syd

I would like to know how hard is it to get into college in Japan. I was just wondering since the last two animes I watched (Chobits & Love Hina) they portray it is extremely hard.

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itachigirl

yeah, it's pretty hard. i mean, it's not impossible. if u start preparing early on, or go to a junior college for two yrs. like i did it gets u there a little faster.

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Misa misa is the second kira!!

tsurara

This is the Japan forum... the topic is about college in Japan.

And yes, it is extrememly hard to get into college here (ie. passing the college entrance exams). Students spend most of their junior and senior years cramming and attending extra classes to be able to pass. Students who don't pass entrance exams become "ronin" and study alone until they can. Ironically, University in Japan is actually much easier and less demanding than University in the United States. It's incredibly difficult to get in but incredibly easy to graduate.

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itachigirl

sooorrrrrry. didn't see the forum name....lol. forgive me for my foolishness, sensei.lol

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Misa misa is the second kira!!

syd

So is hard but once you get in is easy. I wounder if I could make it there... Anywas it is expensive to go to college over there. Right now is going to cost me $1,400 for 3 clasess at UHCL (University of Houston @ Clear Lake)

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tsurara

Unless you can take the entrance exam and pass it in Japanese, that answer would be: no.

And yes, it's rather expensive. With housing being especially ridiculous to afford at urban universities (and most universities in Japan are urban).

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syd

Is there many international students going to college ove there?

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Hassun

Not many. Usually universities from other countries have connections to universities in Japan. You might get a scholarship for an exchange program if you're good enough.

And about the difficulty:
As Tsurara said, in Japan the "getting in" part is the hardest. Difficult times throughout education can differ greatly depending on the country you're in.

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tsurara

To attend a Japanese university as a full-time student and graduate with a Japanese degree: you must pass the same exntrance exam that Japanese students spend their entire school career preparing for and complete the coursework in Japanese. That creates quite a few difficulties for potential foreign students. There is a significant population of grad students, especially from other asian countries (China and Korea especially), but the international undergrad population comes almost entirely from 1-year exchange agreements with overseas universities. These programs are designed specifically for international students and rarely use faculty or material from the main school and most international students never get a chance to mix with the actual student population in class.

The main schools for international students are the "Gaidais" (or "foreign studies" universities: Kanasai Gaidai (which has a reputation as an "exchange school" and hosts over half of the international students in the whole country), Tokyo Gaigodai (which has about 200 a year, more than half from Asia), and Sophia University (a private Catholic school in Tokyo which was originally established in cooperation with Westerners and has some undergrad and graduate programs in English).

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blue_rebel

Look at it this way... there are good schools in Japan, and there are mediocre ones. Better ones like Todai or Tohoku would definitely be pretty difficult to get into, and less prestigious ones would obviously have lower entrance requirements.

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Redragon495

Not really sure how hard it is to get in but if i had the chance to go to school in JP. I would take it

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