MEXT Scholarship for Postgraduate 2011: General Discussions.

[sat]

How much cost daily life in Japan

Before final results in February, hoping we all will succeed, I wanted to know how much did I spend in Japan monthly with MEXT scholarship (included taxes, house rent, food, electricity and water, transport...).I wanted to go to Nagoya.
These informations could help me plan to go alone fisrt or with family.

 

[samuro]

Thanks for the detailed info PeterSimon. I have checked again the budget plan that was just released by MEXT on their website. But I just found the info on the 4364 research student and 500 undergraduate student that they will take in the next year. As I've seen a certain budget amount allocated to the regional bonus, I guess they will still have the +2000 to 3000JPY regional bonus for MEXT students, right?
Anyway, I'm curious about the detailed info on the reduction of 2000JPY in general for all research student. Can you show me the link to the info on the scholarship amount next year on the website of MEXT?
Thanks in advance, again!

hello everyone, i'm a newbie in this forum and also applicants for Monbusho scholarship (but for the college of technology programme)
i don't see any other threads discussing about the MEXT scholarship for undergraduate so this threads might be the right place to ask due to the topic
may i know the estimated number of undergraduate student for MEXT scholarship last year?
the reduction proposal feels like a nightmare to me

 

[flidar]

hello everyone, i'm a newbie in this forum and also applicants for Monbusho scholarship (but for the college of technology programme)
i don't see any other threads discussing about the MEXT scholarship for undergraduate so this threads might be the right place to ask due to the topic
may i know the estimated number of undergraduate student for MEXT scholarship last year?
the reduction proposal feels like a nightmare to me

478 for the year 2010 and for the 2011 patch which have passed the 1st screening at the embassy, it's 500.

 

[ykk]

Before final results in February, hoping we all will succeed, I wanted to know how much did I spend in Japan monthly with MEXT scholarship (included taxes, house rent, food, electricity and water, transport...).I wanted to go to Nagoya.
These informations could help me plan to go alone fisrt or with family.

Maybe if your family can wait you should go alone first and find a good place to live and then bring your family along (wife, kids?) sure the international office of your university can help you.
I believe that the most expensive thing it's the house/appartment, you can always manage not to spend too much on food... I am no expert but maybe you should calculate about half of the monthly stipend in housing+services (water, electricity...)
This website may be useful:
http://www.nic-nagoya.or.jp/en/dailyliving/housingandsettlingin/index.htm
Sorry I can't help much! I hope to live in Yokohama, I don't know if it's cheaper, but I am on my own so I hope I spend less than half of the stipend on housing + services!

 

[samuro]

478 for the year 2010 and for the 2011 patch which have passed the 1st screening at the embassy, it's 500.

does this means that the impact of the proposal doesn't really affect the undergraduate student?
phew
i'm relieved

 

[flidar]

does this means that the impact of the proposal doesn't really affect the undergraduate student?
phew
i'm relieved

Yep, I guess. The number of undergraduate students actually increased a little bit according to their new budget plan. It has brought the most negative impact on research students though!

 

[taints]

Hey all, first post.

Thanks for all the info up until now and congrats to those who've made it this far. I'm in the same situation now as well.

I received my LoA on condition of passing graduate school entrance exam. The entrance exam was an essay question and a panel interview over skype. It was difficult and I was quite worried until I got news last Wednesday that I made it through. So now I'm playing the waiting game as well.

I also only have 1 LoA from Keio (System Design and Management), lets hope we all make it and see each other in Japan.

By the way, how does the 6-month Japanese course work? Will everyone who gets a scholarship go on it or does your receiving professor need to request it from MEXT?

 

[ykk]

Hey all, first post.
Thanks for all the info up until now and congrats to those who've made it this far. I'm in the same situation now as well.
I received my LoA on condition of passing graduate school entrance exam. The entrance exam was an essay question and a panel interview over skype. It was difficult and I was quite worried until I got news last Wednesday that I made it through. So now I'm playing the waiting game as well.
I also only have 1 LoA from Keio (System Design and Management), lets hope we all make it and see each other in Japan.
By the way, how does the 6-month Japanese course work? Will everyone who gets a scholarship go on it or does your receiving professor need to request it from MEXT?

