Was TUJ Worth It?
Introduction
I am here to share my thoughts on whether studying for a full undergraduate degree at TUJ is worth it or not. Please note that I will not be including the new "fly to Philly" programs, where you can go to the states and do a couple of semesters at the main campus. Since I have completed my full 4 years at the Japan campus, I will only mention my opinions and thoughts on the Japan campus. So the short answer to this question would be 'KINDA!' Now the reason I say it's 'kinda' is because depending on what your goals and aspirations are, a degree from TUJ can push your career to a certain extent right out of college depending on the field you study in. Does this mean you will be using anything you learned during your college courses in your day-to-day job routine? Probably not a lot, maybe about 10 percent or less. But that's like the situation in most of the colleges especially in Japan because in typical private Japanese colleges like Waseda or Keio, most students hardly study at all. The only thing they are focused on are nomikais and attending activities within their club or circles. Getting in Japan colleges is the only tough hurdle as students have to work their behinds off studying for those juken benkyos or entrance examinations. But after they get in, it's all smooth sailing as graduation is sorta guaranteed once you enter, so most students pass their courses somehow without attaining any significant knowledge or specialization in any particular field. Alright calm down!! I am not trashing Japanese colleges here since many geniuses like famous athletes, scientists, doctors and politicians graduated from some of these popular universities like Meiji, Keio and Waseda. But unfortunately that's only a handful of them as most of the other students are part of the latter category. That is why, in comparison to these other universities, this puts TUJ in an interesting place.
Let Me Elaborate!!
So I don't know whether you guys are aware or not, but Temple University globally is said to rank around 300–350, which is considered a very good ranking when you take into account the vast number of universities in the world. But most people do not discuss the ranking of the Japan campus, which sadly ranks very low — but that's understandable considering it's relatively a new institution undergoing rapid development and changes. I do not have any ranking stats for our Japan campus but here is one link I found that shows the ranking (not sure it's legit or not but you can check it out):
https://www.adscientificindex.com/university/Temple+University+Japan/ Ranking aside, the students at Temple University Japan campus still receive the same degree as the one awarded in the main campus. So rest assured, your degree is an American degree from the main campus. So now the reason I say TUJ is in an interesting place in comparison to other private universities in Japan like Waseda, Keio or Meiji is that TUJ is the only university that provides a full-fledged American style education in Japan, which is much more collaborative and involves a lot of active participation compared to the Japanese system where students mostly are taught to memorize and just complete the lessons and courses in order to graduate. When comparing American college education standards to Japanese ones, and excluding STEM (Science and Technology fields), particularly in the areas of business, arts, media, economics, and other commerce fields, American universities will dominate by a mile compared to their Japanese counterparts that offer similar courses in these subjects. But at the same time, it's important to note that the Japan campus of Temple University is one of the lowest-ranking American universities in the world. However, since it is the only American university in Japan, it automatically becomes a very high-ranking choice in the Japanese context. It's similar to being the worst soccer player in Europe, yet being the best in some Asian country because your relative ranking will be higher than your global one.
Let's Talk About the Cost
I'm sure most of you are aware that American colleges are quite expensive, not to mention the exorbitant out-of-state tuition costs that foreign students have to bear. However, due to the high regard for American college degrees, many parents are willing to pay the premium tuition fees if it means their kids will graduate with an American degree after four years. American degrees are highly coveted by companies, and obtaining one can significantly enhance their hiring chances. So when you consider the fact of cost, TUJ is a great option to grab yourself one of those magical American college degrees at a much lower cost compared to that of other American universities.
Let's ask some questions to ourselves now regarding the factor of cost:
Do I get an American degree for cheap?
Yes
Do I receive a decent standard of American-based education style of learning?
Kinda Yes!
Do I get a variety of courses and professors to choose from?
