MEXT Scholarship (Graduate Students) 2017

[yeryoma]

Congratulations!

May I ask what will you be studying? Also, is the professor or the embassy supposed to let you know about the final scholarship information?

Thank you very much! I will study Social Informatics, Graduate School of Informatics. I think MEXT prohibits universities from contacting students about final selection, but some professors still contact students about their Study/Research plans

 

[indojindesu]

I applied to Kyoto Uni and I have not heard anything T______T
I'll keep my hopes up until January XD

I applied to Kyoto Uni and I have not heard anything T______T
I'll keep my hopes up until January XD

Maybe your Professor/Uni/department follows the rules more strictly or something? Maybe you will get something in this week? Maybe your country's applications haven't been processed yet because your country has a larger number of applicants? Maybe your Professor is out enjoying somewhere with no cellphone coverage or Internet access?



I keep telling myself this (゜∀゜)
Trying. to. remain. sane.

 

[Frida]

Nobody told me I had to pass a "stay mentally sane" test for this scholarship XD
I think I'm failing it miserably

 

[AmerikaJin5]

@AruanM Congratulations to you too! I don't think there would be any reason for the scholarship not to be given to you at this point... I mean... maybe if the university disappeared from earth... but otherwise I would say you can start packing

I was wondering how much I could let myself be excited after passing the second screening too, and like you say it's probably unlikely that anyone could fail at this point before the final screening.

However, to clarify why it's even an issue (the embassy continually told me "even though you've passed the n-th screening, this is not officially decided.."), consider the terms of the scholarship:
- National universities waive the tuition for MEXT scholars (university bears the cost), private universities' tuition is paid by MEXT (expensive) and public universities' tuition is paid by MEXT (cheaper).
- MEXT grants the scholarship to the applicant, but the university offers the actual admission (to the university).
- The professor/lab offers the provisional acceptance letter on behalf of the university, which is different from the university-wide admission process used for domestic students.
- Some universities are super popular (Todai, Waseda, Keio) and have a very high number of applicants in a given year.

Considering these points, it's possible that MEXT clears you for the second screening (i.e., application/documents/exams are valid and approved by MEXT staff), but the next step is contacting universities, and students could get turned away if:
- A national university (not the professor, but the uni-admin) decides that they don't want to waive costs for a MEXT student.
- MEXT is faced with choosing from a list of private universities with high tuition, during a year when the budget is tight.
- The desired universities received too many applicants to accept them all (like Todai) but the applicant did not list any "easy" universities as a back-up.
Notice that these scenarios are independent of the embassy selection process, so it's possible to pass the 1st/2nd screenings and still get rejected before the final. But it's extremely unlikely

Just FYI in my case I had a private university as my 1st choice, but MEXT didn't even contact them! They skipped straight to my 2nd choice, which was a national university (cheaper option for MEXT).

Good luck to everyone waiting, and congrats to those who are hearing good results!

 

[indojindesu]

Which universities did you apply to?

I'm sorry I didnot see your post!

I have received LoA from the University of Tokyo and SOKENDAI . Neither has contacted me yet.

 

[madphysicist]

Congratulations!

Most of the people who have received any kind of notification seem to have applied to Kyoto university xD

I'm checking my email every minute lol

I take this as a good sign that Kyoto is efficient hahaha. But it's great to see so many people got their first choice



For those that didn't get the notification yet, I really think there is no need to worry.
The result usually comes out later than November, even as late as January. I think no news is good news.
And the chance of being rejected at this stage is extremely small, especially if you listed more than one university. Actually I've never heard anyone say they didn't get their first choice if it was a national university and they got a LoA.

 

[hsark]

My embassy just said we passed stage 2 and made final selection.... we only find out our final university at end of Jan........ I think it's good to get a solid confirmation soon so you can plan leaving your country especially if your currently working, renting a flat etc. Shoot I need to cancel my gym membership lol

 

[indojindesu]

My embassy just said we passed stage 2 and made final selection.... we only find out our final university at end of Jan........ I think it's good to get a solid confirmation soon so you can plan leaving your country especially if your currently working, renting a flat etc. Shoot I need to cancel my gym membership lol

Congratulations!!

