Hi guys. Waseda has always been my dream school, and I managed to get an unconditional offer for an English-based undergrad for PolSci at the School of Political Science and Economics just today. I was wondering how do other students and other living in Japan find the University. Are courses rigorous? What level Japanese proficiency is necessary to get by for day to day life, and how are job prospects after graduation for English based degree courses? Thank you all! It’s such a big decision and I know there are other universities in Singapore (where I’m from) that may potentially be better regarded internationally. I appreciate all advice, thank you! (Repost from the waseda sub as it seems a little quiet there)
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[Link to a reddit post](https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/comments/atr56q/qualityreputation_of_waseda_university_political/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share)
I’m from Singapore, and currently studying in one of the Japanese universities. (Not Wasada). Feel free to PM me. 🙂
i’m currently a 1st year student at the program, feel free to pm me if u want to know more about it
Waseda’s Political Science / Economics school is one of the top-ranked faculties in the country, and the English-language degree there is pretty solid. It’s really heavily focused towards the empirical / statistical analysis end of things (as another poster said, they’ve got a big Data Science centre at the university now, but I don’t know how much impact that actually has on undergraduate courses – I think it’s more research-oriented, but is probably helping to keep the lecturers up to speed on cutting edge methods), and while you could definitely get a tougher or more rigorous program at some overseas universities, it seems like a very solid program overall. Waseda generally is probably the best school in Japan for English-language education – they’ve always had a really international outlook and have recently made a very big effort on their English-language programs – and the PolSci / Econ course is _arguably_ the best English language major offered in Japan. (From what I’ve been told, though, you definitely need to be willing to learn a lot of statistics, some programming etc. in order to get the most out of it – I know a couple of people who did grad school there hoping to focus more on theoretical stuff, and they found it very lacking, because so much of the focus is on empirical analysis.)
In terms of Japanese abilities, you’ll be able to get by without any Japanese – the university itself will deal with you in English, and you’ll be in central Tokyo so if you need to live in an English-speaking bubble it’s definitely possible – but the more you know the easier your life will be. As for job prospects… Waseda grads, including English-course grads, have a big advantage in the Japanese job market, but the university is much less recognised overseas (perhaps unsurprisingly). If you plan to work in Japan, Waseda is a great option; if your future career plans are outside Japan, you should probably be looking elsewhere. (That said, Waseda also has a pretty good track record for students moving on to grad programs in top schools overseas, so that could be an option if you’re interested.)
It’s also worth noting that Japanese university is definitely a “you get out what you put in” kind of experience. Even at a pretty good school, you can breeze through four years of undergraduate scraping passes in your courses by just turning up and submitting half-assed assignments, sure – lots of students choose to focus their energy on things like sports or activity groups rather than academic work, and still graduate with no difficulty. On the other hand, if you’re in a good faculty with a lot of research activity happening and you _do_ knuckle down and focus on your academic work, there tend to be a lot of opportunities to get involved with professors’ work which can lead to interesting internships, part-time work on research projects, etc., all of which can really enhance your academic experience and future prospects.
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