Academic Differences

    Studying at a foreign university for a semester will make for an exciting adventure for me, I am sure. After all, it will afford me the opportunity, as a well-insulated college student, to enjoy what will quite possibly prove to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel Japan without pressing government or corporate business matters e'er on my mind, while also extending to me a most welcome chance to meet any number of beautiful, liberal people. Who knows! By my adventure outside my parents' sphere and beyond the attentions of Uncle Sam's e'er watchful eye, I might even come to be able to define bliss and attain enlightenment, all the while further heightening my cultural knowledge and general acumen of all things Japan. Be that as it may, no matter how blissful my upcoming trip abroad proves to be, I will have to return home eventually. And, with that return home, it is important to know just how my final grades will be computed and how they will transfer to my home institution, Maryville College! (GO, SCOTS!)

Library at Akita International University

    Being e'er mindful of the importance of my Maryville College GPA, given that I have to maintain a 3.0 in order to be admitted to Middlebury College for graduate study and, more immediately, must maintain a 3.0 in order to receive the full blessing of my MC Merit Scholarship, you had better believe that one of the first places I investigated about my target college for study abroad, Akita International University, was how their school went about computing their grades! Be it a boss or be it a professor, I want to know clearly and upfront exactly what my social superior expects of me and my product!      
    What I discovered by way of my research of AIU's official website, then, was quite heartening to me, indeed: Given that they are an "international liberal arts college," taking their model closely from that of fine American liberal arts colleges, like our own, their grading scale is completely comparable to that of ours. In fact, you might very well find the following grading scale (that I took from their site) strikingly familiar:

Grade (Definitions)	Score	Grade Points
A+	100	4.00
A (Excellent)	95 – 99	4.00
A-	90 – 94	3.70
B+	87 – 89	3.30
B (Good)	83 – 86	3.00
B-	80 – 82	2.70
C+	77 – 79	2.30
C (Satisfactory)	73 – 76	2.00
C-	70 – 72	1.70
D+	66 – 69	1.30
D (Poor)	60 – 65	1.00
F (Failure)	59 or lower	0.00

    
    Naturally, just as is the case here at home, AIU's professors enjoy the privilege of allotting varying degrees of importance to the various aspects of their students' curricula. For instance, after checking into the course grading criteria that were listed for a few of the classes that I intend to take, I was "floored" by this precious discovery: Class attendance/participation: 40%! Wow! I will get 40% credit for just showing up with a pulse and a hand up! How awesome is that! I can't recall having ever had been given more than 15% credit for class attendance/participation for a class here in America!
    After I saw that, I recalled a conversation that I once shared with my ex wife who had herself graduated from a college in Japan that is largely considered to be one of Japan's top national universities:

Me: So, it must have been hard studying at such a great school, huh?

Ex-wife: No. Not really. To be honest, I don't really even recall much of what I did while in college, save my social dance classes and various part-time jobs, like the one I had at Disney.

Me: What! Are you serious? I thought that college was supposed to be challenging, especially a school like yours!

Ex-wife: No. Not especially. Now, don't misunderstand me. Studying for the entrance exam to get in was immensely stressful, probably the most stressful time of my life, but, once you get in, it's easy. It's more about extra curricular activities, etc. I just wanted to graduate and get on to working, which was what I really wanted to do.

Me: (still nonplussed) So, college is a joke in Japan? I mean, you don't really have to do much by way of formulating and defending your opinions, writing papers on your observations, giving speeches, etc.?

Ex-wife: No, not really. Well, there are a few exceptions. For instance, if you are on law, medicine, or engineering tracks, you will still have to study very hard in college. To be honest, when I decided to go back to school to attend the Monterey Institute of International Studies for my course in conference interpretation, it was a real wake-up call for me. It was the hardest I had ever worked while in college!

   In summation, then, at least in my case, I will neither have any need of worrying about any significant challenges (that might arise for some who study abroad) stemming from academic differences nor will I any challenges regarding incongruous grading scales at my foreign institution of choice. In fact, it might even prove to be easier for me! That being said, unlike my ex-wife's college, mine will be a Japanese "international liberal arts college" staffed heavily by well-educated and highly-qualified scholars from America, Britain and Australia, so I'm sure that my experience will prove to be more challenging than that encountered by most who elect to study in Japan! Oh, by the way, did I tell you that Dr. Gallagher, my adviser and sage-of-the-highest-order, is going to have me conduct some of my senior thesis research while abroad in Japan! (gasp, pant, wheeze) Yes, be the classes just as challenging as our own or be they more "relaxed," affording the student, me, with more opportunities to engage beautiful people and to explore the area, I will, most assuredly, have my hands full, one way or another, during the whole of my time in the Land of the Rising Sun!


"Knowledge is never too dear."
--Sir Francis Walsingham

BANZAI!