As the title says, I’m hoping for any language school recommendations for someone planning to apply to Japanese university. I would like to be begin studying this October or earlier. I applied to Waseda University’s SILS, and language school into university is my backup plan in the case that I am rejected.
The aspects that I’m looking for are that the school is located in Tokyo, offers EJU preparation (meaning it’s accredited by the government?), and is very intensive. Preferably, the school would have partnerships with universities as well, as I have heard that teachers can assist with recommendation letters and make the entrance process easier. It would also be beneficial to be able to interact with university students.
My language ability at this time is intermediate, probably JLPT N3 or (maybe) low N2, although I have not taken any official tests. I plan to consider self-studying the language until I go to the school itself, and I will study outside of classes when I am there, as well.
Additionally, I have contacted GoGoNihon previously, and the person who assisted me recommended the Yoshida Institute of Japanese Language. If anyone has insight into this particular school and GoGoNihon’s service, I would greatly appreciate it!
Thank you greatly to anyone who can provide help! I plan on doing more research while I wait for my Waseda results.
(I apologize if this post is written poorly, I am rather anxious about my application and might not be thinking straight LMAO).
Edit: Adding a little bit of information that I forgot to include, I’m hoping to study for around a year or a year and a half (or shorter if my progress permits it). JLPT N1 is the end goal, but from what I understand, N2 is enough for university entrance.
I feel like there’s something else I’m forgetting, so if I remember then I’ll edit this again lol
2 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
—
**Language School Recommendations for Entrance into University**
As the title says, I’m hoping for any language school recommendations for someone planning to apply to Japanese university. I would like to be begin studying this October or earlier. I applied to Waseda University’s SILS, and language school into university is my backup plan in the case that I am rejected.
The aspects that I’m looking for are that the school is located in Tokyo, offers EJU preparation (meaning it’s accredited by the government?), and is very intensive. Preferably, the school would have partnerships with universities as well, as I have heard that teachers can assist with recommendation letters and make the entrance process easier. It would also be beneficial to be able to interact with university students.
My language ability at this time is intermediate, probably JLPT N3 or (maybe) low N2, although I have not taken any official tests. I plan to consider self-studying the language until I go to the school itself, and I will study outside of classes when I am there, as well.
Additionally, I have contacted GoGoNihon previously, and the person who assisted me recommended the Yoshida Institute of Japanese Language. If anyone has insight into this particular school and GoGoNihon’s service, I would greatly appreciate it!
Thank you greatly to anyone who can provide help! I plan on doing more research while I wait for my Waseda results.
(I apologize if this post is written poorly, I am rather anxious about my application and might not be thinking straight LMAO).
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/movingtojapan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Sorry for weird formatting, am on phone.
Currently in the last stages of applying to language school with gogonihon, my departure is in July and I’ve already paid hefty sums of money so I feel like I can help you somewhat!
Gogonihon is a free service that helps you get in contact with Japanese schools and get the proper documents to ensure you arrive safely and legally lol. However, I think it’s worth noting that that’s about all they have to do. If you want the most bang for your buck and the most valuable experience, YOU will have to be the researcher, YOU will have to take charge, YOU will have to be pushy, because most likely they will not. I think gogonihon overall has been great as they’ve pushed me in the right direction, but it’s been a LOT of trouble working with them as well. I had about two weeks in which I would stay awake during the day to study and work full time, and then stay up all night to be on call with either gogonihon or my language school. My assistant got very Ill about halfway through my initial application and had to stay at the hospital for almost a month, and gogonihon decided to just… not give me a new one, which gave me about a week to do my application. I don’t know if you’ve studied or worked in Japan before, but if you have please note that your application increases in size to about 30 different documents. I found this out a week before applications closed and I don’t remember sleeping much that week :^)
I have just gotten my COE from my language school (ISI in Tokyo, an intensive language school with a majority of students going to university afterwards) and have so far paid about 650 dollars to give you a rough estimate what you need to pay before tuition and the like. Every school is different but I’m guessing the number will be around the same – this money paid the application fee and the entrance fee.
I don’t know if this is true for all language schools, but note that ISI forces students to end their studies in March due to their focus on university applications and admission. On gogonihons website it says they allow students to study from April, July, October, and December, but this is not true. They only accept April and October admissions. I was their first ever exception, going to study in July. I wanted to study 6 months, but because studies end in March I was “forced” (if I wanted to stay at ISI) to extend it to 9 months. Talk to your assistant about this, as you want to stay for one and a half years! In some cases, that means you’ll have to leave in October.
Please note that a school doesn’t have to have EJU preparation to be accredited by the government, you could take an EJU exam without even studying at a language school I’m pretty sure. All language schools gogonihon offer are accredited by the government, as you would not get a student visa if they weren’t.
I have 4 months worth of experiences with gogonihon so I’m sure I’ve missed a lot but I hope that helps somewhat. I’d recommend ISI, or similarly paced schools, for the sake of either working or just experiencing Japan outside of schoolwork. I see your dream is to study at a Japanese university, but 1.5 years in Japan is a long time and you should be able to enjoy it! ISI has gogonihons second highest intensity and requires about 6 hours of study time a day including lesson time – plenty of time to learn, but also plenty of time to experience the beauty of Japan!! As someone who’s studied there before, please don’t do my mistake, and just experience Japan.