Picking Between Several Universities... please help!!

[Midori_Stardust]

Hello! :-)

I am a foreign student with a major in Japanese, and my study abroad program has introduced me to many new schools -- and I'm unsure as to which one to pick.

I was wondering if anyone who knew could give me some positives and negatives about some of the schools, so that I would have a better basis for choosing. I can't tell simply by looking at their websites whether they have a good campus, or people enjoy to be at the university, or they are diverse, or if they have any problems transferring credits from their school to foreign schools.

Any advice/comments would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much!

The schools I have to pick from are:

~Keio University
~Kansai Gaidai University
~Tsukuba University
~Nagoya University
~Doshisha University
~Waseda University

Thank you again~!

~Midori Stardust

[nice gaijin]

That's quite a range, you should first ask yourself where do you want to live. If your major is just the language, any of these school will be sufficient for your studies, and if your school has exchange programs with them all, I don't see why you should have any problem transferring credit.

I'm curious, what do you mean by "foreign student?"

[Midori_Stardust]

^^;; I meant "foreign to Japan". I'm from the United States -- I suppose the most accurate description would be "a person who would like to study in Japan but is not Japanese".

Well, I heard Tokyo's a pretty big city, but Nagoya people are nicer -- but then again, Tokyo has a lot more things to do... what do you think, as far as cities go? I'd want someplace... I'm not sure... The person I spoke to wasn't very kind about Japan, so it's hard for me to judge the pros and cons of each city that the universities are in...

~Midori Stardust

[misa.j]

Hi Midori!
Those schools are located in different areas of Japan, and you will be hearing dialects shoud you decided to go to Kansai Gaidai, Tsukuba, Nagoya and Doushisha.
Keiou and Waseda are in Tokyo, so you can expect to hear standard Japanese.

My husband went to Kansai Gaidai because that's the only school he could get transfer credits from, and he found the teacher he really liked.

[toritaiyo]

Hi Midori!

:cool: Good to hear that you are planning to go to Japan as an exchange student. I was an exchange student and then I transferred to my school (Sophia U. in Tokyo).

I went to Sophia, not Keio or Waseda (becuase my school didn't have a program with them), but I would recommend Waseda because they have a department similar to Sophia U's FCC (http://www.fcc.sophia.ac.jp). It's a great department if you want to take quality classes in English and learn Japanese (should even have intensive Japanese programs).

The person I spoke to wasn't very kind about Japan, so it's hard for me to judge the pros and cons of each city that the universities are in...
--> I'm guessing that one of the study abroad advisors is not so kind. DON'T let that stop you! They weren't that nice or helpful to me either (well some were) but I was able to go (I was the first person from my university in ten years to go to Japan for a whole year, so they avised against it.)

HOpe that helps.
If you have any other questions about student exchange let me know.