Hi there! more Keio applicants! Welcome.
I think that if your japanese level is very good you might skip the japanese intensive course, you should ask your professor. Mine stated very clearly that I must go through the language course.
I had the LOA also on the same condition... but I've seen that there's no such thing as an exam, just you need to hand in a very long and detailed schedule of the research and an interview. (At least in My graduate school)

 

[FiFo]

I had the interview in Iraq by the 3rd of July
They gave me the letter of acceptance after 10 days and I was told that I have to get acceptance letter from a Japanese University
This step was very easy us I'm already working with a research team there
I forwarded the documents received from college to the embassy and then I was told to wait (that was in mid August)
I called the embassy yesterday and they say that there don't seem to be any obstacles towards acquiring the scholarship
Do you think that there will be any news before Feb?
Is there any way to information from college/university/MEXT/embassy?

 

[benhlandau]

Hey everyone, first time poster here.

I just wanted to know if we should expect to hear back from the consulate about the scholarship in December 2010 or February 2011? Originally I was told it would be February, but have since heard some conflicting things. If anyone could clear that up for me, it would be much appreciated.

btw, I'm a grad student from Toronto, Canada w/ Letters of Acceptance from Kyoto and Osaka.

Thanks

 

[akaitsume1]

Hey everyone, first time poster here.

I just wanted to know if we should expect to hear back from the consulate about the scholarship in December 2010 or February 2011? Originally I was told it would be February, but have since heard some conflicting things. If anyone could clear that up for me, it would be much appreciated.

btw, I'm a grad student from Toronto, Canada w/ Letters of Acceptance from Kyoto and Osaka.

Thanks

Everyone usually gets a tentative acceptance notification from their embassy in December, followed by the final word from MEXT in February.

 

[benhlandau]

Hey, thanks a lot!
I guess December will be the next important month then

 

[akaitsume1]

No problem. ^_^ That wait is always nerve-wracking. >_<

 

[destiny2]

Everyone usually gets a tentative acceptance notification from their embassy in December, followed by the final word from MEXT in February.

unfortunately it's January here in Indonesia
we have to wait 1 month longer... argghhh hope I am able to keep myself sane while waiting for the results hahahhaa

 

[PeterSimon]

Everyone usually gets a tentative acceptance notification from their embassy in December, followed by the final word from MEXT in February.

I never heard about that December thing... It's clearly February here.

 

[akaitsume1]

@destiny2: Ah, bummer.

@PeterSimon: I don't know how your embassy does things, but last year and the year before, almost everyone on the forum started getting tentative acceptance notifications from their embassies around the end of December. I remember freaking out because they got my email address wrong and didn't get my notification to me. Final acceptance from MEXT and the determination of what university we're going to definitely arrives in mid-late February, though.

*Shrug* Different embassies do it differently. Some keep it all to one announcement, like in Indonesia, some split it into two announcements.

 

[PeterSimon]

@destiny2: Ah, bummer.

@PeterSimon: I don't know how your embassy does things, but last year and the year before, almost everyone on the forum started getting tentative acceptance notifications from their embassies around the end of December. I remember freaking out because they got my email address wrong and didn't get my notification to me. Final acceptance from MEXT and the determination of what university we're going to definitely arrives in mid-late February, though.

*Shrug* Different embassies do it differently. Some keep it all to one announcement, like in Indonesia, some split it into two announcements.

Here the candidates don't communicate with the embassy, but with a foundation which acts like a mediator between the embassy and the candidates. We apply at the foundation and get the results from there.
What I don't get is why would MEXT inform all the embassies about preliminary results?

 

[akaitsume1]

Here the candidates don't communicate with the embassy, but with a foundation which acts like a mediator between the embassy and the candidates. We apply at the foundation and get the results from there.
What I don't get is why would MEXT inform all the embassies about preliminary results?

What we got in December (around Christmas-time for most, New Year's Eve for me because they screwed up my address) was a statement saying that we'd either been confirmed or not confirmed as having passed the second screening and had been accepted as scholarship recipients. However, this acceptance hinged on a university taking us in, and that decision wasn't finalized until February. The Letter of Acceptance from the professor doesn't exactly equate to entrance into the university, and they take their sweet time stamping papers after MEXT decides whether or not we get the scholarship. In the past, though, MEXT has been extremely good at finding a university for all of their successful candidates, whether they got a letter of acceptance or not. The late notification could be so that the people whose colleges MEXT picked by hand could find out at the same time as everyone else (or not, bureaucracies are just as slow here as they are anywhere else in the world).

So your foundation sending out a notification only in February means that you'll find out both whether or not you got the scholarship and where they put you at the same time. For others, they'll get those notifications as they come out.

 

[PeterSimon]

So your foundation sending out a notification only in February means that you'll find out both whether or not you got the scholarship and where they put you at the same time. For others, they'll get those notifications as they come out.

Yes, that's how it is here.

