ADVICE: Uni for an international transfer student

3 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

   —

   **ADVICE: Uni for an international transfer student**

   I hope this post is appropriate. I’d like to live in Japan while completing my undergraduate degree in humanities, natural sciences, or psychology, taught primarily in English. I would be a transfer student with a fair amount of transfer credits from past colleges and a vocational degree from a music conservatory (that will not be applicable.) I am in Japan (Kyoto) now and will be in Tokyo for the next few weeks. It is an excellent opportunity to tour some colleges personally, so I wanted to ask the Reddit family where to start looking. I would like to complete my undergrad while exposing myself to Japanese culture with the intention of putting down long-term roots. Given my Western background, the latter may be more complicated than it appears, but I resonate strongly with the more collectivistic culture here than in my home country, and now seems like a great time to pursue options. Thanks for your wisdom!

   *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.*

2. >I would be an international transfer student with a fair amount of credits from past colleges

   Not a lot of schools in Japan accept transfer credits, especially from abroad. JASSO maintains a pretty good search tool on the StudyInJapan website. Have a look to see if you can find anything that suits you: https://www.studyinjapan.go.jp/en/planning/search-school/

3. I believe that many Japanese universities will not accept any transfer credits. You would likely need to come in as a first year student regardless of how many credit hours you’ve completed in the past. For more information, you should contact the universities you would like to apply to. It may also differ between programs at the same university.

   Another thing to consider is age. Where I am currently teaching, there are a fair number of full time Korean and Chinese students. They are usually between 20-26 when they enter into Japanese universities as a 1st year student while most of their Japanese classmates are 18. If you’re in your mid to late twenties, I would consider social relationships with your Japanese peers and job prospects upon graduation. Traditional hiring practices favor fresh faced 21-22 year olds. If you’re 28-32 upon graduation, you could try your hand at fresh graduate jobs, but it’s hard to say how your application would be handled. I have no experience with that. Also, there are also more and more foreigners entering into Japanese universities right out of high school. You’d be competing then with for jobs. Again, I don’t know your situation, but it’s something I would consider seriously depending on your age.

   I’d start by identifying programs you’re interested in, contacting them about the possibility of transferring credits, and using that information to narrow down your search. Good luck in your search!