<P> In addition, certain prestigious employers, notably the government and selected large corporations (e.g. those listed in Nikkei 225), continue to restrict their hiring of new employees to graduates of the most esteemed universities . There is a close link between university background and employment opportunity . Because Japanese society places such store in academic credentials, the competition to enter the prestigious universities is keen . A common custom practiced by Japanese employers is simultaneous recruiting of new graduates . </P> <P> Students applying to national or other public universities take two entrance examinations, first a nationally administered uniform achievement test (senta shiken (センター 試験)) and then an examination administered by the university that the student hopes to enter (niji shiken (二 次 試験)). Applicants to private universities need to take only the university's examination . </P> <P> Such intense competition means that many students cannot compete successfully for admission to the college of their choice . An unsuccessful student can either accept an admission elsewhere, forgo a college education, or wait until the following spring to take the national examinations again . A large number of students choose the last option . These students, called ronin, meaning masterless samurai, spend an entire year, and sometimes longer, studying for another attempt at the entrance examinations . In 2011, the number of ronin who took the uniform test is 110,211, while the number of high school students who took the test is 442,421 . </P> <P> Yobikou are private schools that, like many juku, help students prepare for entrance examinations . While yobikou have many programs for upper - secondary school students, they are best known for their specially designed full - time, year - long classes for ronin . The number of applicants to four - year universities totaled almost 560,000 in 1988 . Ronin accounted for about 40% of new entrants to four - year colleges in 1988 . Most ronin were men, but about 14% were women . The ronin experience is so common in Japan that the Japanese education structure is often said to have an extra ronin year built into it . </P>

When do japanese students take college entrance exams