Getting a Master’s Degree to improve my job prospects in the future and possibly secure enough points to apply for PR in three years

10 comments

1. I’m an educator and getting a masters is what has allowed me to stay here permanently, so I’d say go for it. I did my masters online while being an ALT over a decade ago. Becoming fluent in Japanese was the other key to staying for me.

   Having said that, what is your career end goal? Make sure you are getting education that is aimed towards what you want to ultimately do. If you want to work in CS then a masters in education doesn’t seem the best use of resource.

2. It will probably take a lot longer than 3 years for PR

   Are you going to stay in teaching/education? You’ll have a hard time to find a job over 5m. If you end up switching to tech/IT, you’ll have an easier time finding a job over 5m

3. Remember, you need to have the points at the start and the end of the three years. So, if you start your plan and get 70 points at age 34, then you need to still wait three more years. So, your plan is for 6 years.

   That also means 5million won’t cut it because when it’s time to apply, you will be 37 and need 6million for income based points.

   Also, from what you listed, you only have 65 points if at 34 (10 pts) you have a Masters (20 pts), N1 (15 pts), 5 mil (15 pts), with three years of experience (5 pts). If you turn 35, then you lose 20 points.

   And then by the calculations, at the three year mark, you will only have 45 points if you couldn’t get up to 6 mil per year.

   Also, 5 million is super ambitious for an ALT. You’ll need to work as a real teacher at an international school or something for that salary (academia/university is also possible for that much, but you will need lots of publications and a lot of luck).

   Anyway, by the time you can apply for PR (6 years from now), you will only be 4 years away from not needing any points (standard 10 year PR). You can just take the pressure off and go for regular PR.

4. >how feasible this plan is

   Honestly? Not very feasible. Not impossible, but you are going to have to have laser focus and a number of things are going to have to go your way.

   First, the N2/N1. N2 is more realistic. N1 not so much. Most people who can do this quickly are from an Asian country that uses kanji so they don’t have to start from zero. Most westerners can only get in N2 in two years by enrolling in full-time Japanese program. N1 will take even more time. Keep in mind, it takes a native Japanese person 12 years to learn the kanji on the N1 test and that is them studying in school, in their native language. You’re an adult, so you have some shortcuts, but still, most westerners can only pass N2/N1 in your time frame if they do nothing else but study for the test.

   Second, master’s degree. Master’s degrees can be deceptive. Be careful about the marketing materials. It is possible to complete them quickly, but most people don’t. It is very difficult to work full-time and do a degree. The Carnegie Credit Hour applies here. For every credit that you earn, it requires between 45 and 60 hours of study. A master’s degree is 30 credits, so it should take between 1350 and 1800 hours of study. A full-time, 40 hour a week job is 2000 hours per year. To complete your master’s, you are looking at 25 to 35 hours per week on the degree. Are you the kind of person who is willing to completely give up your social life in order to work and study? Most people aren’t. I personally know dozens of people who started online graduate programs thinking they would be able to do it quickly, but couldn’t. The question you need to ask the admission department is not, ‘how fast can I do this?’ but ‘how long does it take most people to complete this degree?’ I think you’ll find the answer is longer than a year.

   Third, the job paying ¥5m. This is not impossible. There are jobs in education that pay that. I have a job making more than that, but it took me five or six years to find one. These jobs are highly competitive, and someone with (according to your plan) a newly minted MEd and one year and seven months of experience is not going to be very desirable. You will be competing against people with five+ years of experience, etc. And if you are going for a university position, which is where most education jobs are that pay more than ¥5m, you will also need publications and university teaching experience. (Most people get this by starting out as a part-timer and working their way up to a full-time position). I’m not going to say that you can’t get ¥5m+ job, but you are going to have to get lucky.

   Fourth, the fast-track to PR using points. My understanding is that, if you are going to use HSP points for PR and you don’t have a HSP visa, you will need to have had the 70 points for three years, before you can apply for PR. The time it took you to get the 70 points doesn’t count. So, after you finish your master’s, after you get N2/N1, after you have worked in your ¥5m+ job for three years, then you can apply for PR. But age is relevant here — the older you get, the fewer points you can get.

   Finally, why PR? There are some advantages to having PR, but for most people a work Status of Residence (SoR) is fine — especially for the first few years. The biggest advantage of PR is not having to renew your SoR. And the other advantages you can work around, e.g., getting a mortgage.

   A common mistake that people make is thinking that they are going to love Japan and love teaching. Most people don’t. 80% of people who come here as ALTs leave within two years. 90% of people leave within five years. And less than 1% of people who come here to teach English stay longer than 10 years.

   You are making a big investment is something that you don’t know anything about. You’ve given yourself seven months “to acclimate” but that is not nearly enough time. A lot of people love Japan, but hate teaching. Getting an MEd degree locks you in to an education career. A lot people love teaching but hate Japan. Getting N2 locks you into Japan.

   >any suggestions for what specialization I should get my Master’s in.

   For teaching English in Japan, the only relevant degree is going to be something related to TESOL. Things like MEd in leadership, education policy, management, special ed, etc. will pretty much be useless. An MEd in education technology or curriculum and instruction will have limited utility.

5. Any decent masters is going to be at least two years if part time.

6. >so I can get acclimated to Japan, then complete my Master’s within the following year, and find a better job. If all goes to plan in three years, I will be 34/35, passed the JLPT N1/N2 exam, have a Master’s, and earn above 5M yen, which brings me to 70 points exactly so I can then apply for PR.

   You’re setting way too many difficult goals for a relatively short period of time.

   Also, making 5m/year in English teaching is extremely rare. You could maybe make that as a licensed teacher at a real international school, but those jobs are very rare to find, or maybe at a university.

   5m isn’t that hard to get in Japan, but in teaching it’s tough. Have you considered not even getting a masters and just using your computer science degree to switch into tech? Most tech jobs would start around 4-5m.
   I’m not in tech, but I work in building maintenance and my total package is around 5m.

   English teaching is not a very profitable field.

   If you look at your salary now as an interac alt you’ll realize that it’s well below the national average salary.
   I don’t know what the current salary is (I heard it’s gone down) but when I worked there years ago I only made 240,000/month pre tax with no bonus or benefits)
   That’s like 2.8m/year. Average salary for 30代 is around 3.6m.

7. Seeing everyone talk about 5m a year being difficult even with a masters is so depressing. That’s what I earned with the current weak yen sleeping on the job at an entry level casino position in the states before moving here. I know you can’t compare different countries and cost of living but is it even worth going through all of that for so little?

8. I am 68 and completed my master’s degree in 1980 at the Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Waseda University. On the particular recommendation of my professor, I started working for Japan’s largest telecommunications company. I have worked there for nearly 40 years and retired eight years ago.

   I want to point out that having an excellent academic record does not necessarily guarantee a lucrative job in a company. Large Japanese companies pay attention to age. Preference is given to new graduates who have just graduated from university. Academia is valued by companies as fundamental knowledge. Grades are significant in research institute assignments. However, it is not considered for assignment to other departments. People with an academic background have high intellectual ability and administrative skills, so their educational achievements are used as a criterion for judgment. Technical knowledge is trained in-house after employment. Therefore, it is essential to be young.

   In Japan, if you are in your 30s, you can find a job as a programmer in a small company.

9. So…. just spitballing here, but, are you married? Because I think marrying a Japanese national would be a lot easier at this rate.

10. Hey! First of all congratulations on the interac offer! If you want I can invite you to a group chat of fellow new alt coming in august too. ( interac kanto north too)