 

[AruanM]

I was wondering how much I could let myself be excited after passing the second screening too, and like you say it's probably unlikely that anyone could fail at this point before the final screening.

Hey there, AmerikaJin5, thank you for your thorough analysis. It made perfect sense. Now I'm just nervous because I only got one LoA, but at least it's from a national University (Nagoya University). My whole life's on hold right now.

Congratulations to everyone here, and I really hope to see us all making it there. I assume we all worked hard for this moment, and that some of us sacrificed certain aspects of our lives to get this opportunity, so I wish that all this effort will get duly rewarded. Good luck to us all!

 

[glamette]

Yaay I got my notification from my Embassy today! Second stage Clear! Okay, it's getting a little more real now.

 

[Hamdi]

Yaay I got my notification from my Embassy today! Second stage Clear! Okay, it's getting a little more real now.

Congratulations!

 

[Wilson Karma]

"There is nothing new for me, I'm still waiting on a feedback from the embassy in Angola but there's no need to worry. I sent an e-mail to the person who is handling the scholarship at the embassy and she is out of office until December 5. I guess is just a matter of time, for us whom didn't receive any result, get the positive feedback.

Btw, congratulations for everyone who received the result!! I'm looking forward to meeting......"


I was writing this post when I'd received the e-mail from the embassy telling me that I've passed the 2 stage. Thank you all!! :joyful::joyful::joyful::joyful:

 

[Frida]

I have just received an email from my embassy saying I passed the 2nd screenin. that the final results will come out in December-January, so that we should still not make any assumptions nor quit school or work (LOL).

I am so happy!

 

[Hamdi]

I have just received an email from my embassy saying I passed the 2nd screenin. that the final results will come out in December-January, so that we should still not make any assumptions nor quit school or work (LOL).

I am so happy!

Congratulations!

Hoping that everything goes well until the end!

 

[Wilson Karma]

what are the possibilities to fail at this stage?

In my case the embassy told me that they'll inform me as soon as the MEXT decide which University they will allocate me. I'm almost sure that they'll choose the Kyoto University because the other two are private.

Once again congratulations to everyone who received a feedback from the embassy and good luck for those that are still waiting.

 

[hsark]

what are the possibilities to fail at this stage?

In my case the embassy told me that they'll inform me as soon as the MEXT decide which University they will allocate me. I'm almost sure that they'll choose the Kyoto University because the other two are private.

Once again congratulations to everyone who received a feedback from the embassy and good luck for those that are still waiting.

my embassy told me to start packing my bags and get ready to move to JP but they couldn`t confirm the university yet .... so still pray for my first choice even if it is a private

 

[Frida]

my embassy told me to start packing my bags and get ready to move to JP but they couldn`t confirm the university yet .... so still pray for my first choice even if it is a private

Well, if they said you can start packing I think that is enough good news to be happy. I know at this point I would not mind even if they place me in my third option. After all, I chose those 3 universities because I would like to study in any of them



On another subject... Is it too soon to start a facebook group for 2017 graduate scholars? Am I getting ahead here? XD Anyone
*Dances*

 

[hsark]

On another subject... Is it too soon to start a facebook group for 2017 graduate scholars? Am I getting ahead here? XD Anyone
*Dances*

thats a great idea but i think its too early maybe Jan or Feb next year....as far as I understand no one has received an actual official letter saying their a MEXT scholar or any mention of it via email all it says is you passed the 2nd screening,
Also not all embassy staff know whats going on behind the scenes
2. as some one mentioned earlier you could still be rejected by the universities ....unless you pick 3 national universities, but i still find it rare as your given a period to prep for entrance exams.
3. We still have to sort out our visas and the finer details of this scholarship etc. a lot can still happen over the next 4-5 months.

