Hey y’all. Understandly, when it comes to Reddit threads on the subject of schools in Japan, most posts tend to be from the perspectives of undergraduates in fields like engineering and biology. Since my background is pretty different from that and there’s a few specific factors that make my situation unique, I was hoping if I could get some feedback from you guys.
Anyways, I’m from US and I graduated from a reputable-but-definitely-not-Ivy-League school this past May with pretty strong grades and majors in Political Science and Global Studies/International Relations and minors in History and Japanese. As for what I applied to at Nagoya University, I was admitted into the Global School of International Development. And pretty much, I want some feedback regarding the pros and cons of going through with this with regards to my particular circumstances.
The first thing I should note is that I’m absolutely set on going to Nagoya over other schools. While I understand that Sophia University is better suited for Liberal Arts than Nagoya, there’s a few reasons why I’d prefer Nagoya instead:
1). Nagoya’s significantly cheaper to live in than Tokyo.
2). Nagoya’s GSID is significantly cheaper than other G30 schools’ graduate programs in equivalent fields
3). I studied abroad in Nagoya last year and I loved it there. I know the city well and I’m eager to go back.
4). The application period for Sophia is pretty much closed anyways (though I could still make it, since I don’t have to mail anything, but I’m also hesitant to drop another $290 on an application when I’ve already been accepted into my top pick).
Anyways, the point I’m trying to make here is that I’m pretty set on Nagoya instead of Todai or Sophia or anything else. But given my transcript, without a doubt, I have pretty alright prospects of getting into a top university here in the states; and therein lies my first question.
I’ve heard both that Japanese degrees tend to carry far less mileage than US degrees and that G30 programs themselves can be somewhat lacking. But again, all of this information has been based on what I’ve heard regarding *undergraduate programs* in *science-related fields* across a variety of schools, rather than international relations graduate programs at a generally higher-tier university within Japan. **So can anyone with any relevant experience(s) attest to the quality of a** ***liberal arts*** ***and graduate*** **education at a G30 school?** For what it’s worth, my work will mostly consist of a carrying out research with the goal of publishing it, and a decent portion of the faculty seems to come from English-speaking backgrounds, so I’m not particularly worried about the language barrier hurting my curriculum.
And besides that, **do you guys see merit in pursuing this sort of degree in Japan over the US?** Ultimately, these are the factors that are swaying me towards Nagoya over a domestic school:
1). Learning a second language is crucial in this field. While I’m already decent enough in two other language besides English, I’ve spent the last three years studying Japanese and have kinda plateaued in terms of what I can do in the US. Hence, studying in Japan would help me iron out the kinks in my proficiency with the language in a way that can’t really be accomplished in the US.
1.5). Kinda the same thing, but obviously broadening my cultural experiences is important for even more obvious reasons.
2). As far as I understand (and I could be wrong here), the student body at an IR program in Nagoya would be more diverse than one at University of Michigan or Georgetown or something like that. That sort of experience is valuable to me, both personally and, I feel, academically.
3). The school itself seems to be well-connected with a variety of IR-related internships. IR is a pretty difficult field to break into, so these opportunities mean a lot. Also, if students meet specific conditions, then that opens up the door to the university facilitating some internships with the UN itself. Granted, I’m sure I can find similar experiences at a big school in the US, but taken in conjunction with the other points, I think it’s worth noting this as being in favor of Nagoya.
4). While I’m aware that the US has infinitesimally more scholarship opportunities than Japan, taking everything into consideration (which includes that rather dour state of the yen, though I guess that might change over a few years), my Masters program at Nagoya, per year, would be significantly cheaper than what I paid at my undergrad university, even with a healthy amount of scholarships. So presumably, it’d be a lot cheaper than graduate institutions in the US as well.
So bearing those points in mind, I wanna ask any of you who’ve read this far how logical that all seems. Bonus points if you’re coming from the same academic background as me, though again, that seems to be a rarity. **But how do you guys think these points weight against the cons of studying in Japan? And with regards to the cons, do you feel that they’re more severe in the field of IR, or do you think that attending school in a foreign country could plausibly be seen as a strength in the field?**
Jeez, this was long. But really, I’d appreciate any advice at all. Also, I’m probably gonna be posting this on some other Japan-related subs, so I apologize in advance if you keep seeing this post.
3 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Got accepted into a Masters program at Nagoya University; wanting advice on whether my plans are sound or not.**
Hey y’all. Understandly, when it comes to Reddit threads on the subject of schools in Japan, most posts tend to be from the perspectives of undergraduates in fields like engineering and biology. Since my background is pretty different from that and there’s a few specific factors that make my situation unique, I was hoping if I could get some feedback from you guys.
