1. A little about myself…
Yuta Saito
My life in short:
Born: San Jose, CA
3 months after birth: Move to Kanagawa Prefecture,
Japan
6 Years Old： Move to Sunnyvale, CA
Spend few months in Pre-school and all
of elementary school at CA.
12 years old: Move to Tokyo, Japan
Go to private junior high and high school
in Tokyo
18 years old: Move to Illinois, US
Major in Aerospace Engineering at
University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign
Now: 19 years old
Hobbies, interests: Basketball, gold, badminton, snowboarding,
skiing, watching MLB,
Playing basketball, badminton with my friends on weekends
2. Purpose of this presentation…
① Introduce the university I am going to right now
and get more people to be interested in
universities outside of Japan
② Introduce what college life is like
③ Get you to start thinking about what you
want to do in the future
3. A little about my major, aerospace engineering…
・Mostly learn about the structure of
the aircraft
※Usually we do not learn how to fly
them!
・Make 3D models of different parts of
the aircraft and see how different
forces influence its structure
・Take data of how fluids behave near
the airfoil at different situations
←(picture left) Shows how pressure is
influencing the structure of the aircraft
↑（picture top right）Many unmanned
aircrafts with shapes we`ve never seen
before like the one above will be build
in the years to come
↑（picture above）Commercial flight
to space like one above is planned to
start service from 2014 thanks to
aerospace engineering!
4. Big picture of where I study, University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• University of Illinois is a public
university located in southern
part of state Illinois
• 42,326 students at 2007
• Has top programs in the US in
Business, Electrical
Engineering, Computer
Science
Illinois is located a little to the east from the
middle of the US↓
5. How`s it like studying in an university
in the US??
• Not only students in the US, but
also many students from Asia,
Middle East, Europe study here
• During the semester, students
not only go to classes but
participate in volunteering,
part-time jobs, student
organizations
• All students live in a dorm for
their first year
←（picture above）The dorm I lived in last
year called “PAR”
←（picture below）Probably the biggest
library in the university, “Grainger Library”
6. Spending weekends,
weekdays in college…
• From Monday to Friday, students
start classes around 9am and end
around 4,5 pm. After classes, most
people go back to their dorms or go
to the library to study (in US, there
are many assignments, quizzes
during the semester so students
study in a daily basis)
• On Friday nights and Saturdays
students go to bars or go watch the
movies and spend time with their
friends!
• On Sundays, students go back to
studying
• When you get into college, there
will be no one to tell you what to do,
so it will get important to plan
ahead!
←（picture above）A typical day in university
←（picture below）A lecture on physics
7. Facilities in University of Illinois…
• There are two large
recreational centers on
campus, ARC and CRCE
• Inside are indoor basketball
courts, indoor and outdoor
swimming pools, weight lifting
equipment, exercise
machines, rock-climbing wall
and many more!
• As you can see from the
pictures, all the facilities on
campus including this
recreational center is well
constructed
←Pictures of the largest recreational
center ”ARC”
8. During the breaks…
• In US, there are some large
breaks like Summer Break(3
months), Winter Break(about a
month), Fall Break(about 10
days), and Spring Break (about a
week)
• During this period, students do
many different things like going
on trips, working part-time,
getting internship, doing research
under a professor
←(Picture above) Taken at top floor of Willis
Tower in Chicago. Outside the window is a
beautiful scenery city of Chicago, but in the
picture its hard to see because of the light…
←(picture below）This Spring Break I visited
New York . This ones from a night at Times
Square
9. Pros and Cons of US universities
Pros Cons
Easy to change
majors during
college and
therefore you can
find what you
REALLY want to
do
Many students
have dreams
and high goals
so you get a
good influence
from students
around you.
Many students
are very
friendly so its
easy to make
friends
Expensive
Tuition fee,
textbooks, and
living expenses
Some parts
of town are
not safe to go
to even if its
on campus
Tendency of
students to
only hang out
with students
from same
country or
region
10. Conclusion（What to bring home after this presentation）
① First try to find a vague picture of what you want to
do for your future during junior high and high school
② Think of what you have to do now, or in college to
achieve your goal
③ Find a college that you can do what you want most!
There are many colleges all over the world outside of
Japan. If there is a college with the best
environment for what you want to study, go for it!
