TheVinster Wrote:Seconds ago I just got an email notifying me that I didn't make the cut. Next year I will be out of the age range, so no more MEXT for me I suppose. From here I can either try to convince my parents to borrow me thousands of dollars so I can go to a language school, or just spend thousands of dollars going to DePaul next year (I'm going to a community college now) and start my major. Any advice on how I could pay for a language school if my parents don't want to shell out thousands in cold, hard cash? My mom doesn't even have a job right now and they're divorced, so it makes things more difficult. Now I'm going off-topic but good luck to you guys, and if you can provide some help to me then please sned me a message.

Start your major. There will be plenty of opportunities to study Japanese in the future. Research study abroad programs and scholarships for them. Study hard.

Look into the IUC at Yokohama if you are considering graduate school in the future.

Womacks23 Wrote:

TheVinster Wrote:Seconds ago I just got an email notifying me that I didn't make the cut. Next year I will be out of the age range, so no more MEXT for me I suppose. From here I can either try to convince my parents to borrow me thousands of dollars so I can go to a language school, or just spend thousands of dollars going to DePaul next year (I'm going to a community college now) and start my major. Any advice on how I could pay for a language school if my parents don't want to shell out thousands in cold, hard cash? My mom doesn't even have a job right now and they're divorced, so it makes things more difficult. Now I'm going off-topic but good luck to you guys, and if you can provide some help to me then please sned me a message.

Start your major. There will be plenty of opportunities to study Japanese in the future. Research study abroad programs and scholarships for them. Study hard.

Look into the IUC at Yokohama if you are considering graduate school in the future.

Well the school I'm interested in, DePaul, is pretty expensive. I'm interested in 3D Animation which they offer, and they also offer Japanese courses. Really I wanted to use this opportunity to get a start in Japan. I guess I should just focus on my major and self-study Japanese, because the faster I finish my major the faster I have access to more flexible visas and even programs like JET. Maybe I should just try to work on finding a job, keep going to community college, start my major next year, and visit Japan whenever I can.

And yeah IceCream, that's what the note said. He said there was a lot of competition this year. I'm talking to my Japanese teacher and she's going to try to get me a job at a local Japanese market. If I work there maybe I can just pretend I'm in Japan and be satisfied for a few more years, haha.

Don't go to DePaul unless you get some serious cash from them. A debt of 100,000+ dollars for an art degree is insane when the same thing is available at a public school for a quarter of the price. You won't be enjoying Japan very much when you are sending off 70,000 yen every month to pay back student debts.

@TheVinster

You should check out Waseda. They've been trying to increase foreign students lately, and have a program to enter without any Japanese ability. If I recall correctly, 1st year is English, second year is half and half, and 3rd/4th are full Japanese.

If you surf around their website I'm sure you'll find something. I think applications are due soonish (I have a friend casually working on his application now). Might as well apply and see what happens?

There's also a lot of scholarships. I don't know specific details on any of this, but the staff for these programs supposedly all speaks perfect English.

Grinkers, looked at Waseda and I don't think they have any majors I'm looking for. I wish to work in the game industry, so it'll have to be more of a technical school.

Womack, yeah I know. Right now I'm attending community college, but regardless I'm aware the loan will be through the roof. Right now it's the primary school I'm looking at because it offers what I'm looking for. I still have a year to decide in the case that I can't find a Japanese school. I'm always looking for alternatives nearby, but the other colleges (Institute of Art, DeVry, etc.) aren't very reliable. The state schools don't offer 3D Animation either.

IceCream, thanks. I'll bookmark this. I've seen this before but it's so overwhelming, you know? Like 35 pages of a PDF, I wish it was interactive and you could just check a box and remove that from the list so it's easier to compile an eligible list. What's your plan of action when it comes to checking out scholarships? I also see all of them don't have a website. Also, "Designated Countries," that means where you can look for schools? Or countries where students are eligible? I don't know why I'm so confused about this.

In general, the school I'm thinking about I will link right below this paragraph. My friend from Osaka told me it's the school all the students in the area go for their technology-based education (at least for video games). Looks pretty cool, but it's taught in Japanese. Definitely my goal.

http://www.oic.ac.jp/

IceCream Wrote:Supposing you have a scholarship that covers at least your living expenses, fees for any state university in japan are going to be way way less than you will pay in America!!! You can top up your money with private tutoring of English. If you really wanted a proffessional training college instead, there are some that teach in English, and i'm sure the fees will be much much lower than an American school.

