Newbie needs help with planning how to finish degree by testing out

[TrailRunr]

Many of the ESL companies in Asia, including Japan, treat their Western employees like dirt. I know what I'm talking about. The posters above me have no clue on how much you will struggle if you choose this path as a career. It's good as a working holiday and nothing more. On top of that, some Asian countries have went from boom to permanent bust as far as ESL, and that might happen in Japan as well if you make try to make it a career. The employers are very demanding and abusive. You may be fined up to 40k for being late once a month, which is a huge hit on already meager wages. At the very least, you are going to work long hours for your meager wages. Or you can trust your recruiter and the naive posters above, which I wouldn't do. I would strongly suggest proceeding with extreme caution. And what happens when you are age 30 and still making less than 25 man a month with a BA. It is a lot of fun at age 22 to scrimp, but that stuff gets old once you want a family. Unlike the native teachers who also get paid poorly at the beginning, you can't live rent free with your parents.

If you get an MA and get teaching experience in the states, you can try to get a good paying job at one of the expat schools. That is a much better path.

It seems like you won't be able to cope in Japan with a higher paying IT job. An IT job in Japan is going to be more demanding than a start-up in the US. Fair enough.

I'm not an expert at the BALS at TESU, so I'll leave that to the others who are better than me at it. But I'd use the time in the US to get the DSST and CLEP tests done as recommended above. Way harder to do those tests overseas. Get it done before you return.

And be very careful with immigration. They are probably going to wonder why you're spending so much time in Japan on a tourist visa. Make sure you have a good story that makes sense on your next visit, or you're going to be sent back home.

[alzee]

I know what I'm talking about.

No, you don't. You should probably start a new thread for ignorant ranting instead of dirtying this one up any more.

[TrailRunr]

No, you don't. You should probably start a new thread for ignorant ranting instead of dirtying this one up any more.

Like I'm going to allow bad advice to flow unchallenged from those that acquiesce to immigration fraud. By that extension, you guys know little about how bad the TESOL industry is in Asia. OP can do whatever he likes about TESOL at this point. It's his life. At least he can't come back and say that he didn't know.

IMHO, you guys lose credibility because you are going along with the immigration fraud, which has very serious consequences unlike the illegal downloading of e-text. The worst part is that I'm the only one that has suggested that the OP end the immigration fraud by coming home. If he gets caught in secondary and can't satisfactorily explain why he is spending so much time in Japan on a tourist visa, all of this college planning will be for nothing since he will be banned from immigrating for at least a couple of years and possibly up to a decade. All of the other countries will know that he was denied entry to Japan as well, and that will make immigrating anywhere else very difficult with a bad immigration record.

[alzee]

Like I'm going to allow bad advice to flow unchallenged from those that acquiesce to immigration fraud.

Not one person here as advocated fraud, or admitted or confessed to fraud. Slow your roll.

[dfrecore]

Like I'm going to allow bad advice to flow unchallenged from those that acquiesce to immigration fraud. By that extension, you guys know little about how bad the TESOL industry is in Asia. OP can do whatever he likes about TESOL at this point. It's his life. At least he can't come back and say that he didn't know.

IMHO, you guys lose credibility because you are going along with the immigration fraud, which has very serious consequences unlike the illegal downloading of e-text. The worst part is that I'm the only one that has suggested that the OP end the immigration fraud by coming home. If he gets caught in secondary and can't satisfactorily explain why he is spending so much time in Japan on a tourist visa, all of this college planning will be for nothing since he will be banned from immigrating for at least a couple of years and possibly up to a decade. All of the other countries will know that he was denied entry to Japan as well, and that will make immigrating anywhere else very difficult with a bad immigration record.

TrailRunr,

While I appreciate your trying to help posters, you come off as very harsh and judgmental. When someone says that they found that they did not enjoy working in a certain field, and you say that they "can't cope", that's just rude. There's no reason to say things like that to someone. If someone doesn't enjoy something, they just don't want to do it. There's no rule that says once you start on a path, you can't change your mind because you find it's not a good fit. Better to find that out early and change your path than to stick to it and do something you don't enjoy.

Anyway, I think you should probably read back through some of your posts and try to see why some people don't appreciate your tone. We are supposed to be here trying to help people, not telling them that they're stupid if they don't do what we think they should. We don't have to all agree on the best path, but that certainly doesn't mean that we should belittle people for not taking the path we think they should.

While you may be very knowledgable in a subject, you can't possibly know EVERYTHING there is to know about it. You may be aware of the climate in ESL teaching in Japan, and should certainly tell someone if they ask, but you should not tell people that they absolutely should not do something, no matter what. They might have a totally different experience than you had. Or they might go there and find that you were right, and come home sadder but wiser. Either way, that's for them to learn, and you can just point out some of the problems that have been reported and then let people make their own decisions.

By the way, I in no way suggested that the OP should do any kind of fraud. I was under the impression that the OP was going to school in the US, and wanted to go BACK to Japan with a degree in order to teach kids. If I missed something, then I guess that's what happened, but I certainly never said that he/she should do anything illegal.

[fcnew52]

Thank you everyone for your input. I appreciate any and all advice. I'll clear up some things because I feel there's been a misunderstanding.

I am NOT doing anything illegal here in Japan. I am NOT getting paid to work here. I am just a volunteer. I have plenty of free days where I just go sightseeing. I also am not teaching English classes here. All I am doing is speaking in English around the children so they become accustomed to the language and seeing a foreign face. All I get in exchange is a place to stay while I am here.

But in the near future I DO want to come back and teach English here. I will be returning to the states before the 3 months are over and have NO plans to overstay my visa. I apologize if I made it sound like I was committing and condoning fraud, which I am not. It is only "hush hush" because during customs check, anything other than sightseeing is frowned upon as a reason to enter the country on a tourist visa.

