Disclaimer: everything in my YouTube video and blog post are purely my own opinion and by no means represent the college or the people who attend each college.
Now on to the reasons I transferred!
1. I explained this pretty thoroughly in the video, but there are 2 Kasumigaseki cities and the one that TIU is in is located in Saitama. Saitama is the prefecture above Tokyo, and to get from TIU to the closest city in Tokyo, Ikebukuro, took around 45 minutes and ¥480 one way! That for me is just way too expensive and a waste of time. On the other hand, my current college Waseda is in the middle of Tokyo, Takadanobaba, and places like Shinjuku are only one stop away which is absolutely amazing! I have absolutely fallen in love with the convenience of living in the city.
2. Living in Japan in general is just really expensive, however for me even if I transferred colleges, I would have roughly the same college tuition+living expenses. Therefore, cost was not a super big concern to me when transferring.
3. I didn't do much research into Japanese universities before I applied, let alone go and visit them! Even in the US, it is always better to visit a college first just to see if you like the atmosphere there. When I arrived at TIU, the overall atmosphere of the school itself was just not what I was looking for in a college and I could not see myself being there for 4 years.
4. I just had way too much free time! As TIU has a more relaxed and less pressured feeling academic-wise, I felt as though I was being unproductive all day, and that just made me very uncomfortable personally. Of course we all like to have our R&R days but all day every day is honestly just too much for anybody.
5. Waseda and TIU have very different class structures, and for me personally I found that the style at Waseda suited me better as a student. This is completely an individual thing as a student.
6. Although TIU is truly like a family in terms of friends, I just felt like I didn't fit in a lot of the time and I couldn't really find a lot of people that I enjoyed the company of. We just had different values and priorities which can sometimes make large gaps in relationships.
7. Waseda just has so many international students that I could talk to and make friendships with. Everybody definitely finds their own niche within the school. On the other hand TIU has fewer international students and the atmosphere is more like one large family.
8. When you find a group of friends at TIU or decide to join a club, most if not all of your activities regarding friends will be with that group or club. This is not necessarily a bad thing but for me in general I really hate being limited to what activities I am invited to or able to do just because of which group I associate with.
9. It is definitely harder to meet up with friends at Waseda compared to TIU just because there are so many people at Waseda that unlike at TIU, they can't just got in 2-3 international dorms, so everybody is spread out throughout Tokyo.
If you guys have any other questions definitely leave a comment below and make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel!!!
XOXO,
Meowko
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