i havent graduated college, do i have a chance?

[Spencer]

Spencer

It's not on the linked page though you have to rummage through the blog a bit for it. There's a list of articles on the side and I think it's in a section about life in Japan / life on JET. I'd link it here but it's too fiddly on my phone.

Check the FAQ as well! Thats my favourite part.

Wow.... I essentially LOL'd all the way through the FAQ's
This girl....is....uhm.... unique....
She seems like she thinks she knows everything there is to know about Japan.Interview questions
name three people influencial Americans. Response:

And…lastly, going along with this whole ‘Obama elected President thing,’ Martin Luther King, Jr.

[AVN]

Greetings all! I don't make many posts here but I have to agree 103.14% with MerkyPie on this one.

I, like many, did NOT go to Japan, did NOT study Japanese, does NOT speak any Japanese...and got an interview.
In all fairness, I do think that having some abroad experience could be useful but that doesn't mean that it's automatic bonus points for JET. How so? Easy. Look at many of those who did not make the interview round who have a PLETHORA of aboard experience in Japan and with the language. They simply did not show how they would use those skills/experience into being an effective ALT or CIR.
As a wise human once said, just because it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, does not mean it's a duck.
Just because you have traveled to the country and experienced it's culture, does not mean you can successfully teach it. Plus, we're not applying to teach Japanese students about Japanese culture, we're going as ambassadors of our home countries.

Not to sound harsh, but maybe that's where reading things carefully comes in - eg. 'may' and 'stronger'. International travel does make your application stronger, simply because it means you've been exposed to more cultures and can presumably teach a little about them. International community experience also makes your application stronger. Both make it even stronger still.
We/you are (usually) applying for an English teaching job after all.

I strongly disagree with this statement. International travel does not automatically make you a teaching god of culture. International travel MAY just simply mean that you'll be able to upgrade to first class on your next flight because your Advantage miles.
Also, you even said it, we are applying for English teaching jobs. So...why would our international travels help us become better English teachers. It's a condescension on those who have not made travels across the globe.

I think it really matters on your passion and the passion you want to put into the JET Program as a cultural ambassador to YOUR home country. Someone who may have traveled and lived in Japan for 2 years and experience their culture may in fact have LESS of a chance of someone who worked in their community, was a tutor, and overcame difficult home obstacles.

As Meryl Streep in the Devil Wears Prada would say..."That's all."


PS: This is no way to seem conclusive and absolutely correct but it's simply my opinion on the topic mentioned.

I think the point many of us are trying to make is that experience abroad can be a plus for some people. For example If you have lower grades or no teaching experience but you have some experience abroad, either in Japan or another country, it could help you out. If you have other skills or experiences that would be good for JET you have just as much chance as someone who has been abroad it's true but that doesn't mean they don't take it into account.

Basically having experience abroad can't be a bad thing. It's not a guarantee but neither are good grades, language ability, teaching experience or even knowledge/passion for your own country.

If you didn't learn anything or get anything out of your time abroad then sure it won't matter on the application but if you learned things or can use that experience in a positive way of course that's a good thing.

Nothing guarantees anything with JET it's all about the entire package you present and how you present it.

I'm pretty sure that living as a teacher in Japan really helped me get in. That doesn't mean you need it. It just means I think it was one of the things that put me over the top and allowed me to be shortlisted. I have other qualities that helped, sure, but I know for a fact they took it into account. Otherwise why did we spend half of my interview talking about it? They asked me a ton of questions about how I could use my time in Japan/France on the JET programme.
I think my answers to those questions about how I could use my experience for the benefit of JET contributed to me getting in. If I had had different answers it might not have.

I know lots of people who get in without experience in Japan but they usually (some I can't understand how they got in) have other obvious skills/traits that make them great JETs.

It's about a combination of skills and traits you have that will benefit your CO and the programme.

I guess in conclusion International Experience CAN be part of a successful JET applicantion.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Not to sound harsh, but maybe that's where reading things carefully comes in - eg. 'may' and 'stronger'. International travel does make your application stronger, simply because it means you've been exposed to more cultures and can presumably teach a little about them. International community experience also makes your application stronger. Both make it even stronger still.
We/you are (usually) applying for an English teaching job after all.

I strongly disagree with this statement. International travel does not automatically make you a teaching god of culture. International travel MAY just simply mean that you'll be able to upgrade to first class on your next flight because your Advantage miles.
Also, you even said it, we are applying for English teaching jobs. So...why would our international travels help us become better English teachers. It's a condescension on those who have not made travels across the globe.

