I’m 19 and from Ireland. I dropped out of university here last year due to interference from Covid which caused the entire course to be online and I ended up getting poor results in my Summer exams. I wasn’t a large fan of the university culture either which was bascially drinking and clubbing every night since all the societies and activites had been on hold. I’ve currently been working the past few months and have saved up a good amount of money.
I’m looking to study abroad in a few countries to get a bit of a change of culture and escape the extreme cost of living but as for Japan I’m a bit unsure. I’ve contacted and gotten a good few replies from universities and language universities and from what I understand is the best plan is to study in a language university for about 2 years in order to pass N2 JPLT. While studying for the EJU in the meantime. And then once I eventually pass te EJU, I can apply to universities and take their entrance exams. I’m told they bascially handle all of the VISA stuff on their own.
The reason I’m thinking of Japan is because it’s one of the top countries for science graduates (specifically research) which is what I studied and want to pursue again aswell is that I already learned the basics of Japanese in my last few years of school. I’m not really interested in the likes of America, Canada or Germany which are also renowed for their science sectors. I’m thinking of spending half a year in a Japanese language college and if I like it, continuing with it and then aiming to get into a university, is this a good idea?
Long term my plan is to either continue to do a masters in a country, Japan in this case, and seek a job or internship with the intention of securing a work VISA.
I’m just a bit lost with life and most of my family have emigrated, parents aren’t around anymore and lost contact with friends during the lockdown so I don’t really have any reason to stay in Ireland and want to change things up and see the world. Just looking for some advice.
1 comment
>I can apply to universities and take their entrance exams. I’m told they bascially handle all of the VISA stuff on their own
Yes, if you get into a uni they handle visa stuff and there is generally minimal things you need to do, language schools will often also provide a lot of help with this.
Studying the language and then doing a degree is a reasonable path if youre willing to commit to it, though it does have its challenges – youre essentially saying you plan on being a student for 6 years roughly, and possibly longer with the masters.
On a student visa, youre limited to part time work of a max of 28 hours per week, and each year youre going to have to renew your student visa (generally they grant 1 year) providing you have around 12 – 15,000 GBP in your bank, it will vary on exchange rates etc etc. You’re fairly unlikely to earn enough to cover all of your expenses in your part time work, so saving will be taking a hit.
Without a scholarship, planning to spend that long in the country as a student is going to require a pretty substantial sum of cash going into things as that cash is going to have to potentially last you multiple years of being there.
All that being said, If you have the cash, and want an experience then youre looking at doing things the better way, by learning the language and taking a course in the native language as opposed to doing an english language version, and honestly it can be a lot of fun – though I will add that Uni’s in Japan do also have a fairly reasonable social / drinking scene (not as hard as the west though).