Ammmm…. not really! Guess for that you gotta pay a bit extra for the "Fly to Philly" program… just for the living cost since the tuition is the same. In conclusion, if you are solely focused on the cost aspect of things then Temple University Japan campus is the cheapest source to acquire an American degree. So in my opinion, TUJ wins in the aspect of cost. But does that mean I am ready to drop around 11–12 million Japanese yen for 4 years of American college-like experience? Well, yes — if your original goal was to get an American college degree but the out-of-state tuition fees are beyond your budget. By this I mean if your original target was to get an American degree but your budget fell short, then TUJ can be a good entry point for you to cover some of the general courses so eventually you can transfer to a better college in the states after gathering the additional budget. So TUJ works as a good substitute, I guess…
Quality + Variety for Available Majors/Courses and Professors
As for this topic, the short answer would be a No! The university has a limited number of majors, with some of the top major choices being:
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International Business Studies
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Economics
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Computer Science (mainly minor courses only)
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International Affairs Most of the above-mentioned majors had only a limited number of qualified professors who are busy teaching multiple courses at different sessions throughout the week. As a result, it becomes quite difficult for them to maintain a high standard of teaching style. One of the main issues I faced as a student was the limited availability of general education courses that every undergraduate student was required to take. There were only about 3–4 courses on average for every category of general education, leaving students with no other choice but to enroll in them. Due to the lack of professors teaching these courses, students had to focus more on securing a spot in the classes since they filled up quickly. As it is a small university, the class sizes were incredibly small compared to the main campus or other universities in general. But on the brighter side, since the class sizes were quite small — and by small we are talking about 25–30 students on average per class — the students can approach the professor directly during their office hours to ask doubts or any queries or difficulties they face in an assignment or during the class in general. So I guess that would be one of the main positive takeaways from this. Well, at least for me this was the main positive aspect of having small classes as I was able to build strong rapports with the professors and directly approach them for career advice.
Student Body and University Culture
Well, in this regard, TUJ definitely wins by a mile compared to other domestic Japanese private universities. TUJ is the only place where there are students from over 40–50 different countries and the student body is very diverse and it's easy to make new friends or enemies based on your preference lol. Having lived in Japan for over 15 years now, I can definitely attest to the fact that TUJ was one of the few places where I could easily engage with students from different countries and backgrounds, getting to know each other and becoming friends with ease. I won't talk much about diversity and culture of TUJ as most people would be aware of this fact, and if not, go check out their Instagram account haha. They are popular on TikTok too…
Career Options After Graduation (Mainly Speaking for Foreign Students)
In this regard, most universities will undoubtedly boast about their career development programs and the percentage of students who are employed after graduating. TUJ, in particular, has experienced a notable increase in its post-graduation employment rate, and I hope this trend continues. However, for foreign residents in the country aspiring to be hired by a Japanese company in the future, I must express that their chances are extremely slim unless they are native Japanese speakers who can read and write Japanese at a native level.
So now the question is — where do the foreigners go?
For foreign students that are not proficient in Japanese, there are mainly two to three options:
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➡️ Work in consulting / recruiting / marketing jobs in international firms
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➡️ English teaching (I would definitely avoid this path for a full-time career…)
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➡️ Get into tech and become a software engineer/developer like myself
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➡️ Or if you are a good-looking guy or girl, become a model… (but this path is hard because there are countless foreigners that are struggling in this field trying to make it big) Also, note that Japanese companies, or companies in general here, do not really care much about your degree or major. They mainly care about your personality and how you present yourself in the interview, so looks and appearance do matter to some extent for many of the entry-level positions here. I will talk about the interview and hiring process in Japan in another blog. If you were to ask me whether having an American degree puts you on a higher pedestal or gives you an advantage compared to students with a degree from a Japanese college, the answer would be a resounding no. Perhaps it's cooler and you can talk about it with some clout, but overall, it does not really matter. This also raises the question of whether spending 11–12 million yen on an American degree is worth it or not if your end goal is to work in Japan. Hahaha, I will let you think about that…
Conclusion
Okay, I will stop talking now. This has gone on long enough. So I will share how I feel as a TUJ graduate. It was a great four years, to be honest, and the most important thing I enjoyed was being able to broaden my connections with people from all over the world. I think this was the most significant aspect of my four years there. Additionally, since it was a small university, I was able to engage in multiple circles at the same time. So overall, it was not half bad. Of course, there were times when the system frustrated me, but in the end, it all went well. If you were to ask me whether paying 11 to 12 million yen for the four years at TUJ was worth it or not — then yes, I would have to lean towards a yes in that regard. This is because I have attended Japanese lectures at other Japanese universities like Keio and Waseda as a visitor, and trust me, they were boring as hell, and nobody really interacted with anyone. So compared to that, TUJ was definitely a better experience in many ways. Sorry if my thoughts were all over the place, still really haven't gotten the hang of this blog thing yet. Feel free to reach out to me or drop comments.
PS: Stay the hell outta drama there!! Small university => everybody knows what's going on with everyone… things spread faster than COVID there… 😅