There are so many people out there with humongous student loan debt and no job, or a low-paying job. And studying Japanese and Korean, honestly, is not something that is going to set you up with a well-paying job in the near future. (I majored in linguistics and minored in East Asian Studies; I should know.)

There are so many great universities out there that don't charge an arm and a leg, or that only charge an arm. It won't hold you back in life to go to a state college, or to go to a community college for a year.

It is really important to invest in yourself and your education, but $60K a year is just flat-out ridiculous.

I am considering to apply to the university of Hawaii because their tuition cost is half. I do hope to one day get my work formatted into a textbook series. That is still a long ways down the road, but it is certainly something to consider for future financial options. 

I really do want to get into academia for Japanese and Korean. I know that I could easily learn more on my own. I just want to get to Japan. It is just hard to get my parents to get off their ass. I really have no means to go search out things.

^As IceCream said, MEXT is always an option too. You might be able to get a university in Japan to sponsor you instead of the embassy. Embassy recs. for undergrad MEXT are...rough, to say the least.

If you are going into the academia then a name brand University won't pony up much in the long run. Go to a university (ie: a place that does research&publishing, not a college) and get involved in the research in your field. Pick a university that has professors doing something you have an interest in. Go to their profile page on the University page and check their CV, see what stuff they have published, read the abstracts and decide off that.

If academia is really your aim then you have found your calling much sooner than most people do and have the ability to start early in undergrad. Get your name on some published papers, go to academic conferences and present posters or talks. Humanities is one of the hardest fields to get a full ride in grad school because grants are harder to come by. So lots of people tend to end up paying their way by loans or out of pocket. The more you have to offer to a prospective grad school to show you will make an impact and bring recognition to the university, the more likely you are to land a full ride.

Honestly I would take a look at the schools in your current state or any relatives in other states, and check the universities there. Find a place with IN STATE TUITION. For someone not aiming to go into industry after undergrad, forking out 15-20k a year (or worse, a semester) on tuition is ridiculous.

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As an aside. WTF does your parents getting off their ass have to do with you searching for stuff? For schools, you have everything you need. A computer and the internet (and possibly the phone). You don't need to visit campuses in person.

Last edited by vix86 (2012 April 07, 2:44 pm)

imabi wrote:

I really think that if my site got the attention it deserves that it would help me find the right people and potentially the right place to go. If only life was easier and things could just transition smoothly.

If you are a risk taker, then go for it. If you are not though, then those are some pretty big "If"s to be going on. You are basically talking about a business venture. Your site isn't likely going to just become the hub of the "Japanese learning world" over night or on its own. It'll take polishing and lots of work on you part to spread the word even more so. I'd argue even a domain name change.

And really what do you expect, or I should say, dream will happen with your site and said recognition? Get begged to come and "please oh please study at our University!" ?? Its good to have an ego in business but don't let it cloud reason. Unless you are selling your site and your accomplishments to prospective universities and fishing for scholarships from them. You are not likely to get handed invitations if you haven't already.

I do have a question about coding though. I tried putting a CSS code to change the color of hyperlinks on my site. I wanted them black, and it showed in my preview that everything was changed to black, but when I published half of the links turning black but the rest stayed blue. I got frustrated and didn't know how to fix it, so I just reverted it back to blue. I think there has got to be something wrong with my website builder. I've already payed for two years at a really discounted price for webs services, so I don't feel like switching web hosting. Do you guys know of any code that would overcome this?

I would also like to know how I could get it towards people can hover over Japanese text and get readings.

that's for black right?

Do any of you guys think imabijapanese.net would be a better url?

I think webs is more picky when it comes to the coding because it didn't affect it.

There has got to be something that I am completely aloof about when it comes to webs. I want to get the regular links, not the navigation links on the top, to change from blue to black. The people on the help services are somewhat incompetent when it comes to asking them for help when it comes to CSS. Sometimes you'll get a representative that knows it, but I haven't been lucky recently. I need to find that one code that got it somewhat black and use that !important and see if it will work that way.

imabi wrote:

There will be a financial risk no matter where I go to college simply because of my personal financial situation. Being white does not help anything, neither does my parents income help anything. It's not something to admire, but it's not small enough to truly get those financial based programs.

LOL are you seriously trying to complain about your lack of opportunities being a white middle class american?!?

(you do understand, right, that that extra help is for people who haven't had the same opportunities you've had growing up?)

i'm not sure about how things work in America, but perhaps you could move out of home and get a job for a year? Wouldn't you then be assessed on your own income rather than your parents'?

I don't think it's worth taking a year out for your site, though tbh, i'm really not sure what you're expecting to happen, or how it would help you. It might be something extra that's good to put on your university / scholarship applications to show your dedication to learning Japanese, but i don't really see what else.

Anyway, there are quite a few full scholarships for undergrad degrees, so it's worth searching around for them.

Make that barely in the middle class. If there were tiers I would rank in high lower middle class. I actually grew up poor for most of my life icecream. It's only been recently that my parent's salaries have increased to what they are, and it's taken their entire lives to get to the point they're at now. That's why they're so scared at making any financial risks.

I'm not sure if they would still look at your parent's income when living on your own. If I take any benefits from them, such as healthcare, they may still do that.

I think that what I'm making can be continuously improved to something much greater than it is now. It will continue to be a major asset for my studies as well everyone else.

I'm sure I'll get most of the scholarships I applied for simply because of my GPA.

"But still, you're in a great position in life compared to the majority of the world's population"

That is a very positive lookout on life.

Last edited by imabi (2012 April 07, 6:07 pm)