I think it really matters on your passion and the passion you want to put into the JET Program as a cultural ambassador to YOUR home country. Someone who may have traveled and lived in Japan for 2 years and experience their culture may in fact have LESS of a chance of someone who worked in their community, was a tutor, and overcame difficult home obstacles.

As Meryl Streep in the Devil Wears Prada would say..."That's all."


PS: This is no way to seem conclusive and absolutely correct but it's simply my opinion on the topic mentioned.

Very true, international experience does not make you a reductio ad absurdum...I mean teaching God of culture, and may very well mean you've just been lucky enough to travel lots/a bit. It's not a condescension to those who haven't been so lucky at all, merely a listing of a possible contributory factor to getting an interview/position. Hence why they have the section on the application form for you to list your previous travels. It's not the be-all and end-all, it's not a must-have, but it helps. That's all it does, but it does help.
I know this because I'm not an Aspiring JET, I'm a current JET, and amongst the many questions I got asked during the interview was about how I thought my reasonable amount of international travel would influence/help me do my job as an ALT. I also got asked about how my background in Philosophy and Cultural Studies/TESOL would impact upon it, about how my being trained as a bartender would impact on it, how my raising alpacas in Tasmania would impact on it, and a whole heap of other questions about a whole heap of various topics. Somehow or other it all added up to me getting the job. Coincidentally, I'd never been to Japan before JET, but I had been lucky enough to head to parts of Europe once or twice, a few South-East Asian countries, the UAE, and Brazil.
To anyone still reading this without any travel experience, don't worry - you don't need it to get the job, just like you don't need to know Japanese to get the job, but if you play it right it does help. What ultimately makes or breaks you is the overall package of you as a job candidate and how you sell yourself, coupled with a certain amount of luck.

[Namisuke]

@Namisuke: I agree you aren't going to find yourself in Japan, but I will say you will certainly learn a lot about yourself throughout the experience.

Totally. I was refering more to my personal distaste for that cliche.

[tokyogamer]

I know this is a little old and this is my first time posting here. I apologize if I'm making a faux pas by doing this. This is all related to JET, I promise.

My parents raised me in a cult. You may have heard of them: Jehovah's Witnesses. Now, the JWs discourage all forms of higher education as it generally leads to smarter individuals who leave their cult. Hence, I never pursued a degree because my parents kept telling me the world was going to end once Armageddon was upon us. It was always a "it could come today!" sort of thing. It's really sad that I ever believed any of that. I finally left the cult on my own volition when I was 25. It was the most difficult thing I've ever done.

I'm 33 now. I was working in the Game Industry as a Lead Designer for 6 of those years. In November of 2011, I was let go from my job after the console/handheld studio was bought out by a freemium social/mobile developer. I've been unable to find work and someone recently mentioned the JET program. Now, I went to college, but it was for Information Technology and I did not graduate as I was able to get a job at Microsoft working on the first Halo game for the Xbox. In my years, I've been paid especially well for someone who doesn't have a Bachelor's Degree, because I excel at what I do. Now, it'd be pretty silly for me to go to college nearly in my mid-30s. I wouldn't graduate until I was 37. Yeah, 37. I don't think they'd even accept me at that age. Even if I had a degree, they might not even consider me now. I'm not old, but to some of you I may very well appear that way.

When I found out about JET this week, I thought that maybe I'd get a second chance at work and I'd be able to do something with a much lower level of stress and be able to sorta reboot my life by helping others in Japan. Anyway, I don't really know why I'm posting this. It's been a rough series of months... From what I've gathered in the previous posts a degree is required for a work visa in Japan.

Have any of you heard of any exceptions to this or is there some other way to obtain a work visa for Japan to be eligible for JET (or related non-JET programs)? I'm going to keep exploring via Google and the site, but nothing's come up yet.

Thanks in advance!

[Siyris]

I know this is a little old and this is my first time posting here. I apologize if I'm making a faux pas by doing this. This is all related to JET, I promise.

My parents raised me in a cult. You may have heard of them: Jehovah's Witnesses. Now, the JWs discourage all forms of higher education as it generally leads to smarter individuals who leave their cult. Hence, I never pursued a degree because my parents kept telling me the world was going to end once Armageddon was upon us. It was always a "it could come today!" sort of thing. It's really sad that I ever believed any of that. I finally left the cult on my own volition when I was 25. It was the most difficult thing I've ever done.

