【Frequently Asked Questions about the TESOL Program】
Q1

The entrance examination is scheduled for September and February. Will the applicants who passed theexam enter the program at different times?

A1

No. All students will start their program in April.

Q2

Is there a quota of students that will be accepted in the September and February exams respectively?

A2

No. In total we can accept up to approximately 10 students each year. We have no fixed quota for eachseparate exam.

Q3

Is it easier to pass the September exam than the February exam?

A3No. You will not have any advantage or disadvantage according to the timing of the exam you take. In bothentrance exams, the number of applicants who pass the exam will increase or decrease depending on how
many of them seem to have suitable qualities for the program.

Q4

How many of the applicants pass the entrance exam?

A4
Q5A5Q6A6

About 80% of the applicants used to pass on average. Recently, however, the ratio has been fluctuating
between 36%-71%, due to a random surge in the number of applicants.
Why should the First Grade of Jitsuyo Eigo Gino Kentei (Eiken, Test in Practical English Proficiency),
which can be one of the prerequisites for the application together with a valid TOEFL score, be taken within
two years of the application deadline? Generally, Eiken certificates do not have an expiration date.
Officially, Eiken certificates do not have an expiration date, but we set this baseline to know your current
English proficiency.
I cannot get the TOEFL official score report delivered to the Sophia Admissions Office by the application
deadline in September. Is it OK if the score report is delivered before the examination date?
Since it is a prerequisite that the score report be delivered to the Sophia Admissions Office by the application
deadline, if your score will not arrive in time, we recommend taking the entrance exam in February.
In some cases we may be able to check your TOEFL score with the online system, before it arrives, but only
after you have requested ETS to send the score report. If the expected delivery date will not be too close tothe exam, you could be allowed to take the entrance exam.

Q7

How much is the tuition and fees I need to pay before admission?

A7

Information about tuition and other fees for the 2020 academic year is included at the back of the booklet,
which we handed out today. The amount for the 2021 academic year has not been released yet.

Q8

Do students need to graduate from the program in two years exactly?

A8

Those who work and study at the same time sometimes decide to take three years to graduate. Pleaseconsider your work situation and decide if you need to take more than two years.

Q9

Tell me about the age and nationality of the students in the program.

A9The situation changes each academic year. Our students are from various backgrounds: students from theundergraduate programs at Sophia who are in their early twenties, part-time teachers who are in theirtwenties to sixties, full-time teachers who are on leave to study, etc. Recently, we have accepted a numberof foreign students, including those from the US, the UK, Canada, Venezuela, Columbia, Taiwan, China,India, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. In some academic years, the proportion of international students havereached up to 50%.

Q10Tell me about available scholarships.

A10

There is some information in the application booklet (original version in Japanese). Also, plentiful
information on various scholarships is offered on the official website of the university. From the top page ofthe university, go to “Campus life” and then “Scholarships.”

Q11

What do the students do after graduating from the program?

A11

The majority of students get teaching positions at secondary schools, high schools, universities, etc. Others
enter doctoral programs in Japan or in other countries. The majority of students in our doctoral program
have part-time/full-time teaching positions at universities.

Q12

Is it possible to graduate from the program working as a full-time teacher at the same time?

A12

Some students, who graduated from our program, were working as part-time teachers but some of them had
difficulty attending courses and writing their MA theses. To date, we have had no students in the TESOL
program who were teaching full-time.
Since the majority of students in the TESOL program have work outside the university, all the compulsory
courses are offered in the fifth period (17:20-19:00) or the sixth period (19:10-20:50).