Japanese Major & Incoming Freshman

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Hi, new to SDN, and lookin for advice. Hope to be a VERY long-time poster. (Hopefully not to the addiction stage though)

This has been on my mind for a bit. For the Fall 2007 semester I am going to be a Japanese major at Michigan State University. The thing is that whenever I tell people this they're like WHAT? (especially since I'm a black male)I haven't gotten a good reaction from that many people except maybe my friends. A lot feel that I am wasting my time and money majoring in this even though I have explained to them (from what I have read on here at least) that your major doesn't really matter when you apply to med-school.

So I was wondering what do you think about this? Should I change my major? I feel college is probably my only chance in my life where I can study anything that I want and this is what interests me most at the moment so I decided to major in it.

Do you think that adcoms at med-school will consider it kind of a joke that I majored in Japanese? Would this increase or decrease my chances for admission at top med schools? How well do foreign language majors do in regards to med school admission? Do you think that they will consider it an easy way to get a high gpa because some may feel that anyone can get a 4.0 in a language major or will they realize it for its difficulty as Japanese is widely considered one of the hardest if not the hardest language in the world for a native English speaker to learn?

Some people are also worried about what my exit opportunities will be if I don't get into med-school. While I know pretty much every exit opp. for a Japanese major and most involve teaching or sometimes business, none of them make a lot of money and for business you can usually only make money if you graduate from a very prestigious school. Though I think it would a lot of fun to teach English in Japan it isn't a career that you could do for the rest of your life, or raise a family on, or with great benefits as a teacher in the U.S gets, especially teaching as a foreigner.

So what do you think? Your input would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.

Originally Posted by Kenshinsan

Hi, new to SDN, and lookin for advice. Hope to be a VERY long-time poster. (Hopefully not to the addiction stage though)

This has been on my mind for a bit. For the Fall 2007 semester I am going to be a Japanese major at Michigan State University. The thing is that whenever I tell people this they're like WHAT? (especially since I'm a black male)I haven't gotten a good reaction from that many people except maybe my friends. A lot feel that I am wasting my time and money majoring in this even though I have explained to them (from what I have read on here at least) that your major doesn't really matter when you apply to med-school.

So I was wondering what do you think about this? Should I change my major? I feel college is probably my only chance in my life where I can study anything that I want and this is what interests me most at the moment so I decided to major in it.

Do you think that adcoms at med-school will consider it kind of a joke that I majored in Japanese? Would this increase or decrease my chances for admission at top med schools? How well do foreign language majors do in regards to med school admission? Do you think that they will consider it an easy way to get a high gpa because some may feel that anyone can get a 4.0 in a language major or will they realize it for its difficulty as Japanese is widely considered one of the hardest if not the hardest language in the world for a native English speaker to learn?

Some people are also worried about what my exit opportunities will be if I don't get into med-school. While I know pretty much every exit opp. for a Japanese major and most involve teaching or sometimes business, none of them make a lot of money and for business you can usually only make money if you graduate from a very prestigious school. Though I think it would a lot of fun to teach English in Japan it isn't a career that you could do for the rest of your life, or raise a family on, or with great benefits as a teacher in the U.S gets, especially teaching as a foreigner.

So what do you think? Your input would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.

If you are just starting undergrad in the fall, I'd say this: SLOW DOWN! There is no need to declare a major until sophomore year. If you're interested in Japanese, that's fine, but I would suggest taking a wide range of classes your first year. You never know, you could find something else you want to pursue instead of or along with Japanese. Don't tie yourself down so quickly.

That being said, as long as you fulfill the science requirements (2 semesters each of bio, physics, organic chem, non-organic chem, etc.), it doesn't matter what you major in.

Originally Posted by Kenshinsan

Hi, new to SDN, and lookin for advice. Hope to be a VERY long-time poster. (Hopefully not to the addiction stage though)

This has been on my mind for a bit. For the Fall 2007 semester I am going to be a Japanese major at Michigan State University. The thing is that whenever I tell people this they're like WHAT? (especially since I'm a black male)I haven't gotten a good reaction from that many people except maybe my friends. A lot feel that I am wasting my time and money majoring in this even though I have explained to them (from what I have read on here at least) that your major doesn't really matter when you apply to med-school.

