I apologize for the lengthy post, but I want to lay everything out and get some candid feedback because I feel like I’m having a mid-life crisis in my early 20’s. TLDR is that I’ve heavily been considering the JET program for various reasons, but can’t decide on which path forward to take with my life. After hearing me out, I would greatly appreciate your earnest input. There’s a lot of points I need to cover, but it will hopefully all make sense by the end.
First, some context: I’m 23 and just graduated undergrad last year with my BA in Biology and a minor in Spanish. I’m currently in that weird limbo phase in between college and the rest of my life while I try deciding on what to do. My plan was to continue on to either nurse anesthetist school or physician assistant school as I shadowed in the hospital OR for my school internship and both parents are in the healthcare field. Seems like a good gig, however, I also have a strong desire to travel and experience more of the world rather than staying in the same country for most of my life. And by this I mean I would like to experience living in a foreign country for a time. Enter the JET program and Japan. My interest in this stems from several places:
1) During my 4 years as an undergrad, I was presented with the opportunity to study semesters abroad (mostly to Spanish-speaking countries) but I was unable to do so as I was a student-athlete at the time. The prospect of living in a foreign country really intrigued me, but I wasn’t able to scratch that itch.
2) Summer 2021 (July-August) I was able to spend a month in Spain while on trial with a football team. I already possessed a fairly competent conversational speaking ability in Spanish for a non-native speaker, and I became friends with another player from Mexico who couldn’t speak English. We still keep in touch semi-regularly. I was also able to talk with some locals. Something about bridging that gap between languages/cultures resonated with me and I’m somewhat left wanting more because it’s such a cool experience.
3) Near the end of my senior year, my best friend who grew up playing soccer with me (and my college roommate) was killed in a car accident. He was a larger-than-life type personality who never knew a stranger. He genuinely enjoyed making connections and people gravitated towards him. We dove deep into the Spanish soccer community around Richmond, VA and even got heavily involved with a Guatemalan team operation in the area. His passing was really tough, and since then I decided to incorporate more of his energy into the way I live my life and start making more unique memories and live to experience more of what life has to offer. This was the biggest push for me deciding to pursue that opportunity in Spain, which started to “broaden my horizons” and got me interested in more.
4) I’ve seen many people I know, either from college or old childhood friendships, traveling to various countries and experiencing all that goes along with that. I look at that from a perspective not so much of jealousy, but rather from one of inspiration. I just couldn’t figure out how they’ve managed to be able to do so.
I feel frozen in indecision between committing to the graduate programs/healthcare path right now and the traveling and experiencing other places while I’m still relatively young. My indecision comes from the feeling that if I choose to travel/live in another country (even for only 2-3 years) I won’t be able to pursue a career in medicine afterwards (small tangent here – as I mentioned I’m 23, and one of the PA programs I’m looking at has an average applicant age of 27.5). Or alternatively, if I go for the medical career now, then I may not be able to ever experience living in another country until I retire.
I’ve heard a lot about the JET program from various sources such as Reddit, YouTube, and other online forums, the good and bad alike. I’ve always had at least somewhat of an interest in Japanese culture/language which has grown more recently. I also had a friend in college that studied abroad in Japan right before Covid hit and had to leave. I’m not naïve enough to think that living in Japan, or any other foreign country, is all sunshine and rainbows or that its always exactly how it’s advertised. I’m well aware of culture shock, but I feel like it could be such an interesting challenge that would really make me, or anyone really grow as a person and develop more personal agency, and maybe just give me a better perspective on I want in life.
I really don’t know if I would even want to stay in Japan or find another job other than JET, because I do have a genuine interest in science and medicine, but is it really too unrealistic to think that I could do both? I’ve heard of people changing their career much later in life than where I’m at. I just know that I don’t overly care about the money (obviously it’s a bit important), but I want to do things that let me feel fulfilled and have good memories/ stories to share one day.
I know that my family wouldn’t jump for joy at the suggestion of going to teach English in Japan as opposed to a medical career. I have floated the idea to my parents several months ago and they said that if that’s what I really want to do that they’re supportive, but it’s still hard to do a complete 180 and go from talking about grad programs to moving to Japan when they see it more as a weird anime country (well, excluding my German dad because he grew up moving all over the world due to my grandad’s profession).
