More universities are moving toward interviews and recommendations in admitting students in place of traditional written exams.

This new system, according to Tenma Fusegawa, a student at the University of Tokyo, puts applicants from poorer families at a distinct disadvantage.

With the university entrance exam season now in full swing, Fusegawa explained his own experience in getting into the prestigious institution and what he encountered while interacting with other students after admission.

The interview was conducted by Junya Yoshida.

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My father runs his own business and my mother is a part-time worker.

With a household income of about 3 million yen ($20,000), I realized that private universities with their high tuition were not a realistic option, so I searched for a public university I could commute to from my home in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward.

I chose the University of Tokyo as my goal. When I was a third-year senior high school student, I took the exam for Meiji University to find out where my achievement level was. But I failed that test.

I worked part time three days a week at a drug store to attend a cram school, and I passed the University of Tokyo entrance exam on my second try.

My parents always encouraged me to do whatever I wanted and that studying would help out later in life. They helped me prepare for the entrance exam by taking out a loan so I could attend the cram school. I felt fortunate to have such a family, despite our economic circumstances.

I felt the University of Tokyo was a place for someone like me facing economic difficulties because tuition was inexpensive and the prestige of the university would help me later in life. But after entering, I realized there were many students from affluent backgrounds who dressed fashionably.

A survey by the university about the lifestyles of its students found that more than half came from families with a household income in excess of 9.5 million yen.

That made me think that Todai was a place where many upper class children attended.

Todai began accepting students through a recommendation system in 2016. While I did not ask about their household incomes, my impression from talking to such students was that many who entered through that system came from well-off families.

For example, while they never mentioned holding down a part-time job, one said, “I visited Southeast Asia and saw slum areas” during summer vacation.

Another said, “I did field work in Africa.”

But at the same time, they held high goals of wanting to eradicate poverty.

I felt a vast difference in home environments compared to such students. To me, they seemed to have been wanting to help impoverished people even before they entered university.

A fellow student in the cheerleading group who entered through a recommendation said, “My interview ended with a pleasant conversation with the professor.”

He is studying biology, but as a young child his parents bought him whatever plants and animals he was interested in, and he raised them at home.

He discovered his own research theme based on original experiences that were made possible because his family had money. He talked about those experiences in the interview.

Some say we should talk during the interviews about what experiences we did have within our household incomes, but it is not as simple as that.

For example, in trying to explain how interested I am in the poverty issue, there is a wide gap in persuasiveness between describing the sight of slums in foreign nations and discussing what one researched from books or the internet.

Because the interview and recommendation entrance system focuses on the prospective student’s interests and how they pursued them in senior high school, those from affluent families who can gain experiences through money are at a decided advantage.

While this might be appropriate for fostering researchers who have a deep interest in a specific area, if more students are admitted through such a system, a time will come when it will become more difficult for the less advantaged to enter.

Children from affluent families who can spend more on education are also at an advantage in preparing for the regular entrance exam. But since academic knowledge is the main focus of that exam, there is a comparatively higher opportunity to pass for those from families facing more difficult circumstances.

With an increase in education-related videos and online courses, there are other options for students who cannot afford to go to cram schools.

The gap between regions and due to economic disparity is also narrowing.

Those are the reasons I hope the entrance exam system is maintained.

Japan is still a society in which academic background is important, so the entrance exam is a major event that makes possible a reversal in class status.

While it might be inevitable that private universities increase the number of students admitted through recommendations and interviews to secure students and remain in business, I hope public universities maintain the number of slots available through the entrance exams because they should continue to be an open existence to the public.

Born in 1997, Tenma Fusegawa was a scholarship student at the private Kyoei Gakuen Senior High School in Tokyo from where he eventually entered the University of Tokyo. While currently on temporary leave from the university, he has written a book about the best way to study at home.