i’m sorry if this goes slightly off topic but I just want to preface this by stating that my ultimate question is whether it is worth it to study in japan for four years if it’s what my heart truly desires and i don’t mind having an average career. currently a high school senior and am applying to colleges. i don’t know which colleges i’m getting into, but the biggest ones with the best reputation that I’ve applied to are Stanford, USC, UCLA and UC Berkeley (i’m Californian if that helps make sense at all). no idea if i am getting into those schools. i am also applying to a few english programs in Japan. i don’t really know what I want to do for a career, but if I don’t find something that truly speaks out to me I’ve decided I’m going to pursue speech pathology as I’m not opposed to the idea and it makes good money with a stable career. so for now, i’m setting myself up to become a speech pathologist, which I don’t hate. becoming one requires a master’s degree– i’ve heard that you can use a variety of majors as an undergrad. there is a good master’s program at UC San Diego that I’ve seen and I think I want to pursue for my final 2 years. they also have a 6 week program that will fulfill any credits I haven’t received as an undergrad that are needed for their master’s program.
I spent my summer in Tokyo at a language school and truly loved it. I live in a “pit stop” town and have nothing going on for me out here, and I will be honest I don’t have very many friends I would be leaving out here anyway. I started studying Japanese in the eighth grade (Nov 2019) right before COVID hit as a pastime, and have built my skills up somewhat. I don’t care if I’m not fluent right now. The short time I spent out in Tokyo accelerated my skills like never before and I was able to catch onto the language really quickly. There are some things that are really important to me that I think originated from living in my city– we do not have any small businesses as they were all bought out by the biggest chains. Town is unwalkable and entirely car-dependent within a 50 mile radius until you get out to the Los Angeles area. I am really concerned about the food I am putting into my body and the chemicals in it. The air and water in my town are gray and I can’t go anywhere via public transportation. I want to live somewhere that has food that is less poisonous, reliable public transportation, cleaner water, walkable towns, and I enjoy being in a city (yes, I have considered living in Los Angeles a million times, I love it but it does not check almost any of those boxes). I enjoyed my quality of life in Japan. I want to practice learning a new language, as it is my biggest hobby and pastime, and just makes me feel good, and most importantly, I just want to *be* somewhere else and finally have the opportunity to leave where I am. I am unsure whether I want to work in the United States for the rest of my life. I have also considered living in Australia but have not considered it for college so much.
My point is, I truly enjoyed being in Japan and believed that it improved my mental health and satisfied every concern I had for a place I want to live in. I have found a few English taught degree programs (Sophia University, Waseda University, Osaka University, and Temple University) that I am interested in completing my undergraduate studies at. I don’t care about being the best that has ever lived and I don’t mind living a somewhat average life with a normal career. I just don’t want to hate where I live which I find myself doing a lot by living where I am in California. **Is it worth it to complete four years of undergraduate studies in Japan, then moving back to California to complete the six-week course pre-masters program at UC San Diego (I don’t mind taking it) and then completing a two year master’s program at UC San Diego to finish my education?** Osaka University is my top university and dream college. Do you think UC San Diego would have any issue accepting me to this program should I have attended Osaka University compared to something in California?
When obtaining a career as a speech pathologist, will people care more about the fact that I graduated from a master’s program at UC San Diego or will the fact that I studied in Japan deter employers away? the practicing speech pathologists that I know have attended courses at very small, not so prestigious universities and were still able to enter the field making over $150k a year due to the demand. is it really all that bad to pursue an undergrad major at osaka university if it’s what I truly want and will not be my final form of education + i don’t want to live in japan full time afterwards (plan on either moving back to the US or to australia)? sorry this is such a long question but I feel very lost rn
edit: it’s a human sciences degree taught in english if that helps
6 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**wise decision to study at osaka university?**
i’m sorry if this goes slightly off topic but I just want to preface this by stating that my ultimate question is whether it is worth it to study in japan for four years if it’s what my heart truly desires and i don’t mind having an average career. currently a high school senior and am applying to colleges. i don’t know which colleges i’m getting into, but the biggest ones with the best reputation that I’ve applied to are Stanford, USC, UCLA and UC Berkeley (i’m Californian if that helps make sense at all). no idea if i am getting into those schools. i am also applying to a few english programs in Japan. i don’t really know what I want to do for a career, but if I don’t find something that truly speaks out to me I’ve decided I’m going to pursue speech pathology as I’m not opposed to the idea and it makes good money with a stable career. so for now, i’m setting myself up to become a speech pathologist, which I don’t hate. becoming one requires a master’s degree– i’ve heard that you can use a variety of majors as an undergrad. there is a good master’s program at UC San Diego that I’ve seen and I think I want to pursue for my final 2 years. they also have a 6 week program that will fulfill any credits I haven’t received as an undergrad that are needed for their master’s program.