So I was wondering what do you think about this? Should I change my major? I feel college is probably my only chance in my life where I can study anything that I want and this is what interests me most at the moment so I decided to major in it.

Do you think that adcoms at med-school will consider it kind of a joke that I majored in Japanese? Would this increase or decrease my chances for admission at top med schools? How well do foreign language majors do in regards to med school admission? Do you think that they will consider it an easy way to get a high gpa because some may feel that anyone can get a 4.0 in a language major or will they realize it for its difficulty as Japanese is widely considered one of the hardest if not the hardest language in the world for a native English speaker to learn?

Some people are also worried about what my exit opportunities will be if I don't get into med-school. While I know pretty much every exit opp. for a Japanese major and most involve teaching or sometimes business, none of them make a lot of money and for business you can usually only make money if you graduate from a very prestigious school. Though I think it would a lot of fun to teach English in Japan it isn't a career that you could do for the rest of your life, or raise a family on, or with great benefits as a teacher in the U.S gets, especially teaching as a foreigner.

So what do you think? Your input would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.

if are truly commited to applying to med school it doesnt matter what you major in because you will have inherently have motivation to do well in college and get good grades.

secondly, colleges wont consider your major and joke and if you dont plan to use japanese when you grow up, major in another language.

I majored in Japanese....my major GPA was like 3.95. My cumulative...ahhh...not so hot. Let's just say, if not for switching from Econ to Japanese, I wouldn't even be thinking about med.

PM me if you wanna chat. I did study abroad in Japan, too. And yes, there WERE black students in my program.

I majored in Biochem and Japanese and it wasn't a big deal. I also studied abroad in Japan and have been accepted to 2 Allopathic schools.

So I think it would be fine if you majored in Japanese. As sad as it is, I think my Japanese classes actually brought down my GPA. I didn't take them as seriously as my other classes.

Good luck with your decision. And as the other poster said, you don't have to choose now. I didn't decide on double majoring until my junior year. Just take some Japanese classes first and see how you like it.

Originally Posted by gandychan

I majored in Biochem and Japanese and it wasn't a big deal. I also studied abroad in Japan and have been accepted to 2 Allopathic schools.

Which school/program did you do your study abroad with?

Tokyo International University

Originally Posted by gandychan

Tokyo International University

Oh, ok. I went to Sophia (Jochi Daigaku). Hence the screenname.

Whoa, thanks for the advice. I guess its not as weird as some people think. Maybe its just that they see a 6'4" black male, and I say I'm majoring in Japanese, and thats why they're like what? And Jochi, how was your study abroad experience, and how has it been in applying to med-schools as a japanese major. Do you recommend it.

I minored in Japanese....and I had a harder time with Japanese classes than I did with my science classes.....so def wouldn't say that taking a language major is the easy way out to getting a good GPA.

Originally Posted by jochi1543

Oh, ok. I went to Sophia (Jochi Daigaku). Hence the screenname.

Whoa, thats cool. I went to Jochi Daigaku too! I then transferred to a university in the states. I'm assuming u did EAP. What year were u there???

Originally Posted by Kenshinsan

Japanese is widely considered one of the hardest if not the hardest language in the world for a native English speaker to learn?

who lied to you there?
ive studied both mandarin and japanese and mandarin was alot harder. I would say cantonese would be the hardest language for a native english speaker to learn. oh... supposedly finnish is hard too. regardless. i think a foreign language isnt a bad thing.　がんばって

Originally Posted by medking

Whoa, thats cool. I went to Jochi Daigaku too! I then transferred to a university in the states. I'm assuming u did EAP. What year were u there???

Woah!

