Why I decided to study at American university

As you might be realized by this point, there are few international students from Japan comparing to the number of students from other countries like China, South Korea, and India. Not only at USC, but in most universities, Japanese students represent a small part of the entire international student community. Although there are a lot of Japanese university students chose to study abroad, the majority study in other countries for less than one year. In other words, it is not common to receive a degree outside Japan. In this post, I want to share why I decided to come here to study while most university students remain in Japan.

To be honest, I was not interested in studying abroad in America. After finishing an exchange program in Australia when I was in high school, I decided to go to university in Japan. The experience I had there was very meaningful and valuable, but at the same time, because I had struggled so much to accustom myself to the culture and lifestyle in Australia, I was afraid to go on another big adventure. Therefore, going to university in other countries was not in my option.

However, things did not work out the way I wanted. I could not get into universities I wanted to attend. It was not something I expected. After receiving the result, I could not focus on anything but to think why I did not get in. As times passed, I had to think what I am going to do the next. I could either wait a year to take a test again or study abroad. I did not like both options. Spending another year on a preparation for entrance examination was definitely something I wanted to do after having an extra year at high school because of the exchange program. Neither I wanted to study abroad again.

Eventually I decided to attend a small college in Massachusetts. Even though I could not fully give up going to university in Japan, I thought it is not a bad idea to aim top schools in the U.S.
I really enjoyed my past two years at previous college where I have met my life-long best friends. I am also happy that I was able to transfer to USC which was one of the top choice schools I have applied. Of course, it was not always easy for me to live here and being away from home and there is a time I want to go home so badly, but I have no regret about coming here to study and I am very lucky that I can do what I want to now.