Work in Japan or Teach English in Japan?

Hi monkeys,

I work in a Japanese bank in NYC. I technically work in IB, but its really corporate banking. I was wondering how admissions offices of top 10 schools view teaching English abroad for a year vs. working abroad at my current company on a corporate 12 month program.

My goal is to become fluent in Japanese (a personal aspiration), while best positioning myself for B-School admissions process.

Side question: I'm trying to move to IB at a US bank and then after a couple years teach for a year then go to B school. Is this a bad look (as in, does it look like I couldn't hack it)?

Context: - GMAT: 710 - Mid tier SEC School: 4.0 - Decent extracurricular and outside of work activities, but not saving orphans. - White guy

Thanks for the help

6 Comments
 
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Working at a Company in Japan >>>>> Teaching English

Source: I worked at a company in China which was >>>>> teaching English for the purposes of going to an MBA which I also did to break into US IB.

I don't really follow your story. You currently work at a Japanese bank in NYC, but they won't let you transfer to Tokyo even after spending a few years there? I think Jbank NYC -> Jbank Tokyo -> business school could be even more interesting / competitive than other options. Of course if you can go to IBD in NYC without business school, why go to business school (corp dev / strategy in your long term plans?) Jbank NYC -> some random IB in US -> business school.

You might be able to leverage Jbank NYC -> a Japanese company in Japan if you get really good. You also could do a Masters degree in Japan to learn the language. Finally if you become fluent in Japanese then the Wharton Lauder program could be interesting

Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes.
 

Word. Appreciate the insight.

I can definitely go from Jbank NYC to Jbank Tokyo, maybe I wasn't clear with that. My company runs a 12 month program. I figured becoming fluent while fully involved with work might be much harder than while teaching. Additionally, I don't particularly like the company, and after the 12 months, I think I'd be stuck at there.

IB in US is attractive because I'm not developing the skillset I would like to in Jbank NYC. And, after teaching, I don't think I'd be very marketable to US firms upon return (corp dev route is of high interest).

Appreciate the insight on the lauder program, I was unaware of it before now.

 

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