If you want to study at Waseda...

...please don't send me e-mail!

Waseda is a big university, with many different schools that operate fairly independently. I used to teach at the School of Law, and I now teach at the School of International Liberal Studies, but I don't know about other schools at Waseda at all. I can't advise people who want to study theater or history, for example, at Waseda.

However, I can give some general advice and links to information available on Waseda's web site.

• First, and most important, there is no way to "apply to Waseda". Students apply to and enter a particular school or program within the university.

• Next, you need to consider your language ability. Most classes taught at Waseda are taught in Japanese, so to enter most of the schools and programs listed here, you will need the ability to speak, read, and write in Japanese. Having said that, most schools have special entrance procedures for foreign students.
A very good source information is
• the web page of the Center for International Education which helps foreign students who want to study at Waseda and Waseda students who want to study abroad. Their page has a lot of useful information, including a list of schools which conduct their own entrance exams for foreign students. (They are listed on the right edge of the page--click on a school for links to information in English.)
• You might also want to check out the English version of the Waseda bulletin, which you can download from here, to find out more about the various schools of Waseda. Then go directly to the page of the school you are interested in for more information.
• It is possible to study at Waseda with little or no Japanese ability in one of the programs taught in English.
  • The new School of International Liberal Studies (SILS), offers a four year undergraduate degree taught mainly in English (although students are also expected to study Japanese, of course.)
  • It's also possible to study for just one year at SILS as an exchange student. See the CIE webpage for details..
  • At least two graduate programs also offer some classes taught in English, but I think that Japanese language ability is also required. You can check the web sites for details:
    • Graduate School of Global Information and Telecommunication Studies
    • Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies

• Japanese language study at Waseda: The Intensive Japanese Language Program is for foreigners planning to major in Japanese studies or Japanese language teaching. ( It's not a prep program for people planning to study at a Japanese university--you must be enrolled somewhere in a BA program or already have received a BA degree in order to apply.) Please look at their web pages for more information. Å

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