Admission process (The 2024-25 admission is closed.)
Who can apply?
We are open to PEARL and Type A&B students as well as students from other departments.
Please note that Sasahara Seminar prioritizes applicants who will be completing their junior year at Keio to ensure that all juniors have the opportunity to learn econometrics in zemi classes during their junior year.
Additionally, Sasahara Seminar seeks students with a strong interest in learning International Economics and participating in zemi activities, such as the Mita Festival exhibition, joint-zemi events, and field trips.
Expected number of admitted students
About 15 students (no separate quota for PEARL versus non-PEARL)
English skills
We expect the applicants to have competent English skills. Reference scores are as follows: TOEFL iBT 79, TOEIC 750, or IELTS 6.5 or higher. The applicants’ English skills will be tested by presentations and interviews.
Application requirements
An applicant is required to do the following:
1. Apply to Sasahara Seminar between February 20th, 10:00 am JST, and February 22nd, 2024, 3:00 pm JST, through the Keio Economics Seminar Committee (経済学部ゼミナール委員会)'s form.
Please check the Keio Econ Seminar Committee's Admission Website: Japanese website
In previous years, I found that the PEARL website was updated less often than the Japanese website (or updated with a substantial time lag). I recommend that you check the Japanese website as well. For this year (2024-2025), the PEARL website has not yet been updated since last year...
2. Submit the following two documents by Sunday, March 9th Tuesday, March 11th, 11:59 pm JST to [Link deleted]
1) Sasahara Seminar's application form (The file name must be "application_form_Smith, Adam" <Replace "Smith, Adam" with your name>)
Please write in English (application forms written in Japanese will not be accepted).
This will be reviewed by the faculty advisor and the zemi students.
2) Grade report (The latest version including your grades from the Fall 2024 semester) (The file name must be "grade_report_Smith, Adam" <Replace "Smith, Adam" with your name>)
There is no minimum GPA requirement. However, a higher GPA is an indication of the applicant’s academic achievement and hardworking mentality.
"Grade Report" does not have to be the university's official document. A PDF file you can obtain from K-Support suffices.
This will be reviewed by the faculty advisor only.
3. Submit the following slides by Wednesday, March 12th, 11:59 pm JST to [Link deleted]
1) Powerpoint presentation slides (The file name must be "slides_Smith, Adam" <Replace "Smith, Adam" with your name>)
Pick a column you like from here https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns Summarize the content of the column within four slides (including the title slide). The presentation time for each student will be five minutes.
The slides will be used in the presentation session that will be held on March 13th. Please do not make any amendments after submitting them to the box link.
This will be reviewed by the faculty advisor and the zemi students.
4. Do the following on Thursday, March 13th online.
1) Participate in a presentation session (or sessions)
The applicants will be assigned to groups of 4-5 applicants.
Each applicant will give a five-minute presentation in front of the other applicants in the same group, current zemi students, and probably Akira. Each presentation will be followed by a short Q&A session.
At the end of the presentation session, each student will be given 2-3 minutes to explain his or her motivations. We will have a separate interview session with the current zemi students this year.
The evaluations will be based on (1) engagement, whether the applicant was prepared to give a presentation without looking at a script in an engaging manner or he or she was just reading a script in a monotone manner, (2) communication skills, the applicant's interactions with other applicants in the discussion sessions (not the quality of the questions he or she asks), (3) the quality of the presentation slides, whether each slide is crowded with lengthy words or it is visually appearing, and (4) time management skills.
2) A one-on-one interview with Akira (Each interview was five minutes last year.)
Admission dates
There are three admission dates, Date A (A日程, i.e., the first round), Date B (B日程, i.e., the second round), and Date C (C日程, i.e., the third round). If we admit our maximum number of students on Date A, we will not accept applications for Date B. If Date B is necessary, we will follow the same admission process as Date A. The same description applies to Date C.
Requirements after acceptance
Admitted students must take "Research Seminar <研究会>" in their third year and fourth year, and "Research Seminar (Thesis) <研究会 (卒業論文)>" in their fourth year.
Admitted PEARL students must take "International Trade a" (by Akira Sasahara) in their fifth semester; and "International Trade b" (by Akira Sasahara) in their sixth semester.
Admitted Type A/B students must take "国際貿易論 b" (by Akira Sasahara) in their fifth semester; "国際貿易論 a" (by Akira Sasahara) in their sixth semester.
