Lakeland College Japan campus

I've been researching a bunch of colleges to go to in Japan and the best one I found so far is Lakeland College. Does anybody go there already or know anything about this college?

What are your requirements?
My impression is that students there are not fluent English speakers, so if you are it may be frustrating. From what I understand the highest level of English will be found in Sophia. Waseda has a bigger range of courses than Sophia, though I've spoken to students frustrated with the level of English of classmates. Temple also has a good reputation, though I don't know much about the English level of students, probably quite high.

English is my native language, so the level of English spoken at the school isn't a problem.

Does anybody go there already or know anything about this college?

As you are probably aware, they provide a 2 year associates degree so you'll have to transfer somewhere else to finish your bachelors especially if you intend to stay in Japan long term.

I understand. I know it's a two year school. I was going to go to another school, so I could stay longer, but since this is my first time to Japan I didn't want to make any long term commitments, in case anything doesn't work out.

I assumed you (OP) had native level of English. It depends on what your goals are. Some people find being in a class with much higher language proficiency than most classmates is frustrating. Your classmates are likely to have much lower English proficiency than you. Whether or not this a problem is a different matter.

I don't think that would be too much of a problem. I'm currently learning Japanese right now as well, so I can communicate with other Japanese people and do a language exchange.

Never underestimate the importance of language ability - specifically at university level.

As a past university student myself, I can attest that you will need to be able to speak with your peers on the content through both tutorials and group assessments. You may feel that you will be able to talk to your fellow students in Japanese, but you will need to talk about what you are learning on an academic level. This is something which most students will not have.

It's hard enough to learn academic language for first language students, let alone students who have English as your second language.

Also don't forget that an inability to keep deeply about a certain topic in the language of instruction can impede your ability as a student in the future.

I'm not scare mongering, but talking through both personal and professional experience. That being said, I cannot comment specifically on the universities you have mentioned....

My bf is an alumni--originally from the Japan campus, but he went to study in the US campus. I also met his kouhai who didn't go on an exchange. I wouldn't say the Japan campus students are fluent in English, but they can get around, I guess.

I wouldn't say the Japan campus students are fluent in English, but they can get around, I guess.

I find that a little worrisome, considering the level of discourse in college classes is as dependent on the quality of the student body as is the quality of the staff. Just know what you are getting into as it sounds like the school is more aimed at giving esl students an opportunity to study in the US rather than the other way around.

Perhaps, a lot of practice goes into it and being in Japan might not have provided much opportunities. Well, nothing's stopping the students from speaking Japanese again after classes.

Anyway, from what my BF told me, all classes are in English and you need to get at least a 550 score on TOEFL to enter.

Sorry, that wasn't meant to be a knock on your boyfriend or his friend. Being Japanese and going to an all English school is actually quite an accomplishment. However, from teaching similar classes, I feel that a native speaker may feel hamstrung by a classroom environment that is not quite up to native speaker levels.

No biggie. Can't say much about the Japan campus because that's not where he spent most of his college life anyway.

Yeah, I see what you mean now. I guess it would be kinda hard if I wasn't able to communicate with the other students that well.