American degrees are way way overpriced. And 3D animation is a good area to have a degree from Japan in, i imagine. Carry on pursuing your dream!!! There are plenty more opportunities you can go for other than MEXT!!! If you have a look at those private scholarships, some of them are pretty much 100% acceptance. And i'm sure there's lots of people here that can help with checking over your applications, and offering tips on improvements.

Sorry but this is not true at all.

The average yearly tuition for a national university in Japan is about 550,000 yen a year. Or about $6,000 at today's rate. On top of this you need to add an entrance/matriculation fee which will put you back another $4,000 on average, per year.

The average yearly tuition for a public university in the USA is $7,000 a year.

More things to consider

1. As a foreigner your options on receiving financial aid will be extremely limited compared to the USA.

2. Japanese universities in general are not as highly regarded as American universities.

3. Cost of living in Tokyo or Osaka and the costs of flying to and from Japan.

4. In my experience health insurance is much more expensive here in Japan than what I was paying back home.

Basically, going to university in a foreign country is almost always more expensive than your home country. Unless you get one of the top scholarships.

IceCream Wrote:um... actually i don't know much about American universities since i don't live there.

But i thought that if you want especially low fees, you are resricted to the state you live in. Are these schools (apart from a few notable exceptions), reallllly considered so much better than schools elsewhere? I had the impression that you pretty much had to pay A LOT to get into a really good school, unless you are lucky enough to have a good one in your state. Besides which, i got the impression that De Paul isn't a state school.

Again, Europe is worth looking into rather than America, as well, if you are truly worried about the recognition of your degree.

It's not really that bad since most states have entered into regional agreements to offer cheaper tuition.

And about kids paying for $100,000+ degrees. The educational market for private colleges in the US is a huge bubble about to burst. Unless you are going to Yale nothing justifies that much debt for your education.

IceCream Wrote:However, it really does depend on what you want to do after. I doubt that a professional training college will really be looked on well by anywhere outside Japan, but if you plan to get a job in Japan, its probably a solid enough option.

All of the benefits of coming to Japan for a training college will be canceled out by graduating at a higher age than the rest of your class. Sorry but this is how it is in Japan.

IceCream Wrote:Worst case scenario, if you really want to go to that training college, the fees are $11,000 total. You could always work and save up that money, then go for the JASSO scholarship to help with living expenses. Whether or not they provide subsidised accomodation for students can make a big difference, so check that out too!!!

$11,000 per year. Cheaper than DePaul but I really think the poster will be much better off getting a graphic arts degree from a state college, getting some work experience, then trying to come over to Japan with a well developed portfolio.

I'm exploring my options and looking at the state school again to see if I found anything of interest. For Fall semester at my community college I have all classes that contribute towards a general education associate degree, so at the very least I'm making progress and have time to explore my options. I think I'm just in a hurry because I accidentally wasted 2 years of time I could have been working hard in college, and I feel like my time is quickly going away. I still need to meet a Japanese girl... oh, so difficult here, lol. (Please don't overanalyze what I said in that last line haha.)

I mean if it's something that isn't technology-based, I could even take a break after school to attend JET. I have a page for dermatology open right now, the art program, and also international studies. What I'm trying to say is that thanks to you guys I am reassessing my options. I can still travel to Japan and meet friends and maybe a few girls, I just need a job to pay for it...

So yeah, thanks guys. I feel like I'm always learning from other people and becoming more knowledgeable every day. If only you could help me with relationships then that'd just be absolutely dandy.

IceCream Wrote:ah, sorry, that $11,000 includes the cost for the 2nd year (it's much cheaper)... so that's the total figure.

I'm pretty sure 年次年間合計 means annual fee.

mentat_kgs Wrote:@undead, disconsider what you've read in the site.

You CAN go with robotics.

But be prepared to cite the name of the professors you want to work under. Contact them with your proposal even before applying to the monbusho scholarship. If you have a positive answer from a researcher from Japan you can use it in the interview.

There's a warning about not making any contact with the suggested professors before being accepted, as stupid as that sound!

I think I'll try everything, trying never hurts, Thanks

@IceCream Congratulations dude!

TheVinster Wrote:Grinkers, looked at Waseda and I don't think they have any majors I'm looking for. I wish to work in the game industry, so it'll have to be more of a technical school.

