Hi, I plan on moving to Japan in 2024/2025, I’m married to a descendant with family and a company there, so getting a work visa isn’t the problem.
I dropped out of a good university during the pandemic. Wondering if I should enroll in a cheaper one before moving, or if my work experience is enough (about 8 years as a software engineer). I probably have about a year or so of remaining classes to take.
Also considered getting a degree there, but that would take significantly more time and money.
5 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Does university name matter?**
Hi, I plan on moving to Japan in 2024/2025, I’m married to a descendant with family and a company there, so getting a work visa isn’t the problem.
I dropped out of a good university during the pandemic. Wondering if I should enroll in a cheaper one before moving, or if my work experience is enough (about 8 years as a software engineer). I probably have about a year or so of remaining classes to take.
Also considered getting a degree there, but that would take significantly more time and money.
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Having a degree in your back pocket is always a plus. First, just because you can get a visa based on descendance doesn’t mean you qualify for all jobs. Many a job will require a university degree, simply on the companies requirements. As far as the name of the university, it seems that here, the 2 overseas universities are “Harvard/Yale/Princeton” and “any other university.” So, go to the cheap school, knock out a bachelors, and come on over.
In Japan most are oblivious of the fact that universities exist outside of Japan and unless it is something from the very top such as Oxford (but even then a large portion will be ignorant), it does not seem to matter at all. All foreign universities are seen dismissively at best.
BUT, it may and likely will be important somewhere further in your life. Therefore, if you can, go for a better university, even if it takes more time and money. Education and credentials are not things to be frugal with.
If you aren’t going into academia or working in research (or going to a top 20 university globally), then what university you choose is more about what it provides to YOU personally rather than any value of the name on the paper.
One point that others haven’t mentioned is that if you graduated from a university in the top 200 global rankings then you get an additional 10 points towards the points-based system where you can get PR after 1/3 years depending on amount of points.