Anyways, I’m from US and I graduated from a reputable-but-definitely-not-Ivy-League school this past May with straight A’s and majors in Political Science and Global Studies/International Relations and minors in History and Japanese. As for what I applied to at Nagoya University, I was admitted into the Global School of International Development. And pretty much, I want some feedback regarding the pros and cons of going through with this with regards to my particular circumstances.
The first thing I should note is that I’m absolutely set on going to Nagoya over other schools. While I understand that Sophia University is better suited for Liberal Arts than Nagoya, there’s a few reasons why I’d prefer Nagoya instead:
1). Nagoya’s significantly cheaper to live in than Tokyo.
2). Nagoya’s GSID is significantly cheaper than other G30 schools’ graduate programs in equivalent fields
3). I studied abroad in Nagoya last year and I loved it there. I know the city well and I’m eager to go back.
4). The application period for Sophia is pretty much closed anyways (though I could still make it, since I don’t have to mail anything, but I’m also hesitant to drop another $290 on an application when I’ve already been accepted into my top pick).
Anyways, the point I’m trying to make here is that I’m pretty set on Nagoya instead of Todai or Sophia or anything else. But given my transcript, without a doubt, I have pretty alright prospects of getting into a top university here in the states; and therein lies my first question.
I’ve heard both that Japanese degrees tend to carry far less mileage than US degrees and that G30 programs themselves can be somewhat lacking. But again, all of this information has been based on what I’ve heard regarding *undergraduate programs* in *science-related fields* across a variety of schools, rather than international relations graduate programs at a generally higher-tier university within Japan. **So can anyone with any relevant experience(s) attest to the quality of a** ***liberal arts*** ***and graduate*** **education at a G30 school?** For what it’s worth, my work will mostly consist of a carrying out research with the goal of publishing it, and a decent portion of the faculty seems to come from English-speaking backgrounds, so I’m not particularly worried about the language barrier hurting my curriculum.
And besides that, **do you guys see merit in pursuing this sort of degree in Japan over the US?** Ultimately, these are the factors that are swaying me towards Nagoya over a domestic school:
1). Learning a second language is crucial in this field. While I’m already decent enough in two other language besides English, I’ve spent the last three years studying Japanese and have kinda plateaued in terms of what I can do in the US. Hence, studying in Japan would help me iron out the kinks in my proficiency with the language in a way that can’t really be accomplished in the US.
1.5). Kinda the same thing, but obviously broadening my cultural experiences is important for even more obvious reasons.
2). As far as I understand (and I could be wrong here), the student body at an IR program in Nagoya would be more diverse than one at University of Michigan or Georgetown or something like that. That sort of experience is valuable to me, both personally and, I feel, academically.
3). The school itself seems to be well-connected with a variety of IR-related internships. IR is a pretty difficult field to break into, so these opportunities mean a lot. Also, if students meet specific conditions, then that opens up the door to the university facilitating some internships with the UN itself. Granted, I’m sure I can find similar experiences at a big school in the US, but taken in conjunction with the other points, I think it’s worth noting this as being in favor of Nagoya.
4). While I’m aware that the US has infinitesimally more scholarship opportunities than Japan, taking everything into consideration (which includes that rather dour state of the yen, though I guess that might change over a few years), my Masters program at Nagoya, per year, would be significantly cheaper than what I paid at my undergrad university, even with a healthy amount of scholarships. So presumably, it’d be a lot cheaper than graduate institutions in the US as well.
So bearing those points in mind, I wanna ask any of you who’ve read this far how logical that all seems. Bonus points if you’re coming from the same academic background as me, though again, that seems to be a rarity. **But how do you guys think these points weight against the cons of studying in Japan? And with regards to the cons, do you feel that they’re more severe in the field of IR, or do you think that attending school in a foreign country could plausibly be seen as a strength in the field?**
Jeez, this was long. But really, I’d appreciate any advice at all. Also, I’m probably gonna be posting this on some other Japan-related subs, so I apologize in advance if you keep seeing this post.
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Writing as someone currently attending a humanities master’s program in Japan (although awarding a dual degree that is US accredited), but not IR.
From an academic and career perspective, a good US school will likely be better. English graduate school is sometimes (or oftentimes) better than undergrad here, but compared to the US or the EU it’s still lacking.
But it seems like you’d really enjoy living and studying in Japan again, so you need to consider if the lower costs and maybe more fun/interesting experience would outweigh the benefits a US M.A. would bring you. As you said, the IR field is hard to break into and you could probably use the US networking.
You should speak to someone who knows the IR field and its career prospects well and ask them what they think.
Nagoya University is one of the Imperial 7 so in Japan it is regarded as a very high ranked university.
While a degree itself MIGHT carry less mileage than a US counterpart, in my opinion it is what you do and publish that makes a significant difference. I would probably hold a student from a Japanese university that has published in Nature or Physical review with higher regards than a student from the US that didn’t publish anything.