Hey everyone,
I’m an exchange student from Spain who was accepted to study abroad at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan for five months. However, one month after my application, before knowing if I was accepted or not (in my university) I received an email saying that Waseda had changed its requirements from a 7/10 to a 7.5/10, and that, if I was accepted (witch I was afterwards) I would need to meet the newer requirements for Waseda to accept me. I got accepted in my university with a 7.42 grade score which means I no longer meet the new requirements. Apparently, this sudden change was due to an incident where another student who arrived with a lower grade than they claimed caused issues for the university.
I wrote a lot of emails to the study abroad department and they didn’t want to help me, they just told me to increase my grade by the end of this college year. At the end I spoke directly to the director of the study abroad program at my home university, who, for my surprise, didn’t know anything about my case and offered to speak to Waseda University to explain my situation and why I would be a good fit for the program to try to make them to make and exception. However, I’m still worried that this may not be enough to secure my spot at Waseda.
He finally told me that, before speaking directly to Waseda, I should try to meet the new requirements by the end of this course but now I see that it is unlikely to happen.
Has anyone had a similar experience with changing requirements or had to navigate a situation like this as an exchange student? What do you think are my chances of being accepted? I would love to hear any advice or suggestions on how to approach this situation and increase my chances of being able to study at Waseda.
Thanks in advance!
2 comments
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**Exchange Student Dilemma: Changing Requirements for Waseda University in Tokyo**
Hey everyone,
I’m an exchange student from Spain who was accepted to study abroad at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan for five months. However, one month after my application, before knowing if I was accepted or not (in my university) I received an email saying that Waseda had changed its requirements from a 7/10 to a 7.5/10, and that, if I was accepted (witch I was afterwards) I would need to meet the newer requirements for Waseda to accept me. I got accepted in my university with a 7.42 grade score which means I no longer meet the new requirements. Apparently, this sudden change was due to an incident where another student who arrived with a lower grade than they claimed caused issues for the university.
I wrote a lot of emails to the study abroad department and they didn’t want to help me, they just told me to increase my grade by the end of this college year. At the end I spoke directly to the director of the study abroad program at my home university, who, for my surprise, didn’t know anything about my case and offered to speak to Waseda University to explain my situation and why I would be a good fit for the program to try to make them to make and exception. However, I’m still worried that this may not be enough to secure my spot at Waseda.
He finally told me that, before speaking directly to Waseda, I should try to meet the new requirements by the end of this course but now I see that it is unlikely to happen.
Has anyone had a similar experience with changing requirements or had to navigate a situation like this as an exchange student? What do you think are my chances of being accepted? I would love to hear any advice or suggestions on how to approach this situation and increase my chances of being able to study at Waseda.
Thanks in advance!
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>I would love to hear any advice or suggestions on how to approach this situation
You’ve already done all the right things. You contacted your study abroad coordinator and explained the situation.
That’s pretty much all you can do, aside from trying to bring your grades up.
>What do you think are my chances of being accepted?
Honestly? Probably not very good unless you can get your grades up above the threshold.
They’re not *zero*, mind you. You’re right on the borderline, and you’ve got your study abroad coordinator making a case.
But… They didn’t change the requirements due to random bureaucracy, they changed them because they had a student causing problems. That makes it *much* less likely that they’ll be willing to make an exception. With a problem student fresh on their minds they’re probably not going to be very flexible.