I'm 33 now. I was working in the Game Industry as a Lead Designer for 6 of those years. In November of 2011, I was let go from my job after the console/handheld studio was bought out by a freemium social/mobile developer. I've been unable to find work and someone recently mentioned the JET program. Now, I went to college, but it was for Information Technology and I did not graduate as I was able to get a job at Microsoft working on the first Halo game for the Xbox. In my years, I've been paid especially well for someone who doesn't have a Bachelor's Degree, because I excel at what I do. Now, it'd be pretty silly for me to go to college nearly in my mid-30s. I wouldn't graduate until I was 37. Yeah, 37. I don't think they'd even accept me at that age. Even if I had a degree, they might not even consider me now. I'm not old, but to some of you I may very well appear that way.

When I found out about JET this week, I thought that maybe I'd get a second chance at work and I'd be able to do something with a much lower level of stress and be able to sorta reboot my life by helping others in Japan. Anyway, I don't really know why I'm posting this. It's been a rough series of months... From what I've gathered in the previous posts a degree is required for a work visa in Japan.

Have any of you heard of any exceptions to this or is there some other way to obtain a work visa for Japan to be eligible for JET (or related non-JET programs)? I'm going to keep exploring via Google and the site, but nothing's come up yet.

Thanks in advance!

Unfotunately, it is as you gathered from the other posts. JET requires a degree because by Japanese law, you are not permitted to work in a school enviornment without a minimum of a Bachelors Degree. I don't think that people on this forum will necessarily know if you are able to get a job in a different program without a degree but I think it is unlikely. If you do want to apply for teaching English overseas (Japan or other countries) I would say you should get a degree and do so. JET hires older applicants as well... they even recently changed the rules so there is no upper age limit anymore.
However.... If you'll excuse my relatively naive opinion -- by the time you graduated (36 or 37) I think it would serve you better for your future to find a long-term career sort of job, rather than what is essentially a glorified temp job. JET is wonderful for what it is, but it is not a career. The majority of people on the program (certainly not all!) are younger people still trying to build up resumes... 36/37 is still young, but at least if it were me, I think I would rather work on finding something that would be stable in the long term, rather than applying for a job that I knew going into it had a max of 5 years to it.

Whatever you decide, I hope you have good luck.

[tokyogamer]

Unfotunately, it is as you gathered from the other posts. JET requires a degree because by Japanese law, you are not permitted to work in a school enviornment without a minimum of a Bachelors Degree. I don't think that people on this forum will necessarily know if you are able to get a job in a different program without a degree but I think it is unlikely. If you do want to apply for teaching English overseas (Japan or other countries) I would say you should get a degree and do so. JET hires older applicants as well... they even recently changed the rules so there is no upper age limit anymore.
However.... If you'll excuse my relatively naive opinion -- by the time you graduated (36 or 37) I think it would serve you better for your future to find a long-term career sort of job, rather than what is essentially a glorified temp job. JET is wonderful for what it is, but it is not a career. The majority of people on the program (certainly not all!) are younger people still trying to build up resumes... 36/37 is still young, but at least if it were me, I think I would rather work on finding something that would be stable in the long term, rather than applying for a job that I knew going into it had a max of 5 years to it.

Whatever you decide, I hope you have good luck.

Thank you for your kind words. Regardless of what I do, if I decide to return to school it will be for a degree that will enhance my decade of experience in software development. I wish I was aware of this program earlier -- among other things in life. I'll keep looking at other options, but I'm certainly not holding my breath on it.

Thanks, Siyris. I wish you the best of luck in achieving your goals in JET.

[Spencer]

I know this is a little old and this is my first time posting here. I apologize if I'm making a faux pas by doing this. This is all related to JET, I promise.

My parents raised me in a cult. You may have heard of them: Jehovah's Witnesses. Now, the JWs discourage all forms of higher education as it generally leads to smarter individuals who leave their cult. Hence, I never pursued a degree because my parents kept telling me the world was going to end once Armageddon was upon us. It was always a "it could come today!" sort of thing. It's really sad that I ever believed any of that. I finally left the cult on my own volition when I was 25. It was the most difficult thing I've ever done.

Wow, As much as I know about the JW's, I didnt know that. As a tip, though, I think there is a study/ working program in some countries, more specifically I remember seeing one about Korea, when I was at their embassy with a Korean friend. I cannot remember the name, but I dont think it requires a degree. U may want to check with it. As another thing though, there are some universities overseas (in asia) that offer cheap tuition (same as non international students, which is about the same as Canada).
Just trying to help, as Ive briefly thought about some of these things... in the past.

