A bit of context and apologies in advance as this post is probably going to be a bit all over the place, also thanks for taking the time to read this.
I’m 23 and my education has come across a lot of bumps along the way, some due to my own negligence and others that were out of my control. I was saving money to go to university in 2022, but something I’d rather not disclose forced me to leave my country and seek asylum in Europe for a year. I came back to my home country in early 2023 and was completely defeated, but i applied for a scholarship and took the entrance exams for university anyway. Both went well and now I have the opportunity to take a bachelor’s degree with free tuition, however…
I am not very interested in any career that is associated with a bachelor’s degree, and I applied because I know that it is a really important thing to have if you want to emigrate. While I am not in any immediate danger right now I still feel uncomfortable living here and would be very happy to move to Japan. Looking through my options, I realized that I live in a country that’s eligible for the working holiday visa for Japan, and still have money left from what I had saved previously, enough to show as proof that I can support myself there.
My options for the degree are:
Linguistics/translation in Japanese and English: I’m a humanities person and I actually like this degree but I’m very unsure if it will be useful for getting a job in Japan or for a work visa. The major upside is that it has the option to apply for scholarship for one year as an exchange student in Japan on the 5th semester, but I don’t know if this will be of any use at all for my curriculum.
Computer Science: I’m not the best at math but since I’m not passionate about any degree in particular I don’t really mind compromising and putting in the effort if it means I’ll have an easier time working and living in Japan in the future.
Both last 6 years and I would be 29 by the time I get my degree. Any opinions and advice on this is very much appreciated.
As for working holiday visa, my Japanese is very bad and I would have to study full time to apply soon. Assuming the best case scenario, I get accepted by the end of this year, and I would like to know my options after that point. I want to try and stay in Japan legally after the working holiday period, some people have suggested looking for a job sponsor or a spouse. I would like to know if it’s possible apply for a student visa once living in Japan with the working holiday visa, and if you can live working and studying at the same time in terms of money, because my salary would have to cover living expenses plus tuition, but being in university would mean not having a full time job so I really don’t know if it’s possible, perhaps in a more inexpensive area of Japan…
I know all this is ultimately my choice but as of right now, I have no one to discuss this with and would value your input, thank you.
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by Past-Low-8729