39. Come to think of it, u may not even need to ski. A lot of hotels in snow country in japan need english-speaking staff, period-- English isn't so widely spoken in japan once when u get away from the big cities. Here's a unique situation were there are a lot of english-speaking foreign tourists but no English speaking locals.
Niseko is a big ski area on Sapporo, but it’s a pain to get up there. There are lots of big ski resorts on Honshu around Nagano ('98 winter olympics) that are an easy shinkansen ride from tokyo. I’d check those out first.
None of the Aussie seasonal workers I’ve met speak a lick of Japanese, so you’d be ahead of the game.
GMT is right, they need English speakers.
By the way, lots of staff members in Japanese hotel/airport or any places that host foreign people are terrible at English…you will be very welcomed.
Some of these companies will even train u to be a ski instructor.
Japan is your best bet for a ski industry opportunity. Ungodly amounts of powder and a well established stream of foreign tourism. China & korea can’t even come close on either of these 2 factors.
Do you know how expensive out of state tuition is!! Public colleges over in Asia are much cheaper. And yes, they do allow foreigners to work on a student visa. And I know you need a degree to get a job such as teaching english, I didn’t say I was going over there with no degree and expect a career job(I’m not that dumb). For example, let’s say I went to college in the US. After I finish, I would maybe go to Taiwan to teach english, but take a mandarin class on the side. Do you understand what I’m saying? Also, I’m definitely not interested in skiing.
OOS private colleges can be cheaper than instate public universities, especially since Texas’ financial aid system isn’t very good (state grants have been replaced with loans, for example) - it depends what public instate colleges you’re looking at. Even instate private can be roughly the same cost as instate publics. It really depends - you can run the Net Price Calculator to find out.
However, all of this is moot, since with a 2-something* GPA at a CC, your odds are not good. What happened? Can you take summer classes to bring your GPA up?
The option of getting a degree (TESOL or not) in the US, then going to work in Taiwan, Korea, etc., is always a possibility.
If you can bring your GPA up with summer classes + Fall, and if the university you’ve found in Korea is cheaper than most universities, you could go there, get your degree, teach, then return to the US to get your TESOL Master’s, and return to another East Asian country to teach.
What were your 1st semester grades? What grades do you expect this semester?
Yeah, I’m trying to get my GPA to at least a 3.0 by the time I finish CC. But, do you think it would be better to get my undergraduate degree in America and my graduate degree in Asia, or would it be better to get my undergraduate degree in Asia and my graduate degree in America? I’m just curious which one people think would help me more.
OP, I was not suggesting a career in the ski industry, but merely an affordable and REALISTIC way for u to spend several months in asia. The reality is that your sub-3.0 GPA and lack of money is extremely limiting.
If the choice is between undergrad vs grad…I’d go Asian undergrad → grad school as even within most East Asian societies, the ideal preferred path is topflight domestic undergrad followed by US/Canadian/European grad school. This is doubly important if you intend on coming back to work in the US at some point.
However, considering your academic and financial constraints, I’m not sure either would be realistic. Even assuming you gain admission to an Asian U, you’ll need to start all over from year 1 as none of your CC college credits will transfer.
Moreover, undergrad education in East Asia is structured very differently. It’s much more specialized, classes are run on the basis of “sit down, shut up, take notes, and let Prof lecture for entire period” with little/no class discussion, and you’ll be taking the vast majority/all courses in the department you’re majoring in unless it’s a special program run along American lines(not too common).
Also, while foreign students are given easier admission standards* on the college entrance exam, keep in mind one’s score on it not only determines which college one gains admission to, but also which majors one can declare. One negative point about the East Asian college admissions is if your score’s too low for a desired major, you could end up in a less popular major for which you’re ill-suited for.
There’s also the factor that as an international student, you’ll be expected to have enough money on hand to support your educational and living expenses for your entire undergrad program as most scholarships are reserved for domestic students and tippy-top academic achieving foreign students. From what you’ve stated, it doesn’t sound like you fit either of those two types of students.
A few colleagues and relatives took advantage of this. One who did engineering at NTU in ROC(Taiwan) admitted his entrance exam scores were such that if he was a domestic student there, he would have studied engineering...but at a second or lower-tiered U instead of the #1 U.
Another thing to keep in mind is that as a foreign student, your prior academic records from HS and CC will be looked over…and a 2.x or even a low 3.x GPA may be regarded with some skepticism unless you can compensate for that with something else…like a higher than average national college entrance exam score for a foreign student.
I don’t think anyone here is discouraging u to step foot in these counties. But i think that given your present academic & financial circumstances, the degree path u are proposing is unrealistic.
