Study abroad for a year in Waseda, Kyoto University, Nagoya University, or Chuo University
Hello, I am a freshman computer science major based in America. I'm looking to study abroad in Japan next year, but I'm having trouble deciding which program to choose. I am deciding between Waseda, Kyoto University, Nagoya University, and Chuo University.
The factors I am considering are the quality/transferability of the classes, the prestige of the school, and the overall atmosphere. I know that computer science in Japan isn't really at the same level of quality as it is here in America, but I'd like to at least be able to advance my degree a little bit while I'm there, since the language/culture credits won't count because I already have all my gen ed credits. I know prestige doesn't really matter all that much because it's only one year study abroad but still.
Obviously, Waseda and Kyoto University would be the best for job-hunting since they have the most prestige (although I'm not entirely sure if I want to work in Japan in the future yet). One thing is that I've travelled to Japan once before and while I enjoyed my time in Tokyo and Kyoto, it was a bit overstimulating and imo there were too many tourists like me. I also was able to get around using just English, so I wasn't really able to practice my Japanese well. The other problem is that the Waseda and Kyodai programs are very competitive and there are very few slots available.
As for Chuo University, I talked to a Japanese student from there doing an exchange at my school and he didn't really seem to like it there. Other than that, I don't know much about it other than it's also in Tokyo.
I don't know much about Nagoya University either, but I am interested in it since it seems to be a good school for STEM and people say that Nagoya is better for learning Japanese than the other major cities like Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka. However, I hear people have mixed feelings about it though, some say that it's a really boring city while others say it isn't. I said that Tokyo and Kyoto were overstimulating earlier but I'd rather have too many things to do than none during my year abroad.
As for my language ability, I am a self learner who mainly learns by reading books/manga with liberal use of a dictionary, so I might have big gaps in vocab and grammar knowledge. While I am part of my college's Japanese Club and speak with natives semi-regularly, I am not entirely confident in my Japanese ability. One of my main goals while studying abroad is to get nearly fluent in Japanese and avoid only making friends and hanging out with other international students.
There are other schools like Shimane University, Kansai Gaidai, and Aoyama Gakuin, but since those don't have any English computer science classes, I'm not really considering them. There's also Tohoku University but STEM major exchange students are required to participate in individual research, which might be too rigorous for me.
Money isn't really an issue since I have a lot of scholarships (though I'll lose them if I fail classes).
I'll probably apply to all four of them, but I'd like to get a general feel of things before I start working on my applications, so any information would be much appreciated!