What is September enrollment? Six months of freedom that broaden your future ─ Choosing September enrollment

To be honest, at first I wasn’t thinking about going on to an international university like APU at all; I was considering a music university in a completely different direction. In high school I played percussion, and I had a strong desire to “devote myself to what I love.” But when I was in my second year of high school, I reconsidered my future path and came to feel that it would be better to think of “what I like” and “what I want to study” separately. It was around that time that I happened to attend an information session for Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU). While I was talking with my mother about my future path, I found out that the son of one of her colleagues is an APU graduate, and as I listened to him, I became interested in APU’s international environment and the option of enrolling in September.

Not really, no. I was in the first cohort at an integrated junior and senior high school in Saitama Prefecture with an international focus, and although I wasn’t in it myself, there was an IB (International Baccalaureate) education environment around me. Classes were mainly in English, and among my classmates were students from countries such as China and Vietnam. Some of my classmates also went on to universities overseas, so I don’t think an “international environment” felt like anything special.

Yes. I was accepted for both, but I had intended to choose the September intake from the beginning. A big factor was that a senior at APU who had enrolled in September told me, “From the very beginning you can get deeply involved with international students.” I also wanted to use the time between my high school graduation and September to focus on things I wanted to do. Since I had the opportunity, I wanted to take some time to pause and think things through.

While continuing to study English, I took part in a “Create a University” project that I learned about on social media. The project leader is enrolled at a university in Canada, and the base of operations is in Itoshima, Fukuoka Prefecture. Through fieldwork, project-based learning (PBL), and lectures, we engaged in activities that seriously explored education. Within that project, I served as the leader of a retreat (an intensive camp-style program). We experienced rice farming and held discussions with members from different fields such as healthcare and sports—it was truly inspiring.

Because the environment I had in high school was very good. I was blessed with good teachers and good friends, and I realized that “this educational environment is not something you can take for granted.” In Japan, the transition from high school to university is very fast. That is precisely why the gap year was a valuable time for me to reflect on my own thinking and sort out “what I want to do in the future.”

I think it’s a great fit for people who have a reasonably clear idea of what they want to do. Someone who can think for themselves about how to use their gap year and take action. Of course, April enrollment is a good fit for some people as well. Even if you haven’t decided what you want to do by the time you graduate from high school, you can still find it on the “stage” that is university. I feel that APU is like a “third guardian” that supports you no matter which choice you make.

Honestly, there’s way more homework than I imagined (laughs). Because of that, I sometimes have less time to talk with the other residents on my dorm floor, but I was able to make friends with international students from when I first enrolled. For students who enter in April, their communities are already formed, so it can be hard to join them. Still, I see that as a unique experience that comes with enrolling in September.

First, I want to obtain an IELTS score so I can skip the language courses.I’d like to start taking classes in my field of interest, in either English or Japanese, as soon as possible. In the future, I’m also considering studying abroad at a university that is strong in the field of education. I would like to go to a place where I can study education in depth, such as universities in Singapore or the United States, without limiting myself to a specific country.