How to prepare for the University of Toyko/Todai?

Applying to College
1

<p>(I’m not sure if this is the right section for this topic. Sorry if it isn’t, first time poster.)</p>

<p>Hello. I have a 14 year old son who wants to study abroad for college, specifically in Japan. This isn’t some plan he devised overnight, he’s had the desire to move to Japan ever since he was a small child. His mother is half Asian, I (the father) am half white/American. We used to live in China for the first 5 years of his life before moving to the states. We’ve been homeschooling him ever since he was born, but this fall he’ll be attending public highschool. He’s a very self motivated learner, if he sets a goal for himself he’ll get it done. He has taken 2-3 “third party” classes outside of home and he’s always done his homework as soon as he’s gotten it and all of his teachers said he did a good job.
I’m not trying to “hype up” my son, but I think he’s very capable and has what it takes to get into Todai. But at the same time Todai is a very, very exclusive university, considered the best school in Japan and one of the top 20 in the world. He has a Mandarin background and is already teaching himself Japanese, again, very self motivated to learn… But I still can’t help but worry about him not being prepared enough.<br>
I know there really is no way to ensure your child gets into any college, but how can I maximize his chances? I’m afraid it may already be too late, I know in Japan most families enroll their children in the best of the best schools as early as age 2!
When we homeschooled him we would mostly be using asian textbooks, the Singapore math series, NEM, etc. Can you recommend some textbooks to help him prepare, including textbooks for learning Japanese? And how important are sports at Todai? My son plays on the top soccer team and has won some significant competitions, but other than that my son hasn’t done much outside learning on his own; Which is another thing I’m worried about, do Japanese schools see homeschooling as legitimate school? If I recall correctly for international students one of the requirements was “12 years of school” or something like that.
I know this is all a bit confusing and ranty, but my son is set on studying abroad and wants to apply for Todai when the time comes. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.</p>

2

<p>Okay, just for the sake of openness here, I work at Tsukuba University, one of the top 10 in Japan. </p>

<p>The Japanese government has recently started a new program called Global 30 aimed at the internationalization of the universities. We, along with Todai and several others were selected for this program. It allows students from overseas to enrol in Japanese Universities and study in English. Of course, we also teach them Japanese. I can’t speak for other universities, of course, but we are planning to move entirely towards English over the next 10 years or so. This largely stems from the desires of the business community who want English speaking staff. You can find out about our program at [College</a> degrees taught in English in Japan | University of Tsukuba](<a href=“http://www.global.tsukuba.ac.jp%5DCollege”>http://www.global.tsukuba.ac.jp) </p>

<p>Now, my understanding is that Todai won’t take their internationalization as far as we do, but my point is that it’s unclear which language he’d be entering with. Presently it would be Japanese. His Japanese will need to be near-native levels, probably he would need to pass JLPT level 1, and then take the EJU. If he can do both of those, Todai should accept him. It’s not impossible, but he’ll be competing with native speakers for a place. Tough.</p>

3

<p>There is a quota for international students, even for those not under the Global 30 program. However, he will have to compete with students from China and Korea who have been working towards Todai since their junior high days. </p>

<p>Another way is to apply for the Monbusho scholarship.</p>