I spent my summer in Tokyo at a language school and truly loved it. I live in a “pit stop” town and have nothing going on for me out here, and I will be honest I don’t have very many friends I would be leaving out here anyway. I started studying Japanese in the eighth grade (Nov 2019) right before COVID hit as a pastime, and have built my skills up somewhat. I don’t care if I’m not fluent right now. The short time I spent out in Tokyo accelerated my skills like never before and I was able to catch onto the language really quickly. There are some things that are really important to me that I think originated from living in my city– we do not have any small businesses as they were all bought out by the biggest chains. Town is unwalkable and entirely car-dependent within a 50 mile radius until you get out to the Los Angeles area. I am really concerned about the food I am putting into my body and the chemicals in it. The air and water in my town are gray and I can’t go anywhere via public transportation. I want to live somewhere that has food that is less poisonous, reliable public transportation, cleaner water, walkable towns, and I enjoy being in a city (yes, I have considered living in Los Angeles a million times, I love it but it does not check almost any of those boxes). I enjoyed my quality of life in Japan. I want to practice learning a new language, as it is my biggest hobby and pastime, and just makes me feel good, and most importantly, I just want to *be* somewhere else and finally have the opportunity to leave where I am. I am unsure whether I want to work in the United States for the rest of my life. I have also considered living in Australia but have not considered it for college so much.
My point is, I truly enjoyed being in Japan and believed that it improved my mental health and satisfied every concern I had for a place I want to live in. I have found a few English taught degree programs (Sophia University, Waseda University, Osaka University, and Temple University) that I am interested in completing my undergraduate studies at. I don’t care about being the best that has ever lived and I don’t mind living a somewhat average life with a normal career. I just don’t want to hate where I live which I find myself doing a lot by living where I am in California. **Is it worth it to complete four years of undergraduate studies in Japan, then moving back to California to complete the six-week course pre-masters program at UC San Diego (I don’t mind taking it) and then completing a two year master’s program at UC San Diego to finish my education?** Osaka University is my top university and dream college. Do you think UC San Diego would have any issue accepting me to this program should I have attended Osaka University compared to something in California?
When obtaining a career as a speech pathologist, will people care more about the fact that I graduated from a master’s program at UC San Diego or will the fact that I studied in Japan deter employers away? the practicing speech pathologists that I know have attended courses at very small, not so prestigious universities and were still able to enter the field making over $150k a year due to the demand. is it really all that bad to pursue an undergrad major at osaka university if it’s what I truly want and will not be my final form of education + i don’t want to live in japan full time afterwards (plan on either moving back to the US or to australia)? sorry this is such a long question but I feel very lost rn
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I don’t know what UC San Diego’s acceptance criteria is so I can’t advise you there (I’m not American). However, as someone with multiple post-graduate degrees from multiple countries I can tell you that your employer will not care where you did your undergrad. They will be interested in the qualification that is relevant to the role.
I hope you get to live in Japan, it sounds like you’ll love it. Good luck 👍
Ok so I didn’t read all of the post, but I did see the bold text.
Put simply, having a Japanese degree done in English won’t be seen as favourably back in the USA. English programmes here, especially for undergrad, don’t have a good reputation even in Japan.
Bruh, those are VERY good universities. I understand you don’t want to be the best of the best or anything like that, but you still need to play the game of life with good cards. A degree from a Japanese university—in English, no less—is not that useful. Especially if you don’t plan on working here in Japan. I don’t know if it will completely eliminate your chances of getting into an MA, but it’s definitely going to look worse than a degree from the universities you listed.
My opinion: no, it’s not worth it. Don’t do it.
I’m sorry about the state of your mental health but there are other options that will allow you to have a long-term stay here in Japan. Research which schools you’ve applied to have good exchange programs and pray to get in those. Or take a gap year after graduating high school/college as a reward and get a working holiday visa.
Osaka university is a great university, however their English programs are not as good, so you might be disappointed about its quality. However I think it will be okay enough to let you go to SDU for your masters, but this is not the right subreddit for that. You should inquire to the university directly or current students.
But if you have the chance to go to Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA etc.. and can afford it, do it by all means, some of them even have plenty of international exchange programs to study a semester or two in Japan.
You are still young and will have plenty of chances in the future to come here to work or travel, but the education quality those universities will provide is infinitely better than any undergraduate program in English in Japan.
You would get a better education at your local community college. Don’t waste your money studying in Japan.