院進

• 読み: いんしん
• ローマ字: inshin
• 漢字の分解: 院 (graduate school, from 大学院) + 進 (advance/proceed) → advance to graduate school
• 発音: /iɴ.ɕiɴ/

意味

Advancing to graduate school — the decision to continue to a master's or doctoral programme after completing an undergraduate degree.

院進 is student shorthand for proceeding to 大学院 (graduate school). In Japan, 院進 is extremely common in STEM fields (理系), where a master's degree is often the baseline expectation. In humanities and social sciences (文系), 院進 is less common and sometimes viewed as an unconventional choice. The decision between 院進 and 就活 (job hunting) is one of the biggest crossroads in a Japanese student's life, typically made in the third year of university.

例文

1. 就活するか院進するか迷ってるんだよね。
2. 研究が楽しくなってきたから院進することにした。
3. 理系は院進する人が多いけど文系だと珍しがられる。

使い方ガイド

場面: university, career planning, friends

トーン: deliberative, casual

正しい言い方

• 院進するなら早めに研究室選んだ方がいいよ。 (If you're going to grad school, you should pick a lab early.)
• 院進か就活か、そろそろ決めないと。 (I need to decide between grad school and job hunting soon.)

避ける言い方

• 「院進って就活から逃げてるだけでしょ」は禁句 (Saying 'grad school is just running away from job hunting' is a taboo remark)

よくある間違い

• Assuming 院進 always means the same university — many students change universities for graduate school (外部進学) to broaden their experience

起源と歴史

Abbreviation of 大学院に進学する (advance to graduate school). 院 (graduate school, from 大学院) + 進 (advance). A relatively recent abbreviation that became common in student vocabulary in the 2000s.

文化的背景

時代: 2000s abbreviation, reflecting the modern graduate education landscape

世代: University students, especially upperclassmen

社会的背景: Especially common in research-oriented and STEM fields

地域メモ: Used at universities across Japan. The 院進 rate varies significantly by field — over 40% in engineering vs. under 10% in many humanities fields.