LOL, that's funny. Small world! Wanna hear an even creepier story? There was a girl there who I kind of talked to, but didn't feel like we were close enough to stay in touch afterwards. She went to school in New Orleans. Then I come back to campus....at my Minnesota school....and all of sudden I see her walking down the corridor at one of the buildings! I was like, OMG! She said their school was flooded during Katrina, and my school was one of the very few that would allow students affected by Katrina to attend the school for a semester or more without having to pay extra tuition (while other schools required them to pay their tuition, which was often double the tuition at the students' home school). That was the most random thing ever - we meet in Tokyo, she's from NOLA, I'm from MN, and then she ends up at my school because of a hurricane!



To answer your question, I was at Jochi (woah, that sounds weird ) in the spring of 2005. What's EAP? I'm not sure what you mean. It was just study abroad for me, spring of junior year.

Originally Posted by hondapride

who lied to you there?
ive studied both mandarin and japanese and mandarin was alot harder. I would say cantonese would be the hardest language for a native english speaker to learn. oh... supposedly finnish is hard too. regardless. i think a foreign language isnt a bad thing.　がんばって

Chinese, Arabic, and Japanese are actually rated in the same difficulty category by US Foreign Service (highest category, obviously ).

I've heard different things...you say Japanese is easier, but I know someone who studied Japanese and Mandarin and thought Japanese was harder. I've only taken Japanese though, when it comes to Asian languages (I speak 4 European, some better than others).

Originally Posted by jochi1543

Chinese, Arabic, and Japanese are actually rated in the same difficulty category by US Foreign Service (highest category, obviously ).

I've heard different things...you say Japanese is easier, but I know someone who studied Japanese and Mandarin and thought Japanese was harder. I've only taken Japanese though, when it comes to Asian languages (I speak 4 European, some better than others).

haha well your friend is the only one ive ever heard of with that opinion . i suppose the higher level japanese grammer could be challenging. i could see that. but ill put money that cantonese is harder. i was able to learn japanese. i was able to learn mandarin. but i cant learn cantonese :-(.

Originally Posted by hondapride

haha well your friend is the only one ive ever heard of with that opinion . i suppose the higher level japanese grammer could be challenging. i could see that. but ill put money that cantonese is harder. i was able to learn japanese. i was able to learn mandarin. but i cant learn cantonese :-(.

I'd just have a hard time memorizing that many kanji (whatever they are called in Chinese, probably a different word). Japanese is a little easier that way, with the hiragana and katakana.

I think one thing that all these languages have in common is the great abundance of various regional dialects. I've heard many times that a person who learned standard Arabic will often not understand a single world when he's out on the street somewhere in Iraq or Saudi Arabia - this coming from people who have it for a native language. Same with Japanese - the language varies so much throughout a very small territory. We'd watch TV programs from Osaka in class and it was like an entirely foreign language.

In the meantime, your Spanish, for example, would be nearly identical in Latin America and in Spain, for example - the accent's a little different and there are some regional words, but you'll get around perfectly fine.

it will not be looked down upon. If anything it'll be a little more interesting than a typical microbio major (no offense =P ). You'll still be taking the same pre-reqs and the same standardized test, so if it is indeed the easy way out, those are the great equalizers and it will show. Regardless, if that's what you want to do then do it. Also consider a double major if you want to/think it's feasible. From my understanding it's generally not too difficult to double major in a language and something else. Make sure that you do enough research on the subject though, make sure that your school plans give you a little wiggle room should you decide it's not what you want to do.

Originally Posted by jochi1543

I'd just have a hard time memorizing that many kanji (whatever they are called in Chinese, probably a different word). Japanese is a little easier that way, with the hiragana and katakana.

I think one thing that all these languages have in common is the great abundance of various regional dialects. I've heard many times that a person who learned standard Arabic will often not understand a single world when he's out on the street somewhere in Iraq or Saudi Arabia - this coming from people who have it for a native language. Same with Japanese - the language varies so much throughout a very small territory. We'd watch TV programs from Osaka in class and it was like an entirely foreign language.

