Medical school in Japan
Hi, I’m currently about to graduate Highschool this year, and I’m kinda having trouble deciding on where I should take my med school. I tried taking the entrance test for the top universities within my country (these are the only ones that can give you a good job and/or name within the country), especially an entrance test for an accelerated course for medicine named LEAPMED. However, I was brought with dread when I saw the results of the LEAPMED examination (the results for these come earlier than the CET -College Entrance Tests). Originally, my parents highly discouraged me from studying in Japan because I grew up in the Philippines, and albeit I can speak Japanese, it’s not to the point of university fluency, which is needed to study there. But now, when they saw how hard I studied for the LEAPMED examination (It was rigorous study for six whole months), and noticed I was struggling with the lowest depression episodes I’ve ever went through when I found out I didn’t get in, they think that with the right motivation and discipline, I can get an N1 fluency (currently N3, so casual/business Japanese level only) and try to get in Med School there.
The course I added in ADMU (Ateneo De Manila University, 2nd top school) is biology, and for UST (University of Santo Thomas, 3rd Top School) Biochemistry. I don’t know if it’s worth it if I study on either of the unis, but that might be just the post-depression talking. I’m still not really over the fact that I failed the LEAPMED entrance exam.
(For more background, I’m half Filipino half Japanese. I studied in the Philippines my whole life, but I can speak Tagalog and Japanese, more Japanese if anything. Medical school there does not need the requirement of one having to go to college first. If LEAPMED is 6-years medicine, the normal medical school in Japan is the same number of time. Medical school in the Philippines is two years longer than Medical school in Japan, as you have to go through 4 years of college first before 4 years of medical school.)
I’d like people’s opinion on whether it’ll be wise to stick with the Philippines or grab the opportunity in Japan, despite knowing that if I’m going to study there, I need to take a gap year so I can study for the medical school entrance test and get an N1.
by Plutochan_0061_hai