Student Voices(Ms. Tanchanok Si-uchin)

Graduated from Saipanya School.
Studied in Tsuda Gakuen High School located in Kuwana City, Mie Prefecture, Japan for one year under a scholarship program in the middle of the first year of high school, and then studied in a high school in the United States under a scholarship program in the second year of high school.
Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT): N 2（2010 1st test）
Grade point average (GPA) in high school: 3.06（perfect score: 4.00）
Passed the entrance examination of Digital Content Discipline of Digital Communication Department of Digital Hollywood University and was enrolled in April 2014.
Used JASSO’s Reservation Program for Monbukagakusho Honors Scholarship for Privately Financed International Students who achieve a superior score on EJU (based on EJU allotments for students with high scores, 2013 1stsession) and acquired qualification for a scholarship amounting to 48,000 yen for four years (ordinary course term).

1. Selection of university, entrance examination and admission
(1) Why did you decide to study in Japan?
I went to Japan to study in Tsuda Gakuen High School by the American Field Service (AFS) for one year whilst I was at high school. While I was staying in Japan, I became interested in Japanese culture and society, and became charmed by the meticulous attention to detail and orderliness.
(2) What attracted you to study in Japan?
While studying in high school in Japan, I found that the teachers tried to teach us their own ideas not copied from someone or somewhere else, in order to draw the interest of students. Most students were engaged in various things including club activities other than lectures. I found they were creative.
(3)　How did you obtain the information with respect to the university you entered?
My friend working for an entertainment-related business introduced this university to me.
(4)　Did you think about going to other universities in Japan or Thailand? How did you gather information?
I obtained information about universities that had an entrance examination from JASSO Thailand Office. However, I did not collect information on admission to universities in Thailand because I had already passed the exam for Digital Hollywood University. If I had entered university in Thailand, I would have been interested in the Faculty of Art in Chulalongkorn University where one of my seniors was studying linguistics. In Japan, I was really interested in the faculty of literature in Keio University or Meiji University where my friends were studying. Unfortunately, I could not meet the application deadline. I searched for that information through my friends and websites, and I looked up the website of JASSO.
(5) How did you contact the universities? Did you have any problems or difficulties in doing so?
I sent messages in Japanese by e-mail and obtained sufficient information. I had no particular problems while the responses were delayed sometimes.
(6) What was the content of the second examination in the university? How did you prepare for it?
I submitted the high school transcript, high school diploma (or graduation letter), scores of EJU (not compulsory), JLPT N2 Level Certificate, and an essay regarding my motivation for the application, etc. as documents attached to the application. The second examination was carried out in the form of an interview. I introduced myself in Japanese and also explained what I had done so far and what I wanted to do in future. Later I had a question-and-answer session. （You could have had an interview at Digital Hollywood Bangkok school so why did you decide to come to Tokyo to have an interview?）
I was in Japan to have entrance examinations for other schools. I thought it would be better to talk directly since I had other things to do in Japan.
(7) What was your reaction to receiving a letter of acceptance from the university?
I was delighted. Once I completed the interview, I had a feeling that I would be accepted. My family was very glad that I passed the exam.
(8) What made you happy about the admission?
I felt clear about where I would be going to study. I was sure I would love the university. I would be able to study various subjects including CG, animation, design, communication theory, languages, etc. that I had not studied before. I heard there are workshops and the short-term study abroad system is also available.
(9) At the start of the preparation for university admission, what was your experience of the coordination of the staff in JASSO Thailand Office?JASSO Overseas Representative Office in Thailand?
I was grateful to them. It would have been difficult to find suitable schools by myself. They can search for schools faster than I can by myself and it was helpful that they contacted universities on my behalf. Their support made things easy for me to understand.
(10) Do you have any other requests regarding the entrance examination of Japanese universities for international students?
It would be better to provide a common standard for application. Online application would be helpful. In searching for websites of some universities, I had difficulty in finding crucial information regarding school fees. It was difficult to find e-mail addresses and often the name of the person in charge was not available.
Some universities do not provide entrance examinations for international students. I believe that it would be useful to provide a list of universities providing entrance exams for international students on the Internet. Also lists of universities providing lectures in English or universities using EJU would be helpful. (-The list of universities where lectures are delivered in English and the list of universities using EJU are available on the website of JASSO)

2. Aspects Relating to EJU
(1) How did you study the Japanese language? What aspects of the language did you find difficult?
I studied all the subjects of EJU in a preparatory school providing countermeasure lectures for EJU Bangkok.
My father applied for the 1st session on my behalf because I had been studying in the US until just before the examination date of the 1st session.
I had little time to prepare for the examination after returning home.
Even though I understood the content of the reading comprehension, I could not decide which answer to choose, and was often divided between two choices. The question asking, “what is the author thinking?” puzzled me since there is no simple answer. I felt the listening comprehension and listening-reading comprehension were much more difficult in comparison with the N2 level of JLPT. Although what I listened to made sense, the content was very complicated and it was difficult only being able to listen once. Also it was quite troublesome to black out the computer-scored answer sheet in every option for the listening comprehension.
(2) How did you study “Japan and the World”? What subjects did you find difficult? Are there any subjects that you do not learn in Thailand?
It was pretty difficult for me to memorize personal names, social systems, etc. or obtain knowledge in economics.
Learning about the First World War during my study in the US helped me a lot.
(3) How did you study Mathematics (Course 1)? What areas did you find difficult? Are there any areas that you do not learn in Thailand?
It took time before realizing that I had to change the starting position to black out each major question of I and II.

3. Others
(1) What do you think about your future prospects?
I wish to find a job in Japan. While I have not clearly decided yet about what I should major in, I think I can study many things. I will choose one of them for my profession and keep others as my hobbies. I would like to do the things that I want to do now.
(2) Please deliver a message to your juniors who want to enter a university (faculty) in Japan.
You should start preparation at least one year before applying for a university in Japan, but choose carefully because your preparation is affected depending on which university you want to go to.
In order to get used to EJU, you should answer past exam questions in advance before taking the live exam. Once you have experience of the exam, you will understand what kind of exam it is and you can understand the concept of EJU (what kinds of questions and what answers are expected.)