Outline of the International Student Program without
Japanese Language Entrance Requirement
(for entrance in April 2011)
http://www.sci.waseda.ac.jp/admission/youkou/isp/

That's the Faculty of Science and Engineering, so you can't get much more technical than that.

undead_saif Wrote:There's a warning about not making any contact with the suggested professors before being accepted, as stupid as that sound!

I think I'll try everything, trying never hurts, Thanks

Yes, there is such warning. But _ignore_ it. It was put to avoid that students with no clue of what they are doing to bother Japanese professors.
The more solid the proposition you have, the better are your chances of acceptance.

Grinkers Wrote:You should check out Waseda. They've been trying to increase foreign students lately, and have a program to enter without any Japanese ability. If I recall correctly, 1st year is English, second year is half and half, and 3rd/4th are full Japanese.

Oh shit really? Is this across the board increase? Because my personal goal at the moment is a masters state side and then hopefully do my Ph.D under a professor there doing some interesting research.

Some of the programs they have are English throughout.

vix86 Wrote:Oh shit really? Is this across the board increase? Because my personal goal at the moment is a masters state side and then hopefully do my Ph.D under a professor there doing some interesting research.

Some of the programs they have are English throughout.

I think so. They have a (new? increased?) English side for Masters programs. I went to go look into it, and an interesting thing is I'm able to apply twice a year, twice! For example, apply in English and Japanese, because they're supposedly independent now?

Keep in mind I'm no a professional at all this, so make sure you look it up yourself too(duh right). My knowledge about this stuff only involves Tokyo University and Waseda University, for the majors I'm interested in (or helped other people with).

mentat_kgs Wrote:Yes, there is such warning. But _ignore_ it. It was put to avoid that students with no clue of what they are doing to bother Japanese professors.
The more solid the proposition you have, the better are your chances of acceptance.

You have really encouraged me! Thanks a LOT!

IceCream Wrote:hey... does anyone know what JLPT level the japanese test is equivalent to for the research students test? http://www.studyjapan.go.jp/en/toj/toj0308e.html#1
i did the 2010 & 2009 practise tests, (think i passed) so i'd interested to know...

I had a quick look and my rough feeling was that it was about at level of the JLPT2 reading comprehension questions. It felt a lot easier than JLPT2 overall though because it's only testing reading comprehension really, so it's a lot narrower in scope.

Well, a year later I can finally say that I got the MEXT award and I'll be heading to Waseda at the beginning of September. Not looking forward to the whole move, but once I get settled in there it should be fun.

Now to think of a way to get my PS2 and PS3 to Japan

yudantaiteki Wrote:Well, a year later I can finally say that I got the MEXT award and I'll be heading to Waseda at the beginning of September.

Fantastic news; congratulations!

Congrats! Good luck with the move.

ydtt! great to hear! Your research will undoubtedly benefit, but it'll also be a great opportunity to make new contacts in your field. (Try to take full advantage; once your title/role changes in Japan, the myriad of wonderful opportunities tends to thin out a wee bit...)

I spent a couple of years at Waseda. It was a a good experience overall (and a welcome change after having spent 3 undergrad semesters at Kansai Gaidai.) I think you'll find that graduate studies in Japan is a bit of an adjustment, though. Had I not already set out on a research path in Canada, I might not have stuck it out (which would have been a shame.) In seminars, I learned how to do my work in Japanese (which was critical), but I wasn't really learning much in the way of new content. The more interesting stuff (other than friendships) occurred outside of organized seminars. It sounds like you are going with defined research goals, so you should be fine either way.

The number of students from other Asian countries in my department turned out to be a big plus - fun friendships and varied perspectives at the time, and fun travel and mutual assistance years later in our careers. (Oh, and a financial offer to sell Canadian citizenship by marrying! Strangest date I've been on...) :p

If you see yourself continuing to teach Japanese, you might want to visit Waseda's Japanese language centre. I haven't kept up with what they're doing, but they were doing some interesting stuff back then.

I'm really keen to hear about your experience. Please keep in touch after you start! :-)

I spent 3 months at Waseda in undergraduate (2001!) so I'm somewhat familiar with the campus. It is kind of scary because I've never done any sort of academic work in Japanese -- I can read fine but when it comes to speaking formally or writing any sort of academic work I'm in trouble, haha.

Thora, did you stay in student housing?

Congrats, but man, now I have to read what I was talking about a year ago. I hate the person I once was, haha. So lazy...