I went to a private, very high ranking college prep high school for 2 years, took a few aps, but had to drop out and get my GED due to health reasons. As a sophomore/freshman I had really good grades, but this was so long ago I’m not sure if it’s even relevant considering I didn’t graduate from said institution. I have not been to college in the US, and I have not been in the academic world for a few years. Due to the time around my “graduation” year, almost nobody I knew had any need to take the SAT/ACT as it aligned heavily with the timing of the coronavirus, and it was waived for university entrance for a long time, but I’m not sure how it is nowadays.
I briefly looked at Japanese University requirements, and all of the ones I’ve seen so far had a mandatory requirement for SAT/ACT testing. My Japanese is \~N3 right now, and I can confidently say I’d be able to pass N2/N1 by end of next year, however I would still \*prefer\* an English based undergraduate program then eventually transfer to a Japanese-language grad school. I don’t think N1 alone would allow me to be proficient enough to fully take a college level course in any of the sciences that I am interested in. I’m a pretty smart person, but the hard truth is my application is massively lacking, especially not having any sort of formal education for the last few years. I still have had a job on-the-books as a healthcare aide for 3 years now, if that’s of any assistance in making so I don’t look like a complete NEET/Dropout.
If directly applying would be impossible with my current circumstances, should I look to go to a uni/community college here in the US and transfer after some time? How many semesters would I need under my belt before being able to transfer to a Japanese university is a legitimate possibility?
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I currently have a Japanese girlfriend who is in college in Tokyo, and I really love the culture, so I would like to live there for many years. I don’t really care about making a lot of money in my career so long as I’d be able to have kids eventually without fear of not being able to support my family.
by gaijining