I'm a brazilian student that is parcitipating in a new exchange program called Science Without Borders. Basically, my country is giving scholarships to students study abroad. There is more than 30 possible countries and Japan is one of them.

I was pre-selected and I now need to send a series of documents to Japan for the final selection process. I have 3 options of universities and if I'm not accepted in the first one, I still have the 2nd and 3rd as alternatives.
Since I'm a civil engineering student and I'm not proficient in japanese, my options are pretty scarce. After some research, I ended up with three possible choices, but I have a hard time deciding between them.

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1. Hokkaido University:

In this one, I won't take regular classes because they are in japanese. Instead, I'll be part of a program called HUSTEP. It's not specific to my field of study, but there're some classes that I could take, such as Concrete Engineering and Maintenance Engineering.

There are japanese language classes and several ones related to environmental engineering, sustainable development, sociology, culture etc. The problem with this choice though is that because of its schedule, I can only choose HUSTEP if it is my 1st choice. If I get accepted, I won't get the chance to try the other two.

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2. Osaka University.

I would like to take this one as my first choice, but the HUSTEP schedule tightness won't allow me. Also, Osaka has a really high demand and if it is my 2nd choice, the chances that I'll be accepted get even lower.

I could get the chance to have regular civil engineering classes. I'm really interested in the Structural Engineering and Advanced Infrastructure Design and Maintenance Engineering Subarea available in the university.
There're also OUSSEP courses, a program aimed at foreign students and with a similar approach to HUSTEP.

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3. Shibaura Institute of Technology.

Located in Tokyo, it's the institution with the highest acceptance rate of brazilians. In the previous public call, they accepted up to 50 students. One of my objectives in going to Japan is learning japanese. I've been studying it for the past months and I know that if I end up in a place filled with people from my country I'll probably end up sticking only with them and using portuguese all the time. I know this may sound harsh and selfish, but I really want to try and force myself to learn the language.

Shibaura has lots of engineering classes that would be helpful to my formation and I could develop some research there. Also, being in Tokyo would probably help me if I get an internship near the end of my period in Japan.

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All of these institituions are really good opportunities and it's hard for me to decide. If you could give me your opinion in that matter I'd appreciate it very much. Thank you and have a nice week!

If I were in your position, I would ask the question: which option (including going to a good university right at home in Brazil) suits my own interests in the best possible way? Your number one goal is to get a university degree. If you think your Japanese is shaky enough that your goal of getting your degree could in any way be jeopardized by studying in Japan, then don't attempt to get your degree in Japan.

Trust me, getting a good education and a solid professional degree is the single most important goal. Don't do anything to put this at risk.

Actually, I'm already graduating in a university in my country. I would only stay in Japan for 1 year. This program is called a "sandwich undergraduate program". Also, my japanese is almost non existent, but the classes in japan would be taught in english. Spending a year abroad would be really good for me, since I believe it would facilitate getting into a master's degree.

Regardless of where you go there is going to be a certain degree of 'forcing yourself out of your bubble.' If you went to Osaka or Hokkaido there might be fewer people speaking Portuguese but there would be other exchange students speaking English.

I think regardless of where you go you can learn something good. If part of your goal is to go to a university there so you can try and get your foot in the door there for a masters degree there, then pick the one that sounds most appealing.

That actually makes a lot of sense. In the end, it will come down to me forcing myself to get into situations where I'll practice the language. Maybe I could enter in some club activities or something like that.

Thank you for the insight. All three sound very good and regardless of where I go, I'm sure that it will be an amazing experience.

klloud Wrote:I believe it would facilitate getting into a master's degree.

Experience abroad in no way will help you to get into a master's program. To be accepted as a graduate student you need an advisor, a good academic curriculum (i.e. good grades and recommendation letters) and a good idea for a master's project. If you are thinking about having fellowship during your studies, what you need is even better grades and an excellent advisor engaged in research and with recent publications.

jahnke Wrote:Experience abroad in no way will help you to get into a master's program. To be accepted as a graduate student you need an advisor, a good academic curriculum (i.e. good grades and recommendation letters) and a good idea for a master's project. If you are thinking about having fellowship during your studies, what you need is even better grades and an excellent advisor engaged in research and with recent publications.

This is all true, but as I mentioned above, if the goal is a masters degree in Japan at one of those schools, then going to the school and making connections with a prospective advisor could really go a long way. Depends on the persons goal though.

jahnke Wrote:

klloud Wrote:I believe it would facilitate getting into a master's degree.

Experience abroad in no way will help you to get into a master's program. To be accepted as a graduate student you need an advisor, a good academic curriculum (i.e. good grades and recommendation letters) and a good idea for a master's project. If you are thinking about having fellowship during your studies, what you need is even better grades and an excellent advisor engaged in research and with recent publications.

I believe that perhaps klloud means that overseas experience and what it teaches you about yourself is helpful for the application process.

I had heard it would add some points, like scientific initiation, participation in congresses and things like that, but I guess I was misinformed. However, I already have something in mind for what I'll do for my term paper and this could even become a master's thesis in the future, but it's too early to say that. The scholarship for the Science Without borders program consists of 9 months of college classes and 3 months of internship or research. I believe that any of the two would help me a lot.