The university of my first choice was terribly slow issuing the LoA, it took them month and a half and several pushing e-mails to issue it. If MEXT requests them to accept me and they start playing on everyone's nerves with time again, does MEXT wait for months (like I waited) or just dumps them and asks my second choice?

 

[akaitsume1]

Yes, that's how it is here.
The university of my first choice was terribly slow issuing the LoA, it took them month and a half and several pushing e-mails to issue it. If MEXT requests them to accept me and they start playing on everyone's nerves with time again, does MEXT wait for months (like I waited) or just dumps them and asks my second choice?

Hm, sorry, that one I don't know. I think MEXT tries pretty hard to put people in their first choice, but if they take that long to reply, I really don't know if MEXT will wait around. (Then again, with a request directly from the Ministry, maybe that university will move a little more quickly, lol.)

Out of curiosity, what's your second choice?

 

[PeterSimon]

My second choice is Hitotsubashi.

 

[damas17]

Everyone usually gets a tentative acceptance notification from their embassy in December, followed by the final word from MEXT in February.

What the heck? In the embassy's website, it is mentioned that the final decision of MEXT will be at the end of December. Now what you're saying is that there are two more selections?
sonna koto wo setsumei shite kudasai :? :?
Is this applied to all the scholarship applicants or just people recommended through university?

 

[ykk]

There seems to be little differences regarding the announcements dates between the embassies of each country.

We are all very anxious and try to get as much information as we can but this topic is just for general orientation, by no means you should take any comment by the "official word"... we are just telling our experiences and thoughts.

I advice you to stick to what your embassy says, if you still have doubts, call and ask them a proper expanation.

And about akaitsume comment, I think she means the scholarships recommended by embassy. And there are not two more selections, there is one announcement in December (which you already were aware about) and another in February (This is new to you)

 

[Mesh89]

First of all, nice to meet you
I'm Ramesh from Italy, 21 years old. I'm studying Computer Science in Milan, and next year I'll get my 3-years bachelor degree. My dream would be to continue my studies in Japan, but all the documentation I've found on the internet is confusing and vague.
First of all: what scholarships could I apply for? I know bachelor in Japan is 4 years, so I don't even know whether mine would be recognized. The Monbusho looks great but I don't know in which category I would fall: most are for undergraduate (under 22, which will be my age when I'll have my bachelor degree); the only one would be Research student, but I couldn't find what it really means (I doubt I'm going to be a researcher with just a bachelor); I just want to go for a regular master.
Now a small introduction, just to give you an idea:
after coming back from Japan 2 weeks ago, I started studying Japanese pretty hard. I can read Kana pretty good, but I still don't know a single Kanji (I'm going to start pretty soon). I almost finished Pimsleur Japanese, so I have a good idea of the language, and I'm starting to work on JPLT material and grammar.
My Japanese ATM is definitely behind and far from adequate for living there, but it doesn't look too hard and I'm a quite fast learner and passionate, which is a killer combo
In my academic curriculum I've got a few strong points: in high school I studied computer programming, and when I was in the last year I got a gold medal at the National Informatics Olympics, and was a reserve of the italian team at the International Olympiad. The italian government awarded me with a 2 weeks stage at IBM in England.
I just finished the 2nd year of University and I've got a good average (not an incredible one but still good, 28/30), and since I started univ I've been working part-time (20h a week last year, 28h this year) as a computer programmer (where I'm getting extremely good feedback from my colleagues/bosses) to pay for my school fees and cover my expenses.
My English level is exactly what you read here Far from perfect, but decent and I can have a regular conversation with a native speaker.
Sorry if I've been lengthy, but I wanted to offer an as complete as possible picture of my situation. I'm willing to make great sacrifices in order to achieve my goal!

 

[kaminary]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
The way I see it, you`re more than qualified for a research scholarship. You can`t go for an undergrad if you already finished college...Besides, your bachelor`s degree will be recognized in Japan, so don`t worry about that. A research student scholarship is the best way to get initiated in japanese culture, language and school especialy if you`re not proficient in japanese. And after those 2 years (or 1, depends on your teacher and project) you are expected to move on to master`s course so as to continue your studies in Japan. To become a research recipient you have to have a project and pass some tests. Check your local Japanese embassy or their site, you`ll find there plenty of info. The project has to be structured in a plan on a couple of pages (skim this and past year`s threads on how to do one). You can skip this research stage if you decide to have a master`s course in english, then you won`t need proficient japanese. But where would all the fun be if you go to Japan and study in English?:nihonjin:
I wish you the best of luck !!( and hope it was useful)