Now the reason why I do not mind the long hours and hard work of becoming an English teacher here is because I've worked many part-time jobs in the states that were much much worse than this. I have several friends that also work as English teachers here in Japan and even though there are many cons, I still feel like it is something that I really want to do.

Now I know this isn't the correct place to be telling my life story but if it helps understand my position, I will.

In the states, I grew up well below the poverty line while none of my siblings ever attended college. We lived under the system for many years and I was even homeless for a few days and forced to sleep in my dad's truck because he would always gamble the rent money away.
Now comparing that lifestyle vs living and working hard in Japan as an English teacher is a humongous step up for me. I am not asking for pity. All I need is assistance in figuring out how to make my dreams come true by finishing my degree as quickly and cheaply as possible so I can return to Japan to start my life. I hope that helps understand where I'm coming from.

Now back on topic, I have a few more questions.
1. How long do I have between the time I apply and the time I have to enroll officially in the school at TESU?

2. Are there any UL courses I can study for solely using InstantCert? Are there any CLEP UL courses?

3. I have begun the Free Ethics course and hope to finish it sometime this week. Once I pass the online exam for this course, do I transfer the credit through the ACE website or the Institutes website?

Thank you again everyone for the advice!

[alzee]

Now back on topic, I have a few more questions.
1. How long do I have between the time I apply and the time I have to enroll officially in the school at TESU?

I believe it's six months, someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

3. I have begun the Free Ethics course and hope to finish it sometime this week. Once I pass the online exam for this course, do I transfer the credit through the ACE website or the Institutes website?

You always do it through ACE -- you log on to your ACE account, enter the institution, course, and the date you passed, and they contact the institution for you.

Best of luck in your endeavor. Despite having very different backgrounds, I'm here for precisely the same reason as you, which is partly why I've spoken up in the thread. Personally, my plan is to start on my BSBA next month, and finished or not, go to Japan on a student visa to attend a 1 or 2yr language school next spring. If I haven't finished the BSBA by then, I'll finish it while I'm there.

[dfrecore]

Now back on topic, I have a few more questions.
1. How long do I have between the time I apply and the time I have to enroll officially in the school at TESU?

2. Are there any UL courses I can study for solely using InstantCert? Are there any CLEP UL courses?

3. I have begun the Free Ethics course and hope to finish it sometime this week. Once I pass the online exam for this course, do I transfer the credit through the ACE website or the Institutes website?

Thank you again everyone for the advice!

Once you apply, you can enroll any time, but I think you have about 12 months to do something. I'm not sure this is the best idea though - why would you spend $75 to apply and then not enroll? There's not much point to that. I personally would wait until I was ready to enroll before applying.

Yes, you can study for UL courses using IC. Plenty of them for DSST, TECEP & UExcel exams. No, CLEP does not have any UL exams.

Anything that is ACE-approved gets done through ACE. You go onto your account and do an "Add to Transcript" for a course. It's a very simple process.

And, you do not have to do the entire course for Ethics. You are free to take the quiz and if you get 70%, you passed and can add it to your transcript. If you don't pass, you can retake it as many times as you'd like until you pass.

Good luck with your plans!

[fcnew52]

Thanks everyone for all the help!

So this is what I've done so far:
1. passed the Institutes Ethics 312 course with a 70%
2. registered for ACE and transferred the course(waiting on confirmation though)
3. applied with TESU for the BA in Liberal Studies(I can confirm that it is 12 months from time of application to when you need to officially enroll)
4. paid for my transcripts from both college and community college to be sent separately to TESU

Now I am just anxiously waiting to hear from TESU. In the meantime, I have been trying to educate myself through these forums but some questions have popped up. If anyone can help, I'd greatly appreciate it!

1. The Ethics 312 course I took is only 2 credits. How does that fit into the 3 credit Ethics requirement from TESU? I read about some waiver thing to convince TESU to accept it as 3 credits. How does that work?

2. I'm still a little confused as to which courses I can actually take in order to fulfill my area of study in Liberal Studies. I have looked at the DSST website and there are 6 categories. dfrecore mentioned that I can take any courses other than Business. I see a section on DSST that says "techonology". Is that an acceptable course in Liberal Studies?

3. Follow up question: On the same DSST website, some courses say something like "3 Baccalaureate" or "3 Upper Baccalaureate". Is that the same thing as Lower Level courses vs Upper level courses? Because I was under the impression that certain courses like Intro to World Religions was an Upper Level course? But on the DSST site it doesn't say "3 Upper Baccalaureate", just "3 Baccalaureate". Can anyone clear that up for me?

Just to recap what I think I need based on everyone's help on this board:

TESU BA Liberal Studies
1. Info Lit Requirement(will probably take CLEP A&I Literature)
2. 5 Upper Level courses
3. Capstone

Thanks for all the help!

[Leedeedee]

I am NOT doing anything illegal here in Japan. I am NOT getting paid to work here. I am just a volunteer. I have plenty of free days where I just go sightseeing. I also am not teaching English classes here. All I am doing is speaking in English around the children so they become accustomed to the language and seeing a foreign face. All I get in exchange is a place to stay while I am here.

Are you on a visitor visa or a volunteer visa? Cause you're not allowed to do volunteer work in Japan on a visitor visa. Oh and free accommodation in exchange for working is a form of payment. Not being judgemental, cause I know lots of people do this. You just really want to be discreet and not give any identifying information on this forum.

Anyway good luck with your degree, if you can take the low wages then go for it. You can always go back to Uni in a few years if you want to try a different path.