I’ve spitballed some of my thoughts on this and tried to clearly explain my situation and express my genuine feelings about it all. I’m hoping that someone can offer me some useful advice to help me work through this. I’m completely open to any good arguments either for or against either side, I just feel that an outside perspective could really help me out here. For example, would it be better to go the medical route and then visit Japan on vacation one day, having a secure career but never truly experiencing life in a foreign country? Or would it be better to go for it and try to experience new things in life, or try make both work while I’m young and have options?
I’m new to using Reddit, so I’m not sure what the best way is to get people to see this. Nevertheless, if anyone actually reads all of this and cares to share any insights they feel are valuable I would truly, greatly appreciate it.
Edit: Another reason that JET interests me is that they help the ALT’s immensely in the moving process such as housing, airfare, and especially handling the working visa.
16 comments
Don’t go to grad school until the motivation and ideas in your mind have settled.
Grad school is not like undergrad, and it’s not a vast amount of material on the surface level but a narrow scope very deep.
Take time to figure out what you want to do, then go to grad school.
So, do JET.
JET doesn’t sound like a bad idea if you want to spread your wings. But if there are other options to teach English in a Spanish speaking country I would check those out too. It is wildly helpful to have some language ability for both teaching and everyday life.
This is probably not gonna be what you want to hear, but my first piece of advice is: you’re 23, chill out.
>one of the PA programs I’m looking at has an average applicant age of 27.5
^ this right here is the best indicator that if you go off to Japan for 2-3 years, when you come back you’ll *be* the age of the average applicant. I have met a decent amount of people 30+ on graduate courses, either someone in their 30s changing career paths or retirees who wanted to spend time learning.
People change careers all the time. People take working holidays, go on gap years, then return to school. My friend went back to school at 28 to train as a paramedic when their undergrad was in humanities.
My second piece of advice is: everyone should live in a foreign country where they don’t speak the language. Doing so makes you gain a lot more empathy for people who can’t communicate complex thoughts/ processes and pushes you to find ways to understand each other. You can honestly add that to your CV when applying to grad school to go into the medical field, because empathy and flexible communication skills are two of the most important personality traits you’d want in a medical professional.
My third piece of advice is: just go. Literally just apply for JET and similar programmes in other countries (no guarantee you’ll get into JET). [Here are a few](https://www.westernunion.com/blog/en/teach-english-abroad-government-programs/). If money isn’t an issue for you, then you can consider just going to Japan with a dispatch company for 2-3 years. You won’t have any savings when you come out of it, but from my experience your school is a crap shot anyway so the only major difference between JET and dispatch is pay.
Stop thinking too much about when you return and go back to grad school. As a humanities student, it’s very amusing to me that even STEM students worry about employability when there are doctor/ nurse/ medical technician/ etc. shortages in a lot of countries. Your chosen career path is in high demand, just go and spend 2 years in Japan.
My fourth piece of advice is: probably not a good idea to go into a medical career in Japan. The necessity to have a very high level Japanese if you want to have a decent quality of independent living, let alone go into any technical field, made me realise that living there past 2-3 years is not worth it. Years of studying a language and for what, a work life balance so bad that you’ll keel over from exhaustion. For medicine, you will definitely need at least N2 Japanese, but realistically N1 and probably some more. You’d need to spend years to reach that level, and in my opinion it’s just not worth it. But – living there for 2-3 years will give you a good idea as to whether you actually want to live there long term or not.
My last piece of advice is: go find a therapist (if you can afford it). It sounds like you have massive anxiety and probably a strong streak of perfectionism/ fear of failure. It’s fine to fail. Go to Japan. Drink too many strong zeroes. Do weeb shit. No one’s gonna care about this low level stuff when Boris Becker bankrupted himself from spending too much and had an affair baby in a broom closet.
I taught for 4 years in Japan and then went to law school. No regrets.
I feel like there is something better than JET for you. I’ve never done it myself but I also was going to go down that same path before law school and I’m glad I didn’t. It’s isolating, you are stuck making somewhat low pay, and it doesn’t really lead to anything bigger. I’ve known people that enjoyed it but it definitely wasn’t something I saw any worth in doing.
I’d do a language study there for a summer or try to enter a university on some kind of program, whether it be a language course or even going somewhere on an English language grad program.
I think you would enjoy the japan life a lot more through a school or university. Sure it costs, but you can get a part time job with a student visa and aren’t tied to any contracts or moved out into bumfuck nowhere for JET. And there are scholarships for you to apply to if you attend through a uni … But make the decision yourself and I wish you the best of luck!