......personally I`m waiting to get more official notification from my Embassy in person and allocation to a University.

one nice thing to at least think about over the festive season is that you`ve already taken up a MEXT slot so no one else can replace you at this stage

 

[madphysicist]

I also got an email this week from the embassy.


"The MEXT in Tokyo has informed us that you have passed the secondary screening for the 2017 Japanese Government Scholarship (Research Student).

However, this does not mean that you are accepted as a scholar yet. The MEXT will start to contact the universities you listed in your application and will go through a further related procedure from December through March. I will be back in touch as soon as we hear further information on your placement."


Clearly they have already contacted the university though, because my supervisor told me I was accepted before the embassy did. So this email is a bit weird.

what are the possibilities to fail at this stage?

I would guess about 0.1%... I really think they are just covering their a**es with all this "you have not been officially accepted yet", so that you can't complain if something goes wrong that is out of the embassy's control.

 

[Tagy]

Dear All,
Hope every is ok with you, my embassy didn't call me, i think everything is in January, but i didn't about the second screening.
I provide only one letter of acceptance for nagoya institute, i got 4 LOA but i give the embassy only one LOA as the embassy officer asked for only one, she didn't say that i need to give more than one and then MEXT will choose university for me, this is strange and not good, because i only give one LOA.
hope some one can give more information about this situation.

 

[Wilson Karma]

I provide only one letter of acceptance for nagoya institute, i got 4 LOA but i give the embassy only one LOA as the embassy officer asked for only one, she didn't say that i need to give more than one and then MEXT will choose university for me, this is strange and not good, because i only give one LOA.
hope some one can give more information about this situation.

I believe that the procedures are different for each country in my case it was crucial to submit all the LOAs as soon as I got them from the Universities. Try not to worry to much and wait until the end of December because this is the right deadline for the 2nd screening.

Here in Angola there's a candidate who didn't receive any LOA and even so he passed the 2nd screening. I believe that the embassy will try to contact the 3 Universities that he has chosen in order to obtain a LOA as a last resource.

 

[indojindesu]

Hey guys!!! I got the second screening results today!! I PASSSEDDDD!!:woot::woot::woot::woot::woot:
After three years I finally passed lol
I got a letter from the embassy. No Email. It says the same stuff which you guys have mentioned, provisional acceptance and all ompous:


I hope rest of the members get their good news soon!!

 

[indojindesu]

Well, if they said you can start packing I think that is enough good news to be happy. I know at this point I would not mind even if they place me in my third option. After all, I chose those 3 universities because I would like to study in any of them



On another subject... Is it too soon to start a facebook group for 2017 graduate scholars? Am I getting ahead here? XD Anyone
*Dances*

LETS START THE GROUP XDDDD

 

[dauntless]

Hey guys!!! I got the second screening results today!! I PASSSEDDDD!!:woot::woot::woot::woot::woot:
After three years I finally passed lol
I got a letter from the embassy. No Email. It says the same stuff which you guys have mentioned, provisional acceptance and all ompous:


I hope rest of the members get their good news soon!!

Congrats Indojindesu!
It's so good to hear you passed. Finally your dreams came true
Good luck again to all of us who haven't yet heard the news.

 

[Wilson Karma]

Hey guys!!! I got the second screening results today!! I PASSSEDDDD!!:woot::woot::woot::woot::woot:
After three years I finally passed lol
I got a letter from the embassy. No Email. It says the same stuff which you guys have mentioned, provisional acceptance and all ompous:


I hope rest of the members get their good news soon!!

OMG Three years?!? :jawdrop::jawdrop: Congratulation Indojindesu, way to go! Everything in life happen at their own time, we just need to keep working as strong as we can and wait!

Regarding the group we'd better wait until the final result because anything can happen at this stage. I was reading about a Brazilian who couldn't go to Japan at the foreseen year because of the great earthquake in 2011. :dead: