MEXT Scholarship 2015 (Research Students)

there is something, the energies I dunno, that tells me that it is at Nagoya University that I have to go. So let's see what the future has in mind for me. But anyway, Nagoya might be a quiet city but it's still a decently sized one. And to be honest, I have a feeling I'll enjoy it more than Seoul where I have now been for over two years haha

Nagoya is a little provincial--its nickname is the Great Countryside--but it's a great place. I used to live there, and I used to date someone at Nagoya University. It's a good school!

Good luck!
 
OH my~ hearing that nickname has really just shattered every single hope I had to love the city haha Having grown up in Montreal, Toronto and New York, I know I can't live in small places...but now you killed it haha I am kidding of course. But seriously, "the Great Countryside".....

If only I could be in Tokyo, if only. But Nagoya's Graduate School of Law specializes in Law & Politics. Maybe I should think about spending my vacations in the capital haha
 
OH my~ hearing that nickname has really just shattered every single hope I had to love the city haha Having grown up in Montreal, Toronto and New York, I know I can't live in small places...but now you killed it haha I am kidding of course. But seriously, "the Great Countryside".....

If only I could be in Tokyo, if only. But Nagoya's Graduate School of Law specializes in Law & Politics. Maybe I should think about spending my vacations in the capital haha

Nagoya will definitely provide a big-city feel on at least the same level as Montreal. The fact of the matter is, most Japanese cities are comparable to even Canada's larger ones.
 
Hi guys,

I had my interview last week and they said they would contact me in the first two weeks of august, so I am nervously awaiting there email.
I have gotten approval from a few professors, but am still trying to get approval from professors at keio and Tokai but am not getting a response. Does anyone know the holiday dates for these two universities ?

I was under the impression Keio was the private version of Tokai (as in the best private university in japan, but have seen its quite low on some rankings). Do you guys think these two universities are comparable in status and education ? what are peoples general thoughts about the two ?

Also does anyone know much about keio Shonan fujikawa campus ?
 
Hi guys,
I had my interview last week and they said they would contact me in the first two weeks of august, so I am nervously awaiting there email.
I have gotten approval from a few professors, but am still trying to get approval from professors at keio and Tokai but am not getting a response. Does anyone know the holiday dates for these two universities ?
I was under the impression Keio was the private version of Tokai (as in the best private university in japan, but have seen its quite low on some rankings). Do you guys think these two universities are comparable in status and education ? what are peoples general thoughts about the two ?
Also does anyone know much about keio Shonan fujikawa campus ?
Hi,
do you possibly mean Toudai? I hear that you need the certificate of passing the first screening in order to apply for acceptance at Toudai. As regards Keiou, you probably need the certificate and copies of other submitted documents too, because they supposedly require you to put them on the first place in the placement preference form. Otherwise, they won't give you an acceptance letter. If anyone here has applied to Keiou and can prove me wrong, please feel free to do so.
The scholarship application guidelines say we are not allowed to contact universities after August 29, which means we are allowed to contact them until that date, so I guess you still have time unless your local embassy has some ridiculous deadline of their own. In my country, we are to submit the letters of acceptance by the end of September.
A lot of professors will be on holiday in the middle of August for Obon .
I don't know anything about the campus itself, but Fujisawa is a rather nice place hour and half by train from Tokyo. It's close to a beautiful island of Enoshima and popular Japanese beaches.
 
Hi,

i meant tokyo uni. Ive read through the application process for the labs i want to join, and they do say you need the letter of acceptance before applying. I sent a preemptive email to the professors to see if they would even be interested in taking me if I do get the scholarship but they seem to be either ignoring me or theyre to busy to reply. If I think if I wait until I have the LOA before contacting these labs I wont have enough time to get through the process. Dont we only have 2 weeks to send the letter and get responses ? Has anyone else been accepted into tokyo uni or keio uni labs ?

Also can any previous people that have been accepted into the mext masters course confirm wether or not you have to do entrance exams ? and are these the same entrance exams as regular japanese students. I have found alot of conflicting information about this.
 
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Hi,

i meant tokyo uni. Ive read through the application process for the labs i want to join, and they do say you need the letter of acceptance before applying. I sent a preemptive email to the professors to see if they would even be interested in taking me if I do get the scholarship but they seem to be either ignoring me or theyre to busy to reply. If I think if I wait until I have the LOA before contacting these labs I wont have enough time to get through the process. Dont we only have 2 weeks to send the letter and get responses ? Has anyone else been accepted into tokyo uni or keio uni labs ?

Also can any previous people that have been accepted into the mext masters course confirm wether or not you have to do entrance exams ? and are these the same entrance exams as regular japanese students. I have found alot of conflicting information about this.

I don't know how exactly it works in Australia, but if you look at the application guidelines, it says:
"(5) Each person who has passed this primary screening is required to contact directly the Japanese university of his/her choice in order to

obtain admission as regular student for a degree or Research Student(non-regular student)in graduate courses, or a letter of provisional

acceptance as a research student (hereinafter referred to as "Admission") by the 29th of August.

Note: Candidates are not allowed to contact Japanese universities after the 30th of August."

Judging from these two lines and from the fact I was told by the embassy here that the deadline to submit it is the end of September, I assume that "by the 29th of August" refers to contacting the universities, not getting the letter.
Unfortunately, I have even read somewhere that professors at Tokyo U are not allowed to reply to requests without the certificate of passing the first screening, so that might be the reason for ignoring. Try consulting your situation with people at the embassy and ask them about the deadlines.
 
If professors arent allowed to reply without a certificate of passing and we cant apply after the 29th of august. the window for application to tokyo u and other similar uni's is very small.
 
Hi There,
Does anybody know if one get the three LOA, Mext put in your first choice or in any university?
 
If professors arent allowed to reply without a certificate of passing and we cant apply after the 29th of august. the window for application to tokyo u and other similar uni's is very small.

It depends a bit on the interpretation of the rules. They say you are not allowed to contact them after August 29, which could mean that as long as you send them an e-mail before this date, it's okay. It sure is quite stupid of the embassy to give you the results this late. I got my certificate of passing the first screening in the first half of July.

Hi There,
Does anybody know if one get the three LOA, Mext put in your first choice or in any university?

They say that MEXT tries to put you in the uni of your first choice. Only if they don't accept you there for some reason do they contact the next university on your preference list.

--

Is everyone trying to get three LoA? Do you mention to some professors that they are not your first choice? I was told by the embassy here to contact all of the three universities/professors, so I've done so. But I have not mentioned to any of them that they are not my first choice because I thought they might not reply to me. I will have a skype interview with one of the non-first choice uni professors, so I wonder whether to mention something and what to say if he asks me about it.
 
Just got a letter of acceptance from Doshisha and APU Ritsumeikan today. Just wondering regarding the GMAT test, Doshisha says it requires a GMAT test however there is no set score. This would mean even if I get zero on GMAT I will still be able to apply. Unfortunately I would have to pay for it (the GMAT examination) myself. Has anyone been able to apply at Doshisha Global MBA Course without a GMAT score.On the other, APU is in Kyushu , Beppu City. One question regarding APU. I've done the research there is no airport in Beppu, I would have to get off at Aiota Airport and take a 40 minute train to Beppu. I don't quite understand the transportation benefit of MEXT. Will MEXT pay for my transportation just up to Tokyo and I pay the rest which is from Tokyo to Aiota (via air) and pay for the 40 minute bus ride?
 
Hey guys I'm currently doing my Bachelor's in Computer Engineering at my home country. I'm interested in getting the MEXT Scholarship for a Master's Degree in Japan. I've tried Google but I couldn't get some specific answers. I've heard that we could join get the scholarship as a research student and then upgrade to a degree scholarship later, but I'm not so sure.

Can anyone please help me out by giving me specifics or maybe the application process for getting a MEXT "Master's" Scholarship.?
 
Is everyone trying to get three LoA? Do you mention to some professors that they are not your first choice? I was told by the embassy here to contact all of the three universities/professors, so I've done so. But I have not mentioned to any of them that they are not my first choice because I thought they might not reply to me. I will have a skype interview with one of the non-first choice uni professors, so I wonder whether to mention something and what to say if he asks me about it.

Thanks for you reply.
I did not mention that they were not my first choice .(All of them require me to send the MEXT application documents, where they could saw the order of priority.)

I think you should be careful with the words you choose and try to be very polite just in case they ask you.
 
Hey guys I'm currently doing my Bachelor's in Computer Engineering at my home country. I'm interested in getting the MEXT Scholarship for a Master's Degree in Japan. I've tried Google but I couldn't get some specific answers. I've heard that we could join get the scholarship as a research student and then upgrade to a degree scholarship later, but I'm not so sure.

Can anyone please help me out by giving me specifics or maybe the application process for getting a MEXT "Master's" Scholarship.?

There is no MEXT Master's Scholarship. There is only MEXT Scholarship for Research Students which you can apply for and then after getting it you usually leave for Japan to become a research student for some time and then you take an entrance exam for Master's course or Doctoral course. You can decide to skip the research student phase, but some universities won't allow you to do that and if they do, you have to travel to Japan to take the entrance exam on your own expenses. I'm not sure what happens to the scholarship if you failed the entrance exam.

Thanks for you reply.
I did not mention that they were not my first choice .(All of them require me to send the MEXT application documents, where they could saw the order of priority.)

I think you should be careful with the words you choose and try to be very polite just in case they ask you.

I see. I had to send my application documents too, but I didn't get a copy of the placement preference form from the embassy. Later, I was asked whether I've managed to get in contact with the universities/professors I've chosen and they also asked if I need a copy of the placement preference form. But none of the three universities/professors I've contacted told me to provide them with the placement preference form. It seems that the embassy in my country prefers not to include it in the documents unless it's necessary.

Yeah, I think I'll try to come up with what to say if they ask me beforehand.
 
There is no MEXT Master's Scholarship. There is only MEXT Scholarship for Research Students which you can apply for and then after getting it you usually leave for Japan to become a research student for some time and then you take an entrance exam for Master's course or Doctoral course. You can decide to skip the research student phase, but some universities won't allow you to do that and if they do, you have to travel to Japan to take the entrance exam on your own expenses. I'm not sure what happens to the scholarship if you failed the entrance exam.

Assuming I got the Research Scholarship and left for Japan. If I were to pass an entrance exam for a related Master's Course in japan , would I be able to change my scholarship to the Master's Course instead of research (stop Research). I read somewhere that we could do this but I'm not sure. Any ideas?
 
Assuming I got the Research Scholarship and left for Japan. If I were to pass an entrance exam for a related Master's Course in japan , would I be able to change my scholarship to the Master's Course instead of research (stop Research). I read somewhere that we could do this but I'm not sure. Any ideas?

Yes, of course. There's even a question in the application form which asks you if you only want to do research or complete a regular Master's / Doctoral course, and if you want to begin as a research student or a regular course student. I was told that it's better to tick off that you want to start as a research student; probably because some universities won't allow anything else anyway. Nothing changes about the way you receive your scholarship (maybe the amount is a few thousands yen different) when you become a Master's course student.
 
Yes, of course. There's even a question in the application form which asks you if you only want to do research or complete a regular Master's / Doctoral course, and if you want to begin as a research student or a regular course student. I was told that it's better to tick off that you want to start as a research student; probably because some universities won't allow anything else anyway. Nothing changes about the way you receive your scholarship (maybe the amount is a few thousands yen different) when you become a Master's course student.

Thanks for the reply. I'm not really worried about the amount I'm just curious about continuing the scholarship. But I will have to appear for entrance exams and be selected before I can continue right?
 
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Thanks for the reply. I'm not really worried about the amount I'm just curious about continuing the scholarship. But I will have to appear for entrance exams and be selected before I can continue right?

Yeah. Let's say you get the scholarship and decide to start in April as a research student. You can start working on your research topic, but people seem to often devote the first months to study of Japanese if they are not proficient. Then, you can take the entrance exam in summer (some schools only have entrance exam in winter). If you pass the entrance exam, you become a regular student in October. Should you not pass, you can continue as a research student and try taking the exam next time; it doesn't affect the scholarship. However, I don't know for how long you have the position of a research student guaranteed and if they can kick you out in some cases.
 
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There is no MEXT Master's Scholarship. There is only MEXT Scholarship for Research Students which you can apply for and then after getting it you usually leave for Japan to become a research student for some time and then you take an entrance exam for Master's course or Doctoral course.

I don't want to butt in, but that is not completely true. As far as I know, there are also MEXT Master's and PHD Scholarships, at least within the The International Priority Graduate Programs (PGP) system. So you can apply for a specific Master's/PHD programme with the MEXT stipend and in this case you enroll in a specific course. Some info here (although it's not very up-to-date, I'm afraid):

The International Priority Graduate Programs (PGP) Advanced Graduate Courses for International Students

Good luck!
 
Hey guys,

so what do you guys think are the chances of getting your first choice if you got a provisional letter of acceptance from all 3 profs? I just got admitted by a prof at Todai, while I was supposed to go to Nagoya, and I changed my uni selection right on time. Now I'm afraid I might start getting too excited to go to Tokyo and in then, February....
 
Has there been a case where you can change course while you are at Japan. Say if I'm enrolled first as a research student with no degree then advance to be a regular student with a degree.. My prospective course is the MBA at the APU Ritsumeikan in Beppu City. Say if I didn't do so well in the GMAT so is it possible then to change to Masters of Asian Studies while I am in Japan?
 
Hi guys,

I am writing to universities to get a letter of acceptance, and therefore have to nominate a supervisor. For one of the uni's the person leading the project I want to be a part of is an Assistant professor, do you think it would look bad if i tried to put down an assistant professor as my supervisor ?
 
I don't want to butt in, but that is not completely true. As far as I know, there are also MEXT Master's and PHD Scholarships, at least within the The International Priority Graduate Programs (PGP) system. So you can apply for a specific Master's/PHD programme with the MEXT stipend and in this case you enroll in a specific course. Some info here (although it's not very up-to-date, I'm afraid):

The International Priority Graduate Programs (PGP) Advanced Graduate Courses for International Students

Good luck!

My bad. I didn't know about that. But the latest update about it on MEXT website is from 2009, which makes me wonder if they still do it. Anyway, the choice of courses seems to be quite limited. With the Research Student Scholarship, you can apply virtually to any course you want at a university of your choice, provided it's related to your previous field of study.


Hi guys,

I am writing to universities to get a letter of acceptance, and therefore have to nominate a supervisor. For one of the uni's the person leading the project I want to be a part of is an Assistant professor, do you think it would look bad if i tried to put down an assistant professor as my supervisor ?

My first choice is also an assistant professor who has his own research group. That shouldn't be a problem. If he/she is a part of some research group and he/she is not the person in charge, he/she may forward your request to the professor in charge.
 
Ah ok great!

Also it is definately possible to get a MEXT masters scholarship since i got one !
 
Could you advice what time to start study as Research Student by Mext is better?

April or October?
 
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