Life in Japan for an American student

Thanks for the links, Rio-san! =)

That's fine. I plan to be able to be fluent in six years, anyways.

Hiroshi66 said:

I will never be a Japanese, no. You are absoleutly correct. As are your friends. But I would rather do that than go to an exchange program and take classes in English.

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Heres the options:
1) Do classes in English in a Japanese University
2) Sit the same exams as Japanese students do, pass, and do the same classes as Japanese students do.

Now leaving High School and doing a year of Japanese or even 2 years of Japanese in Japan you might be just able to do a 1st grade JLPT, but getting in and doing the same as any other Japanese student? Its a long shot. Thats what he was getting at.

should I be discouraged

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Hell no, and trust me, being an international student is not a tradeoff and you do not miss out on anything.

Exchange programs may be good - but if I really want to feel the culture, then I want to go with Japanese students.

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Theres no difference. Been there, done BOTH.

Edit: Bling!

nice gaijin said:

a new twist:
this site might be of interest to you, but I'm sorry it's in Japanese; 早稲田大学 入学センター

basically it is talking about students who have graduated from a foreign primary education system (high school). Essentially, you will not be given the native-level entrance exam.

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Thats pretty cool, I looked into doing Uni in Japan back a few years ago and decided it wasn't worth the effort, but if this is the case I could bum accomadation off a friend and go to uni in Japan...

Thanks, ewok85.

But again, I've looked into a lot of the programs here, hoping that they give the option of staying in Japan like mike mentioned. Its more of just going there for a year than staying there. I want a degree from Waseda, not a CSU, for instance. That's all.

One year student visa, leave, come back, 90 day tourist visa, convert to one year student visa

I know people who have done it with working visas but I dont know if you can do the same with a student visa...

Nah, it would be easier to just go on my own rather than through a liason. Especially since it seems to be easier. Also, I'm not going to university right after high school, I'm going to language school for two years or so.