It’s good to apply to JET, but it’s also good to look for other opportunities in Japan. Getting into JET is not a guarantee, so it’s good to try the dispatch companies of course, but what about school? There is a scholarship program here sponsored by the Japanese government, or even the Fulbright scholarship program.
JET first. Then Grad School.
There’s always the tourist visa. Let me save you some pain. Go to grad school or get a job. Just not as an alt.
JET is ageist, so get in as soon as you can would be my recommendation.
Work and travel to see different places. Don’t do JET, you won’t enjoy life much.
I went through the exact same thing, Biology BS with intentions of PA school.
Many people may “see you as a failure” if you choose English teaching over grad school. However, if going to Japan makes you realize you don’t want to pursue medicine, then you just saved yourself 100k in student loans.
It’s also worth noting that licensed PAs cannot work in Japan (with the exception of US military bases) as PAs are not incorporated into their healthcare system. If you go to PA school, you will have to work as a PA for at least 3-4 years to pay off the cost of school, effectively locking you out of Japan until you’re in your 30s.
Right now in your life is the perfect time to experiment. Don’t let people trick you into paying for grad school unless you’re 100% sure you want the career that follows it.
If you never go to Japan, you’ll always wonder “if it would’ve worked out”. I think you should try it. If it does work out, you can stick with it. If it doesn’t, PA and nursing schools aren’t going anywhere.
Live life with no regrets. Do JET if you worry about regretting it in the future. It will give you many positive things. If it gives you more cons than you bargained for, at least you can say you did it.
Grad school will always be there.
JET is the bottom of what you can do. Try to do something which needs skill
Former JET 2012-2017
This advice has already been given, but scratch that itch, even if just for a year on JET. I know a lot of JETs who came for a couple of years and then returned home to do their master’s degree. All of them are extremely proud of their time on JET and don’t regret their decision to come here first.
That said, I’ve also seen the other side of the coin, in about an equal number of both JET and non-JET/non-teaching jobs, every single person I’ve met with a master’s is usually jaded and put off about living in Japan. They felt held back and underutilized. It’s such a shame because their initial love of Japan slowly eroded into hate for living in Japan and for the country in general.
For JETs who have their master’s, this tend to be extra problematic as most placements are in the countryside, and even more that are considerably further away from cultural hubs like Tokyo and Osaka. The lack of finding groups and organizations that are near and dear to them, or a group that relate to their studies are few and far between in the countryside.
This is also something to think about if you choose JET before enrolling for your master’s. You should find groups that would help you continue to reach your goals of studying medicine. Even if that mean volunteering your time in places like retirement homes, nursing homes, etc. It would be practical experience that you could use once you enter in your healthcare program.
While a lot of people view teaching in Japan as a throw away year, it doesn’t have to be. Your time in Japan can be whatever you want it to be. It just takes initiative and a little courage to take that step.
TL;DR: You’re still so young, so don’t be afraid of a year or two in Japan as something that will prevent you from doing what you want in grad school. Your family, might not be over the moon about it, but ultimately, it’s your life and one or two years when compared to a whole life is just a fraction of time.
It would not hurt your future career prospects if you took a year off for JET, just to travel and see the world a bit. A lot of grads take a gap year in that way, and I’d say it would look good on your application if you decided on grad school. Also, JET is a decent program since it’s run by the government, so you wouldn’t be facing a lot of the negatives that often come with teaching as an ALT. It’s a valid option.
But I would not recommend ESL in Japan as a career. I’m sure a lot of others have already said this, but ALT work and teaching in language schools are not professional careers; they are comparable to low-level service jobs, such as being a line cook, waitress, retail clerk, etc. These positions do not require any kind of qualifications or previous experience, the pay is low, there are no pay raises or other benefits, and these companies operate in a gray area and often break labor law. You’ll also be treated like just one more cow in the herd, which is truly awful and honestly quite dehumanizing.
If you are the kind of person who likes a challenge, is intellectually curious, wants a professional career and don’t just want to float your way though life, then ESL in Japan long term is not for you.
TLDR: Do JET for a year, then go to grad school. Don’t get stuck in a shitty low-paying ESL job forever.
Honestly don’t come to japan to be an ALT.. it is real just a Gap year for some people and you are educating minds when you really don’t even want to be a teacher. Go to grad school and travel as a tourist or do working holiday.