Academics

Students can choose to take an academically rigorous or light course load.
Students have many opportunities to take classes which will stimulate their intellect more than anything they've experienced prior. Soka has a handful of very excellent professors-- just ask other students when you arrive on campus and you will have an idea of which courses and professors are a must take.

As an international student whose first language is not English, it was so hard to catch up with a lot of assignments and class discussion. However, I think academic rigor at Soka is the same as other typical universities in the United States. You just have to keep in mind that each students has a responsibility to talk and share your opinions in class because our class size is so small (10-15 students).

Although it depends on the course and professors, academic here is very challenging. Students earn up to 15 credits each semester (if you overload, it'll be more!), and each student has around 2-4 classes (90 min each) every day.
Students are required to finish and understand assigned readings before class. Grades are decided by writing assignments, exams and participation.

The academics were great for the most part. There are a lot of amazing professors at SUA, and the more specialized, higher level courses are definitely worth the extra effort.

The average class size is 12, and the student-faculty ratio is 8:1. Thus, we have intimate relationships with each professors and highly discussion-based classes. We have both general courses and concentration courses, so you can broaden your perspectives and interests by taking general courses while being able to pursue what you are truly interested in by taking concentration courses. General education courses offered here are different from normal courses you take at other universities. In physics class I took, I learned how truth can be interpreted differently depending on the explanation about how it happened. Professors have interesting, insightful perspectives in their courses, so you gain a lot from them by asking questions in class and interacting with them outside classroom. Since we have a small class size, the expectation that professors have for you is really high. You challenge yourself a lot and raise a bar of yourself. But remember, because we have a close relationship with a professor, you can always seek for help and grow with your professor. Your professor understands what you are struggling with, what you learned, and what you need to work on. I have studied here only one and a half year, but when I think about how much I have grown and learned over the years, I cannot appreciate enough.

you can always see people around studying in the 24-hours room. everyone will focus on studying and not just having a lot of with their university lives.

The education here was compared to education you can get from such schools as Yale or other Ivies. Soka is a top-quality school.

The classes at SUA will teach you a lot, as the small class sizes will automatically engage you more. Some classes can be very challenging, others relatively easy.