Transferring to University in Japan

[cg5td]

Hi, I am currently in a community college in America and I want to transfer to a college or university in Japan. My major is currently Japanese. What are some colleges or universities that would accept me? My GPA in the college right now is about 3.4 but I do realize it is a community college so it's not that great. Can anyone give me a list of college or universities w/ a modest international student body? I've read up on ICU and Sophia University but A. They seem difficult to get into because they are private universities, B. They are quite expensive. (ICU and Sophia cost around $20,000 and $15,000 a year, respectively) C. This isn't that important to me but the religious backgrounds to these 2 schools concern me a little bit since I am not of those religions. Also, I need to know if the fact that I didn't do too well in high school (2.9-3.0 GPA but I did get 1300 on SAT if that would make a difference) will hurt my chances into getting into Japanese universities. And I have dual-citizenship in America and Japan if that will help my chances and I passed lvl 2 on the JLPT. I know that I am asking something that is difficult to answer but I am really looking for guidance since the application fees are extremely expensive (Sophia is $400!). If anyone can draw on their own experiences to give me ideas on where to go I would appreciate it so much. Thanks for your help in advance!

[mad pierrot]

Kansai Gaikokugo Daigaku

Kansai Gaidai University


If they took me they'll definately take you.

[ZachPA2Osaka!!]

I am sending my application to Kansai Gaidai tomorrow!!! I have a 3.6GPA and I'm currently a sophomore. I'm sooo hoping for acceptance for next fall it could be such a great time! I've met 9 students at my home university who are exchange students from Kansai Gaidai and they've told me so many good stories!
- Zach

[GaijinPunch]

You need to keep one important fact in mind though -- Japanese universities are a joke. I can't speak for every language program, but the only reason I learned on mine was b/c I studied ahead of the class like 3 hours per day.

You really want your degree from an accredited US university.... believe me. I'd suggest just doing a year study abroad as far away from Tokyo as possible... but of course still in Japan.

[Glenn]

Interesting. I was thinking of doing an exchange program with a Japanese university for language study. I guess this information will come in handy if I ever get to that point. How about Okinawa; I hear it's warm there....

[mad pierrot]

Japanese universities are a joke. I can't speak for every language program, but the only reason I learned on mine was b/c I studied ahead of the class like 3 hours per day.

Where did you go? I have a friend who went to Kansai Gaidai who would agree with you. BUT, speaking only from my personal experience, I disagree. The language program there was sufficiently challenging enough.

You really want your degree from an accredited US university.... believe me. I'd suggest just doing a year study abroad as far away from Tokyo as possible... but of course still in Japan.

Good advice.

I don't know if anyone's been there, but I have heard good things about Waseda. Anyone?

[ZachPA2Osaka!!]

Bah, Kansai Gaidai has such a large, time consuming application. The pay off, though should be great!!!

[GaijinPunch]

Like I said... I can't speak for all programs, but Japanese higher education in general is very bad when compared to the west. The most prestigious school in the nation is Toudai, and you can still miss plenty of class and pass with flying colors.

And when I said "as far away from Tokyo as possible" I meant b/c there are more foreigners in Tokyo. If you're at the top of Hokkaido, you'll be forced to speak Japanese all the time... not just when convenient.

My program was in Shizuoka. It was extremely light, although the Kiwi guy that taught us Japanese business and history was pretty tough. He was a professor at Sophia and even admitted that the cirriculum for his students was crap.

My Japanese soared in this time period, no doubt about it, but was mainly due to VERY diligent self-study. Not much to do in shizuoka, so 3 hours of studying was not bad. My host-brother had a stack of manga of which I read about 20-30, making flash cards for every word I didn't know. I could write about 800-1000 kanji by the time I left (3 months). I can't write dick by hand now, but can still read them.