Summer program with great potential, but very stressful with too much work Past Review
By Anonymous Reviewer (Texas A&M University–Central Texas) - abroad from 06/01/2018 to 08/08/2018 with
CET Japan
I'm glad I went, I met some amazing people and got to experience Japan first hand. There's nothing else like it.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | None |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
Extremely rigorous due to amount of daily coursework, four hours of class followed by four hours of homework which often took five hours. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Staff was very unsupportive of student issues. They would listen to students and assure them things would be done, but nothing ever was. That or students were just told that was the way things were about certain issues. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I had a great housing experience, but my house was the exception rather than the norm. |
| * Food: |
Food was great, and school had an on sight cafeteria and restaurants in the city. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
I loved the area and the people, but a good amount of time was spent doing classwork and not interacting and integrating with the culture. Basically I could only do that on weekends. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
Health care was a wreck in the program, if students missed time for any medical reason it was hard to get class time excused, and teachers and staff were unsympathetic. |
| * Safety: |
I felt very safe in Osaka, but there was an incident were a student was sexually harassed and staff failed to inform the other students about it. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
Students were often overwhelmed by classes and schoolwork and teachers and staff were unsympathetic and unwilling to change the program in any way. Medical issues were not handled well, and students spend more time doing schoolwork than experiencing Japan. |
Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | 50 |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
During the summer we were required to only speak Japanese at all times. |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Intermediate |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Intermediate |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | Three years of Japanese. |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? | 10+ |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? |
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Classes are four hours a day followed by around five hours of homework |
Reasons For Studying Abroad
| To help future students find programs attended by like-minded individuals, please choose the profile that most closely represents you. |
The Academic or LinguistYou went abroad with specific academic goals in mind; the program credentials and rigor of your coursework abroad were very important to you. You had a great time abroad, but never lost sight of your studies and (if applicable) were diligent with your foreign language study. Good for you! |
