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Do I have what it takes to get into these Universities?

Tomoya

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7 Mar 2018
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Hello Everyone! I am new to the Forum. I will get right to the point. I have been wishing to study/live in Japan for the last few years now. I did not pursue it until now, when I am getting more serious. I have done some research on my own to try to get all the information I can. I am a Untied States native that is natively fluent in english as it is my first language. I am person with a 3.8 GPA from my local college and a 3.6 in high school. The one problem is that I have a 1060 SAT score. (which is only slightly above average according to the Untied States new SAT) I already know that I am not fluent enough in my Japanese to apply as a Japanese language oriented Student. I know just enough to get me by. I have been to Japan once before. I would be applying english oriented programs only at this point. I would love to go to Tokyo University(Todai), but I am pretty sure that it is too far out of my reach. (Correct me if I am wrong) I also would also like to go to Okayama University, Ritsumeikan University, Temple University, and Meiji University. Let me know if you have any questions for me or even suggestions. Thanks
 
Did you check their websites?

Do you have the money to attend?
 
Thanks for the reply. I have the money and I did check each website, but I am simply wondering if I have what it takes. Not just to apply, but to get accepted.
 
Thanks for the reply. I have the money and I did check each website, but I am simply wondering if I have what it takes. Not just to apply, but to get accepted.

So if some stranger on an internet forum who has no more connection to any of those universities than you do tells you "No" then you're not going to bother applying?

If we tell you "Yes" and you don't get accepted....then what?

Apply already. If you don't you're guaranteed not to get accepted.
 
So if some stranger on an internet forum who has no more connection to any of those universities than you do tells you "No" then you're not going to bother applying?

If we tell you "Yes" and you don't get accepted....then what?

Apply already. If you don't you're guaranteed not to get accepted.
That is true. Then I will at least give it a shot. ^_^
 
I am a Untied States native that is natively fluent in english as it is my first language.
Yeah, sure you are.

And, those are not all of the language errors you made.
3.6 and 3.8 GPA? Uh, ok.
 
While I'd imagine 東大 would be hopeless, Rits does hype its internationality, so they might be interested (esp. if you can fund yourself, since they're private). Try for the campus in Kyushu, the one near Biwako is amongst a bunch of factories, and, IMO, has nothing going for it.
 
While I'd imagine 東大 would be hopeless, Rits does hype its internationality, so they might be interested (esp. if you can fund yourself, since they're private). Try for the campus in Kyushu, the one near Biwako is amongst a bunch of factories, and, IMO, has nothing going for it.
Thanks for the information. I will keep what you said in mind.
 
You can easily get accepted to most private Japanese universities, all they care about is that you have enough money to pay for tuition. I went to 湘南工科大学 and there were a couple of students from Africa and China who couldn't even speak Japanese and had terrible grades but still managed to get in. (successfully graduating and getting a proper job is an entirely different issue)
 
OP

There are basically 2 types of uni , public and private. Tokyo University (Kyoto, Nagoya, Hokkaido being other examples) is a public university. Keio, Waseda are examples of private.

Since you asked about Todai, I will focus on national universities which make up the bulk of public universities in Japan. National universities are similar to US state systems in quality. By that I mean the best ones are very good, and the "worst ones" are good.

Private unis can vary with the best (Keio) being very good and the worst being "not so good".

For national undergrad programs you need to take an entrance test (in Japanese )in general. BUT the government started an internationalization program called global 30.

http://www.mext.go.jp/component/a_m...icsFiles/afieldfile/2017/03/30/1383779_06.pdf

This includes both national and public unis (including both Todai and Ritsumeikan)

Start with this (above link) PDF to get an overview. Then if you Google -admissions global 30 Japan - That should bring up all the universities that are involved including their admissions requirements.

I do not know exactly what the requirements are, for undergraduate but your GPA is decent and your SAT is mediocre perhaps in the 60th percentile. These programs are offered in English.

Your biggest advantage is that you are a fee paying university student. If you can pay for school, your chances are much much better of getting in.

School fees for national University will be about $3000 admission fees/$5000 per year school fees-for a total of about $23,000 for an undergraduate degree plus living. Living cost varies greatly on how you want to live and where you want to live and can be as cheap as $700 and as high as $1400.

For public uni, there is a wider range of fees.

For this kind of basic information, you're better off searching yourself because Google can be your friend.

Once you done a search and if you have some questions about universities, I'm happy to help. But at the first stage, you should narrow it down to what you want to do-but don't give up on TODAI because they do have an English undergraduate program-I believe there in the sciences-as do many other good public universities. Google - Japanese universities and you can get more general info. The top public universities in Japan started with 9 imperial universities, now reduced the big 7. Google.

So good luck, but if you have a specific question please come back and ask-if you wanted to say something also please go back and tell us what happens.

Good luck
 
Let me first say this: it can't hurt to apply.
I've done many things that seemed 99% likely to fail, but I still tried.

That being said, UTokyo is impossible. It is the top uni in Japan. Everyone wants to go there. They can accept anyone they want. Sorry.
The best unis (top 4 or so) in Japan are public, meaning UTokyo, Tokyo Tech, Kyoto U, and Tohoku U. Up around the same level is Waseda and Keio. These are the top.
Next is the MARCH level (Meiji, Aoyama, Rikkyo, Chuo, Hosei), which area all private and honestly they seem more focused on sports than any others I've seen in Japan :emoji_joy: These can also be difficult to get into, especially with no Japanese skills--but then again, they might want to look "international" so you never know.
Of course there are hundreds more unis, but the smaller and/or easier to get accepted they are, the less likely they are to accept foreign students who can't speak Japanese.
I'm not aware of whether any unis in Japan accept the SAT, but since entrance exams are the single most important factor in getting accepted to undergraduate programs in Japan, I'd say it's better if they never find out your score. Take their entrance exam and hope for the best.
Also, what are you studying now? What do you want to study? What about the unis you listed is attractive for your desired field?
 
In general, I have to disagree.
That being said, UTokyo is impossible. It is the top uni in Japan. Everyone wants to go there. They can accept anyone they want. Sorry.
Disagree- not impossible, but difficult.

The best unis (top 4 or so) in Japan are public, meaning UTokyo, Tokyo Tech, Kyoto U, and Tohoku U. Up around the same level is Waseda and Keio. These are the top.
Next is the MARCH level (Meiji, Aoyama, Rikkyo, Chuo, Hosei),

Again disagree, there are many ranking systems of course, but most are similar to THE Rankings
Japan University Rankings 2017 | Times Higher Education (THE)

1 The University of Tokyo
2 Tohoku University
3 Kyoto University
4 Nagoya University
4 Tokyo Institute of Technology
6 Osaka University
7 Kyushu University
8 Hokkaido University
9 University of Tsukuba
10 Waseda University
11 Keio University

Shanghai rankings are another influential ranker but they are more focussed on science and technology in their ranking criteria.

ARWU World University Rankings 2017 | Academic Ranking of World Universities 2017 | Top 500 universities | Shanghai Ranking - 2017
But the results are similar.


Of course there are hundreds more unis, but the smaller and/or easier to get accepted they are, the less likely they are to accept foreign students who can't speak Japanese.

Disagree: Smaller private institutions are trying very hard to accept international students with bridge language programs for people that cannot read and write Japanese. National universities all have the same requirement for undergrad JLPT Lvl 2 or higher for studies that are conducted in the Japanese language, English at varying levels (according the the university) from programs that are conducted in English. Many institutions use TOEIC for English language evaluation.

Let me first say this: it can't hurt to apply.
Agree.
 
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