In the meantime, your Spanish, for example, would be nearly identical in Latin America and in Spain, for example - the accent's a little different and there are some regional words, but you'll get around perfectly fine.

i lived with some people from osaka for a while and there is def a difference, though i didnt think it was too bad most of the time. its very likely just the program you are watching . i know for alot of tv shows in japan, the funny character always speaks the kansai dialect, so i think native speakers can understand if for the most part.
what i thought was really bad in japanese was just the difference in how people of different ages speak.

oh and just so OP knows. to reaffirm what someone said earlier. the hardest classes i have taken are foreign languages. most classes you get work, but you have days where you dont have to study. foreign languages dont work like that and for the first few semesters of it, there is nothing to BS.

Thanks, I was hoping for these responses. How have you guys fared in applying to medical schools. Has getting high scores on the MCAT seemed harder than if you might of been a science major. And since your a language major would you need a sort of higher than average MCAT score to kind of balance out you not being a science major and to prove that you are competent in the sciences.

How in general do foreign language majors fare in the application process.

Hey,
I haven't gone through the process yet, applying this summer. I did well on the MCAT - 32T. The one that shocked me was the 12 in PS, considering I SUCK at physics (I realy struggled to get a B+ in it). And I took the MCAT w/o half the pre-reqs (no Orgo II, no Gen Chem II). I studied my ass off, though.

If you look at the stats on the AAMC website (aamc.org/mcat), us humanities majors tend to do just as well on the MCAT as the science majors - we generally score a bit higher on VR and WS, and slightly lower on BS and PS, which yields pretty much the same result.

As far as "balancing out," I think the only time you need your MCAT to balance anything out is if you didn't do very well in your science classes - got Bs, for example. If you had a B in 2 bio classes and then score a 13 on BS, it overshadows those Bs a little bit, though there's no such thing as so many MCAT points compensating for so many GPA points - it's subjective.

As far as how we do in the app process, I'm gonna echo one of the earlier posters who said it helps us stand out.

As far as scientific research, don't worry - while research is beneficial at many schools, and pretty much required at others (think top 5), they take non-science research, too. If you take a good # of science classes, establish rapport with the profs, and get your foot in the door for science research, by all means, go for it - but if you don't, don't worry, you can get your research credits in Asian Studies/Japanese.

How hard is it generally to get a scientific research opportunity if you're not a science major. And are research positions hard to get, it seems like something that they would only give to the top student in the class or something. Can you please enlighten me on this.

Generally, you need above a 3.5 to be seriously considered for good research projects, and at my uni here some of the more competitive appointments discourage those with below 3.7 from applying.


But it's also very important to know the prof well and to shine in his or her classes. If s/he knows you well and knows you work hard, you will most likely get ahead of a science major with a higher GPA. One way to make yourself more competitive is obviously to volunteer in the prof's lab.


The beauty of non-science research, though, is that you can do most of it without supervision, because expensive lab equipment is rarely required and you are not dealing with hazardous substances (hopefully ).

How long should you be doing research for. Is it generally like an all year thing or only durnig the summer thing.

And thanks. Its great to share all this information with you guys. Around where I live the only people that I know that are trying to become doctors are me and my best friend who is a korean girl, out of my graduating class that is composed of prolly 200 ppl. I generally don't have a lot of people around me that I can ask these questions of. Its kinda sad in fact, that out of all the ppl I know and expecially of all the black males I know, I'm the only one considering this field.

Originally Posted by Kenshinsan

How long should you be doing research for. Is it generally like an all year thing or only durnig the summer thing.

And thanks. Its great to share all this information with you guys. Around where I live the only people that I know that are trying to become doctors are me and my best friend who is a korean girl, out of my graduating class that is composed of prolly 200 ppl. I generally don't have a lot of people around me that I can ask these questions of. Its kinda sad in fact, that out of all the ppl I know and expecially of all the black males I know, I'm the only one considering this field.

FYI, there's a support thread here for black male premeds - I think it's like a page or two back. The title is "any black male premeds here?" or smth very close.

WOW, thanks didn't know that. I'll check it out.