Hi all,
Could you please help me to understand the path for the kids studying in Japanese schools to join any prestigious foreign universities (MIT, Harvard) or any English-speaking country universities?
I tried googling, but only the thing I get is the stats comparison between Japanese and South Korean kids in Harvard, which is sadly a 3:1 ratio.
Edit: the above universities are just an example. Not aiming only Harvard or MIT.
Wanted to understand general approach.
Thank you
8 comments
Enrolling your student in the IB program. If they have the abilities to get high marks they can qualify for many top schools.
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*Would you like to know more?* You can send me a PM and I would respond.
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A recent student got a very high mark in the 40’s and got accepted to a TOP school in the UK, but did not make it into MIT. You still have to set yourself apart from other students. Also, there is a huge backlog of students wanting to go to major schools like MIT. There is a literal waitlist for students trying to get in that all scored amazingly well, but had to wait because of Covid. Hopefully your kid has some time before they need to do something.
The top international schools have typically been the feeders for such schools, although top Japanese private schools like Kaisei and Shibushibu also have more kids aiming for overseas colleges in recent years.
https://istimes.net/articles/922/amp
https://kaiseigakuen.jp/career/result-univ/
https://www.shibushibu.jp/about/graduate_result.html
Getting good SAT scores and being a legacy certainly doesn’t hurt.
The first step is often to join a prestigious high school in Japan that have had people join a prestigious foreign university in the past. To do so, most children would be studying at a prestigious juku during elementary and junior high school.
Stellar grades, extracurriculars and awards (for US colleges) and a high level English ability.
Going to one of the top international high schools in Japan is one path.
On top of what has been added, even if you’re not from top high school/prep. school getting into community colleges first in the states and then transfer to those schools are also doable. I mean it will be way tougher especially for ivys but for UCs or Stanford or non ivy schools should be very doable.
Basically my cousin couldn’t get into any univ after high school (yeah he’s one of those kids). CC cleaned his slate. Got offer from Caltech, Berkeley and LA.
*Adding for the ivys, it’s tough transferring from cc because they prioritize fresh graduates from HS instead of transfer.
There is not just one path. Maybe the easiest way is if your kid goes to an international school. In that case you should talk to the international school admissions staff before enrolling to see what their foreign university prep process looks like.
It’s also possible to go to a foreign university after graduating from a traditional Japanese high school, although this is less common and typically requires studying English a lot outside of school. A cram school that specializes in foreign universities would probably be helpful.
If you’re trying to get into the most famous universities in the world, the odds of acceptance are very low. Your kid could have the perfect application, but so do thousands of other kids, and only a fraction of them will be admitted.
You could send your child to the most expensive international schools in Japan, but if they’re not naturally smart, they still won’t get the high grades needed to get into top level universities.