[AVN]

Unfotunately, it is as you gathered from the other posts. JET requires a degree because by Japanese law, you are not permitted to work in a school enviornment without a minimum of a Bachelors Degree. I don't think that people on this forum will necessarily know if you are able to get a job in a different program without a degree but I think it is unlikely. If you do want to apply for teaching English overseas (Japan or other countries) I would say you should get a degree and do so. JET hires older applicants as well... they even recently changed the rules so there is no upper age limit anymore.
However.... If you'll excuse my relatively naive opinion -- by the time you graduated (36 or 37) I think it would serve you better for your future to find a long-term career sort of job, rather than what is essentially a glorified temp job. JET is wonderful for what it is, but it is not a career. The majority of people on the program (certainly not all!) are younger people still trying to build up resumes... 36/37 is still young, but at least if it were me, I think I would rather work on finding something that would be stable in the long term, rather than applying for a job that I knew going into it had a max of 5 years to it.

Whatever you decide, I hope you have good luck.

Thank you for your kind words. Regardless of what I do, if I decide to return to school it will be for a degree that will enhance my decade of experience in software development. I wish I was aware of this program earlier -- among other things in life. I'll keep looking at other options, but I'm certainly not holding my breath on it.

Thanks, Siyris. I wish you the best of luck in achieving your goals in JET.

There is no specification of what degree is required to get in other than a Bachelors. It could easily be in IT or something else related to your field.

[Gekishinken]

As others have stated...JET is mostly people fresh our of college (or recently fresh out) who are looking to get some resume padding and experience living abroad for a year while they are young. JET is not a career, it's shorter term contract employment that maxes out with AT MOST 5 years.

Regarding the college thing...colleges don't deny people based on age, and it isn't legal to do that either. If you think it's needed then go back. If you don't, then dont. It is possible your credits from before may still be valid though. I think they are valid for 10 or so years depending on the institution. My personal opinion is that if someone has the ability to go to college then they should. I remember seeing a figure that said something like "the average college grad will make $2.5 million more over their lifetime".

I mean just to put it in perspective from a financial standpoint. I have a friend from high school who didn't go to college and got married instead. Her husband didn't go to college either. $40,000~ (a reasonable salary for someone who has just graduated college) is what they both make combined.

I think you are too hung up on your age. I have an uncle who went back to college when he was 52!

Finally, as far as I know there is no exception for Japan and a work visa for Americans except marrying a Japanese national. Even then it would not allow you to do JET as JET requires a degree. The fact of the matter that in order to get a work visa for Japan you need a BA/BS. Perhaps Korea may be a better option. I remember reading something once that for a Korean visa you can have two Associates degrees count as one bachelors or something like that. I only read it in passing and have no clue what program it was for.

[merkypie]

I mean just to put it in perspective from a financial standpoint. I have a friend from high school who didn't go to college and got married instead. Her husband didn't go to college either. $40,000~ (a reasonable salary for someone who has just graduated college) is what they both make combined.

The man has been working in the video game industry for years as a graphic artist, I'm pretty sure salary is not an incentive for him as he has said himself.

In my years, I've been paid especially well for someone who doesn't have a Bachelor's Degree, because I excel at what I do.

He's a trade worker, a college degree isn't that needed if he has the skill set that exceeds that of a college graduate. Which, in his case, has worked out for him.

Finally, as far as I know there is no exception for Japan and a work visa for Americans except marrying a Japanese national. Even then it would not allow you to do JET as JET requires a degree. The fact of the matter that in order to get a work visa for Japan you need a BA/BS. Perhaps Korea may be a better option. I remember reading something once that for a Korean visa you can have two Associates degrees count as one bachelors or something like that. I only read it in passing and have no clue what program it was for.

Wrong. Seeing how he has at least 6 years experience in his field, he may be eligible for a trade visa. The only hurdle he would have to jump across would be obtaining Japanese proficiency, and even then sometimes it's not needed. I do not know the visa that his skill set falls under, but a lot of them require a degree or 6 - 10 years experience in that field. If he can score a job working for a design studio in Japan, then he's set. He has other avenues to get to Japan as a skilled worker.

And if this guy is head set on getting to Japan with a college degree, JET is not the only option. There are other English teaching companies out there that hire foreigners for long term, permanent, positions. JET is not the only ticket to Japan and JET should not be looked at as a ticket to Japan. Tired of people always using this JET or bust attitude here, as if it's the only way to get to Japan. JET is an exchange and teaching program, its not a trip or move to Japan. It's a short term government program. If people want to move and live in Japan then they need to be told the alternatives that will give them that flexibility, even if you don't personally like them, and directed to the right sources of information that can provide them with more in-depth info for the company.