I have my interview next month in London and was wondering whether it is likely that the interviewers address the absence of any location preferences in my application form.
There’s a chance someone could ask you or not. From my experience, I had 3 preferences when I applied and no one ask me questions about it. Having no preferences is not a negative in my opinion. Just shows you will be okay living anywhere in Japan and that you are flexible.
I would definitely think about it. You may be asked questions related to how well you can adapt to a new environment or how well you can handle the inaka. I got asked why I picked Ehime as my first choice.
For me they asked why, especially as I had studied in Japan before and talked about it in my SoP.
I said I had friends from all over Japan, ranging from Fukuoka to Hokkaido (true) and from what I know I’d be happy anywhere because everyplace has good points. They still separately asked me about living in the countryside and dealing with culture shock.
For me they just doubled checked that no preference was okay, then followed up by asking if I could drive and how I would handle ~~the differences between urban and rural life~~ if I was placed in a very countryside location.
They checked with me that no preferences was okay and I explained that I had never visited Japan before so didnt want to make any judgements before even arriving! 🙂
Most likely yes. They will throw a question to see how you feel about certain placements to judge your suitability as a candidate.
I listed no preferences for placement.
During the interview they asked and I told them that my dependent husband and I had lived in cold rural places and hot urban places. I don’t like hot places and he doesn’t like cold places so we wanted to leave it to fate.
Wherever we go we’d be happy to experience it together.
Got Kyoto.
There is no telling what questions you’ll be asked in your interview. They may ask about your lack of preferences, they may not. As with anything in your application, you should know the reasons for writing what you did, even if it was “no preference.” Having no location preferences won’t count against you, but you should be able to answer they “why?”
I listed no placement preferences and interviewed at London a few years ago now. They asked me why I put no preferences, I answered, then they asked me “where is the one place that you wouldn’t like to be placed?” I answered that. I think they just make questions based off your application and it’s just another part they can make questions from. Like if you put preferences they can ask you why you chose that place or prefecture, what would you do if you didn’t get that choice etc.
9 comments
There’s a chance someone could ask you or not. From my experience, I had 3 preferences when I applied and no one ask me questions about it. Having no preferences is not a negative in my opinion. Just shows you will be okay living anywhere in Japan and that you are flexible.
I would definitely think about it. You may be asked questions related to how well you can adapt to a new environment or how well you can handle the inaka. I got asked why I picked Ehime as my first choice.
For me they asked why, especially as I had studied in Japan before and talked about it in my SoP.
I said I had friends from all over Japan, ranging from Fukuoka to Hokkaido (true) and from what I know I’d be happy anywhere because everyplace has good points. They still separately asked me about living in the countryside and dealing with culture shock.
For me they just doubled checked that no preference was okay, then followed up by asking if I could drive and how I would handle ~~the differences between urban and rural life~~ if I was placed in a very countryside location.
They checked with me that no preferences was okay and I explained that I had never visited Japan before so didnt want to make any judgements before even arriving! 🙂
Most likely yes. They will throw a question to see how you feel about certain placements to judge your suitability as a candidate.
I listed no preferences for placement.
During the interview they asked and I told them that my dependent husband and I had lived in cold rural places and hot urban places. I don’t like hot places and he doesn’t like cold places so we wanted to leave it to fate.
Wherever we go we’d be happy to experience it together.
Got Kyoto.
There is no telling what questions you’ll be asked in your interview. They may ask about your lack of preferences, they may not. As with anything in your application, you should know the reasons for writing what you did, even if it was “no preference.” Having no location preferences won’t count against you, but you should be able to answer they “why?”
I listed no placement preferences and interviewed at London a few years ago now. They asked me why I put no preferences, I answered, then they asked me “where is the one place that you wouldn’t like to be placed?” I answered that. I think they just make questions based off your application and it’s just another part they can make questions from. Like if you put preferences they can ask you why you chose that place or prefecture, what would you do if you didn’t get that choice etc.