the 26th, I gave a presentation that lacked logic and was unclear on the point when I was asked to give a brief presentation on 'what I was passionate about'. Therefore, I thought I had failed, and the day of the announcement of the application results arrived. When I found my number, I thought it was a miracle. 

In 2024, when I am expected to complete my postgraduate degree, my father will have reached the age of sixty. I feel that I should not change my career path anymore so as not to worry my family. I will continue my studies and research to contribute to medicine in the field of clinical biostatistics. I will cherish every day from now on so that I can be glad that I changed to the postgraduate school.

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On 6 October 2021, I was again approved to receive the Master 21 Postgraduate Scholarship from the Yoshida Scholarship Foundation. I would like to thank the Yoshida Scholarship Foundation for their generous decision to allow me to change my postgraduate school and research area. I am determined to work hard on my studies and research so that I can achieve results worthy of this scholarship.

Kenta Kevee Kisaï, #17