Hi, hope this is a good place for this. I know it’s not directly related to moving to Japan, but I couldn’t think of a better place for it. Was hoping maybe some people here who live in Japan have experience with Japanese graduate schools and can give some advice.
**Got pretty long, so the tl;dr is** interested in doing graduate studies in the field of English education in Japanese schools, would it be better to try and go to a Japanese graduate school even though it would be harder, or take the easy (expensive) way out and apply for Temple?
I’m interested in doing graduate school in Japan, for the field of linguistics/applied linguistics/education. fwiw, I want to do research on language education in Japan, not be an English teacher. And I would plan to stay in Japan after to stay in academia to the greatest extent possible.
The options I’m looking at are, go to a Japanese university, or Temple.
For Japanese university, every program I’ve seen requires N1 Japanese and I’d say I’m somewhere between N3 and N2 right now, planning to take N2 in December. I don’t plan to apply for a year or two, so I feel like I’d have time to keep studying intensively and get up to N1. My hesitations here:
* Not sure if it’s hard to get accepted into a Japanese graduate school as a foreigner, when it’s not to programs that aren’t generic “global studies” English coursework programs
* Application process itself would be hard if I’m not living in Japan since they require exams etc.
The other option I have is Temple, but there’s a couple reasons I’m pretty eh about it:
* I studied there for 2-3 semesters as an undergrad and the academic quality didn’t seem that good. Granted, this was 10+ years ago, and it was undergrad, so I can’t really speak for their current graduate programs.
* It’s stupidly expensive compared to a Japanese school.
* Not sure about this one, but since it’s an American university with English coursework, I worry that my credentials wouldn’t be worth as much in academia in Japan
Plus side to Temple is that it would be easier to do the application process, and the logistics would be easier since I’m American and did undergrad at an American school. Also, they do have a PhD in applied linguistics, which is what I’m aiming for
Anyway, I hope these questions aren’t too wildly specific, and sorry this got super long. But hoping maybe someone has some insight from experience with graduate education in Japan. I know I said I wouldn’t apply for a year or two, but I’d rather have a realistic plan/hope now than find out in two years I was being unrealistic haha.
Thank you for any advice you have!
1 comment
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Graduate School in Japan**
Hi, hope this is a good place for this. I know it’s not directly related to moving to Japan, but I couldn’t think of a better place for it. Was hoping maybe some people here who live in Japan have experience with Japanese graduate schools and can give some advice.
**Got pretty long, so the tl;dr is** interested in doing graduate studies in the field of English education in Japanese schools, would it be better to try and go to a Japanese graduate school even though it would be harder, or take the easy (expensive) way out and apply for Temple?
I’m interested in doing graduate school in Japan, for the field of linguistics/applied linguistics/education. fwiw, I want to do research on language education in Japan, not be an English teacher. And I would plan to stay in Japan after to stay in academia to the greatest extent possible.
The options I’m looking at are, go to a Japanese university, or Temple.
For Japanese university, every program I’ve seen requires N1 Japanese and I’d say I’m somewhere between N3 and N2 right now, planning to take N2 in December. I don’t plan to apply for a year or two, so I feel like I’d have time to keep studying intensively and get up to N1. My hesitations here:
* Not sure if it’s hard to get accepted into a Japanese graduate school as a foreigner, when it’s not to programs that aren’t generic “global studies” English coursework programs
* Application process itself would be hard if I’m not living in Japan since they require exams etc.
The other option I have is Temple, but there’s a couple reasons I’m pretty eh about it:
* I studied there for 2-3 semesters as an undergrad and the academic quality didn’t seem that good. Granted, this was 10+ years ago, and it was undergrad, so I can’t really speak for their current graduate programs.
* It’s stupidly expensive compared to a Japanese school.
* Not sure about this one, but since it’s an American university with English coursework, I worry that my credentials wouldn’t be worth as much in academia in Japan
Plus side to Temple is that it would be easier to do the application process, and the logistics would be easier since I’m American and did undergrad at an American school. Also, they do have a PhD in applied linguistics, which is what I’m aiming for
Anyway, I hope these questions aren’t too wildly specific, and sorry this got super long. But hoping maybe someone has some insight from experience with graduate education in Japan. I know I said I wouldn’t apply for a year or two, but I’d rather have a realistic plan/hope now than find out in two years I was being unrealistic haha.
Thank you for any advice you have!
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