Applying to Waseda SILS

tiffychoi · 29 Mar 2016

Hello,
I am a high school student planning on applying to Waseda SILS for April 2017.
I currently have a GPA hovering around the 3.0 mark (atrocious, I know - but I have decent grades in everything except calculus and physics!) and an SAT score of 2080. My TOEFL iBT is 114.
Are these numbers good enough for SILS? If it helps, I have unique extracurriculars and do not need a scholarship.
Thank you in advance for the advice! I greatly appreciate it.

nice gaijin · 30 Mar 2016

I'm afraid I don't know how competitive foreign registration for SILS is (you're applying for a 4-year program?), but you may be squeaking in with a 3.0. Did you get your primary education in Korea? International school? What makes you want to go to Waseda?

tiffychoi · 30 Mar 2016

@nice gaijin
Yes, I am planning on applying for a four-year program. I have attended an international school my whole life and have Canadian citizenship. I was originally planning on majoring in Japanese language/culture at a Canadian university, but am now looking into Waseda because it makes more sense (at least, to me it does) to study in Japan to get practice in and out of a classroom setting.

DBC Japan · 19 Apr 2016

tiffychoi said:
@nice gaijin
Yes, I am planning on applying for a four-year program. I have attended an international school my whole life and have Canadian citizenship. I was originally planning on majoring in Japanese language/culture at a Canadian university, but am now looking into Waseda because it makes more sense (at least, to me it does) to study in Japan to get practice in and out of a classroom setting.

You may find it difficult to get into Waseda since if you want to major is Japanese it will depend on your current Japanese ability and also what JLPT level you are.
Universities in Japan have an entrance test and minimum requirement. Typically most students attend a language school for a year-2 years and then go to University with a scholarship given from their language school and a letter of recommendation as this will make things much smoother for international students to be accepted.

Mike Cash · 19 Apr 2016

Ibaraki_Ben said:
Typically most students attend a language school for a year-2 years and then go to University with a scholarship given from their language school

That is very interesting. How much scholarship money does the school you are advertising here give their graduates for university?

DBC Japan · 19 Apr 2016

Mike Cash said:
That is very interesting. How much scholarship money does the school you are advertising here give their graduates for university?

Usually about 50,000円 after completion of a course.

Mike Cash · 19 Apr 2016

Ibaraki_Ben said:
Usually about 50,000円 after completion of a course.

Is that on the school's website somewhere?

DBC Japan · 19 Apr 2016

Mike Cash said:
Is that on the school's website somewhere?

The website doesn't state that. The Site is new and currently adding more details as we have just started to cater to English speakers (most students are from Asia) so still making the pamphlets and such. We have American and Filipino students now. But have decided to expand to Europe, USA, Canada and Australia.

The Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean pamphlets state it. But we are still making an English one.

Mike Cash · 19 Apr 2016

Ibaraki_Ben said:
The website doesn't state that. The Site is new and currently adding more details as we have just started to cater to English speakers (most students are from Asia) so still making the pamphlets and such. We have American and Filipino students now. But have decided to expand to Europe, USA, Canada and Australia.

The Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean pamphlets state it. But we are still making an English one.

You do realize that it is highly inappropriate for you to be shilling your school on our forum like this, don't you? If you want to advertise or publicize your business we have a Classified section. You're not going to get a warm reception joining the site just to spam us.

nice gaijin · 20 Apr 2016

@West1929, if you're going to try to convince people seeking advice on a forum they should be going to a language school, in the interest of full disclosure you should probably mention that you work for a language school, and as such are likely being paid to post here. Or maybe keep your posts in the classifieds if you're going to try to engage in subtle marketing.

Also, the OP said she would be applying to Waseda's SILS program, which caters to a vast majority of the foreign student population--from what I understand, it's quite difficult for a non-native student to get into the other programs. SILS is an English program but offers Japanese courses for all levels, negating the need for a language school unless she wanted to improve her skills before applying (or if she were unable to attend for some reason and wanted to tread water in Japan).

As a side note, @tiffychoi, what course of study have you been looking into at Waseda, have you talked to anyone in admissions? It would be a good idea to start reaching out and making contacts there. A Canadian citizen with a Korean last name living in Indonesia, you must have had quite an interesting upbringing!

tiffychoi · 4 May 2016

nice gaijin said:
@West1929, if you're going to try to convince people seeking advice on a forum they should be going to a language school, in the interest of full disclosure you should probably mention that you work for a language school, and as such are likely being paid to post here. Or maybe keep your posts in the classifieds if you're going to try to engage in subtle marketing.

Also, the OP said she would be applying to Waseda's SILS program, which caters to a vast majority of the foreign student population--from what I understand, it's quite difficult for a non-native student to get into the other programs. SILS is an English program but offers Japanese courses for all levels, negating the need for a language school unless she wanted to improve her skills before applying (or if she were unable to attend for some reason and wanted to tread water in Japan).

