Hi, hope this post reaches to those who graduated/are attending toudai, or are just familiar with Japanese colleges w English programs. I’m an international school student in Japan and want to try getting into toudai, but I’ve noticed that the English programs are very limited compared to the programs at ICU, Keio, Waseda, etc. What’s your experience in the PEAK or GSC program? Would you recommend it? (I seek to major in anything that relates to law; aspiring US law student)
3 comments
Are your grades at the level you could get into Todai?
As a general rule, most English programs are regarded less favorably than their Japanese counterparts. (Though Aoyama, Waseda, Keio etc. have some well regarded options)
You shouldn’t expect anywhere near the level of options for English programs vs. Japanese ones. I’m unaware of any highly regarded law program.
if your end goal is to get into a top law school in the US, the only “Japanese” university worth considering is ICU. The programs in English at regular Japanese universities are woefully inadequate for that goal. But you would be much better served by going to an undergraduate in the US with a reputation for getting people into law schools (e.g., an Ivy, UCLA, UC Berkeley, University of Chicago, U Penn, Georgetown, several high-tier SLACs …) [note that the list of good undergrads for law school prep is not identical for the good places for law school itself]
If you’re planning on getting an international diploma and on going to a US law school, your undergrad doesn’t mean squat. What’s more important are your grades you get during your undergrad. If it’s from a Japanese university, you will be graded not on a number scale, but on a different scale which I don’t remember the exacts of it, but it’s more like, a 3.0 is satisfactory, 3.5+ is excellent, etc.
Since this is the case, well tbh, even if you went to a US undergrad, the most important aspect of your application is the LSAT as your GPA will not be numbered on your application and thus will not be applicable onto the law school rankings, so they won’t even give a shit what it is or where you went as long as your LSAT is high.
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If you go a US undergrad however, you better get a high GPA because that GPA is considered when it comes to law school rankings. When applying to law schools, your undergrad doesn’t mean shit nor give you a boost unless you’re talking about a top 20 undergrad. But regardless, an extra few points on the LSAT is much better than going to a prestigous undergrad and graduting with a lower GPA/LSAT, compared to going to boonies in the midwest USA, getting a easy high GPA/more time to study for the LSAT.