Again, do consider a seasonal worker stint. I’ll only be for a few months and would present an affordable & unconventional way to experience japan. Plus it would be something interesting to put on your application for admission into a 4-year US college. There are job positions which do NOT require skiing. Your Japanese language skills will make u stand out from other job applicants.
I’m pretty sure the main university I’ve been looking at(pusan national university) allows transfer. If they didn’t then I agree, I couldn’t afford all 4 years. Also, in Korea, the financial requirement when you arrive is at least $10,000, which I think I can make within 2 years. I still don’t think a seasonal job is something I would want to do, at least not at this point in my life. I’d probably rather wait until after college. FYI, I think if I went to college in the US, I could probably afford to study abroad in Japan, but probably not any of the other countries due to the difference in minimum wage.
Given your current GPA and your financial issues, I would not recommend transferring to a foreign university. I would recommend concentrating on raising your GPA at your CC, then transferring to a 4-year college or university here that you can afford, and that will allow you to study abroad for a semester in one of your target countries as part of your degree program. In addition, as money permits, I’d advise you to pursue at least one of your languages in intensive summer programe either in the US or in the target country.
Then, after you graduate from college, you could look for a paying position abroad that would give you the opportunity to explore one or more of these countries. After working for a bit, you will know better where you want to continue your life and career, and whether or not grad school is useful for your goals at that time.
Wouldn’t you say that college in America is less affordable? One of ther cheapest in - state colleges I could find would cost me around $24,000 a year, which is about double the cost that a college in Korea would cost. College in America is really expensive compared to a lot of countries, so if I went here, I would have to get loans, so it’s possible that I would struggle with money more so in America. Also, why is everyone recommending a TESOL degree?
Someone mentioned up-thread about working as an English teacher as a way to find work in your target countries. I don’t remember who it was. I teach adult-ed ESOL, and I am well aware of many of the employment issues. That’s why I gave you those links. If you aren’t interested in a TESOL job, you can just ignore them.
You are at a community college now in the US. If you are smart and careful with your course planning, you will only need two more years when you transfer to a college/university in the US. Depending on your family’s financial situation and your GPA from your CC, you might receive some need-based and/or merit-based aid that will lower the cost you have to pay. Provided you are a citizen or legal permanent resident alien, you will be able to borrow the federal student loans after you file the FAFSA each year. You also can get a job during the summers and during the school year to help meet your expenses, and there won’t be any restrictions on the kind of job you can get or the number of hours you can work. If you need to, you can work full-time and study part-time.
However, if you attend a foreign university, your work permission will almost certainly be restricted (to find out the specific rules for each country, contact their closest Consulates), and it might not be possible to borrow any federal loans (very few foreign universities are eligible for the federal loan program). If you have to borrow private loans, you will need to find a qualified co-signer, and repayment options will be less flexible than for the federal loans.
That you write “I’m trying to get my GPA to at least a 3.0 by the time I finish CC” makes me think that your study skills aren’t yet up to the level they will need to be in order to successfully pursue college-level studies in an international location. If you already had a 4.0 in a tough major, and were nearly fluent in at least one of the languages you are learning it would be a different thing. It isn’t that I don’t think your goals are not achievable, but rather that you need to give yourself more time to prepare for them. That is why I recommend that you finish your undergrad degree in the US.
Yeah, I agree, studying subjects that don’t interest me is definitely not one of my specialties! I guess I could study abroad in Japan for a semester to a year and then go to grad school in Korea or Hong Kong. I just really want to spend some time in these countries and college seemed like a good time to do so. But yeah, having a degree does give you so much more job opportunities in these countries. I know it’s just 2 more years, but these countries really interest me, so I was curious if going to college over there was a good idea or not, but since most people say that college degrees from these countries aren’t taken as seriously, maybe it is a better idea to wait a couple of years…
Oh yeah, I have another question. If I had experience working abroad working jobs related to my major, would they even care about the fact that I got my degree from these countries. I’m asking this because I’ve heard people say that if you’ve had work experience, then people won’t care as much about where you earned your degree.
Everything depends on the type of job you are applying for and who is reading your resume. Some employers won’t know how to interpret your foreign work experience. Others would be happy to see it. So until you do have that work experience, and you know what job you are looking to move into, there is no easy way to predict this sort of thing.
For US colleges have u factored in the financial aid ? Visit a school’s website and run the Net Price Calculator to get a rough estimate of what it’ll cost.
Tuition may be cheaper in overseas colleges, but you can’t live there for free, either. Plus plane tix to asia are beaucoup bucks!
You cannot get a work visa to get a real job overseas in your major without ALREADY having experience in your major or having a graduate degree (masters, phd).
Yeah I guess I could get financial aid plus my mom’s army can pay for at least most of the tuition if I went to a college in texas. Also, what’s beaucoup bucks?