As a side note, @tiffychoi, what course of study have you been looking into at Waseda, have you talked to anyone in admissions? It would be a good idea to start reaching out and making contacts there. A Canadian citizen with a Korean last name living in Indonesia, you must have had quite an interesting upbringing!

Oops, sorry for the late reply!

I haven't had the opportunity to speak to any admissions officers because I don't know how to get in contact with one. However, I was planning on contacting one of my friends at Waseda for some information (though she's not in the SILS department). I'm looking into the "Culture, Mind and Body, and Community" and "Governance, Peace, Human Rights and International Relations" clusters at SILS.

(And yes, living in Indonesia has been quite interesting - I haven't been here long enough to fully enjoy it, but I suppose that's one of the downsides of being the child of a diplomat!)

nice gaijin · 6 May 2016

@tiffychoi, you can refer to the information on this site to learn more about how applying for SILS works. They even have some video interviews with students and faculty from various countries. I imagine someone with your background would fit right in

The contact page has an e-mail address for applicant inquiries. Good luck!

tiffychoi · 6 May 2016

nice gaijin said:
@tiffychoi, you can refer to the information on this site to learn more about how applying for SILS works. They even have some video interviews with students and faculty from various countries. I imagine someone with your background would fit right in

The contact page has an e-mail address for applicant inquiries. Good luck!

Thank you so much for your help! I knew about the Q&A page, but I missed the video interviews
Hopefully I'll be able to come back here in a few months with good news!

fleckyx · 11 May 2016

Hello, I'm also going to apply for SILS 2017 April entry later this year, along with Sophia University. Hope we can get in!

I'm from Malaysia and I used to have dual nationality ( Malaysian and Japanese due to my mom ), but I dropped my Japanese nationality earlier this year. Currently having my AS examinations and A2 in October/November. I'm also going to take the redesigned SAT on June 4, and IELTS sometime in June or July... Pretty busy schedule...

DBC Japan · 11 May 2016

I work for a language school that is based near Waseda and when our students graduate, even being in Japan with JLPT N3 there is fierce competition.

I know a friend of mine from USA who has JLPT N4 and very good grades wasn't accepted. Not sure of the exact reason, but he did meet the criteria.

Mike Cash · 11 May 2016

Shinwa Tokyo said:
I work for a language school that is based near Waseda and when our students graduate, even being in Japan with JLPT N3 there is fierce competition.

I know a friend of mine from USA who has JLPT N4 and very good grades wasn't accepted. Not sure of the exact reason, but he did meet the criteria.

Probably because N4 means you can order at McDonalds without pointing at the picture menu and that's about it.

Most universities require N1. (N5 is the lowest, N1 is the highest).

You work at a school which teaches Japanese? The same "Shinwa" as "Ibaraki Ben"?

DBC Japan · 11 May 2016

Mike Cash said:
Probably because N4 means you can order at McDonalds without pointing at the picture menu and that's about it.

Most universities require N1. (N5 is the lowest, N1 is the highest).

I know what you mean. Most of our Students that get accepted into Waseda have N2 level usually, depending on the course, the ones that want to study Japanese language I think can get in on N3 level usually. Might be wrong as that is a different department to me.

fleckyx · 11 May 2016

Does Waseda SILS actually look at JLPT results of applicants?

I didn't see any specific mention of it on their website... That said, I did pass my N2 at 90 something. Will be taking N1 on July 4 as well

I'm pretty good at speaking and listening since I talk with my mom every day, but my writing and reading sucks. Hoping to take the Japanese language classes at SILS to improve.

DBC Japan · 11 May 2016

fleckyx said:
Does Waseda SILS actually look at JLPT results of applicants?

I didn't see any specific mention of it on their website... That said, I did pass my N2 at 90 something. Will be taking N1 on July 4 as well

I'm pretty good at speaking and listening since I talk with my mom every day, but my writing and reading sucks. Hoping to take the Japanese language classes at SILS to improve.

I think it depends on the course you are taking/applying for.

Mike Cash · 12 May 2016

One guy....three accounts.

You gave your age as 32 in all of them, didn't you? That nonsense about your fictional 18 year old daughter and her fictional trouble entering university was an obvious lie from the get-go. Working for those dodgy Korean-owned schools despite sitting on top of enough money to last your entire family until you're 130 years old must be just a hobby or something.

For a guy who seemingly can't open his mouth without a lie flying out, you aren't very good at it.

You sure do know how to make every place you're associated with come across as a shady operator.

cocoichi · 12 May 2016

Mike Cash said:
One guy....three accounts.

You gave your age as 32 in all of them, didn't you? That nonsense about your fictional 18 year old daughter and her fictional trouble entering university was an obvious lie from the get-go. Working for those dodgy Korean-owned schools despite sitting on top of enough money to last your entire family until you're 130 years old must be just a hobby or something.

For a guy who seemingly can't open his mouth without a lie flying out, you aren't very good at it.

You sure do know how to make every place you're associated with come across as a shady operator.

Good to read this. I was confused because the name of the poster in my topic is different from the name in my email alert.

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