I am moving to Japan likely in 2024 with my partner who got a job there. I am working on my associate’s degree in my country and will likely be done around Sept 2024 (I’ll be 25 by then). I found some universities that accept transfer students but was worried about how I might be treated as someone who is slightly older than their peers. I went to college for a bit out of high school and had to drop out to work/move cities. Life just happened, now it’s been 5 or so years since I dropped out but I still want to complete a Bachelor’s. Any advice or some personal experiences on what to expect as a foreign transfer student?
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**Is 25 too old to start university in Japan?**
I am moving to Japan likely in 2024 with my partner who got a job there. I am working on my associate’s degree in my country and will likely be done around Sept 2024 (I’ll be 25 by then). I found some universities that accept transfer students but was worried about how I might be treated as someone who is slightly older than their peers. I went to college for a bit out of high school and had to drop out to work/move cities. Life just happened, now it’s been 5 or so years since I dropped out but I still want to complete a Bachelor’s. Any advice or some personal experiences on what to expect as a foreign transfer student?
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To give more detail if it matters, my partner’s job will be in central Tokyo so I assume there may at least be a bit more variety there as far as what kind of peers I will have but I have no idea lol. I also plan to do Computer Science.
Don’t worry too much about it, as long as you are fluent in Japanese by the time you finish, it won’t be as critical. Perhaps a bit harder than if you were 20 when you started. You can always look for jobs at international companies were they will value your language skills better (depending on how many you speak besides Japanese).
Also, there the “English teacher route”, although with a bachelor’s degree you shouldn’t need to resort to that
Never too old to learn.
I have been at a Japanese university for over 10 years and it is totally common for international students about your age.
RemindMe! 3 days
Your twenties are the years you make the difference in your life ideally. Nothing to worry about at all, good luck!
I’ve just started my Bachelor’s Degree at 28, so try not to think about age when it comes to learning something new, or going to University (anywhere).
>how I might be treated as someone who is slightly older than their peers.
If you mean you’re going to look for a job in Japan to work after graduation, you need a career that doesn’t care about the candidate’s age because you’d age out of the job market for fresh grads soon.
As a foreign student while in college? It was common to see older students even 20 years ago.
Many Japanese people usually don’t care about how old students from abroad are.
You also need a bachelor’s degree to find a decent job in Japan and it’s not too late to start studying.
If not sugarcoated, Japanese university students in the 5th semester are usually 20 – 21 years old.
The age 25 years old is much older than they are. In Far East Asia, we still have the Confucian way of thinking and 4 – 5 years gap is kinda big for them.
Old adults usually don’t care about the age gap so much but universities students finished high school only a few years ago and the Confucian way of thinking(Senpai – Kohai relationship) is really strong in junior high and senior high schools.