MEXT Scholarship 2015 (Research Students)

[Grandpa Frank]

Welcome to JREF Luis !

If you don't mind , please post in the forum in English . You can use Spanish in private messages and visitor messages though.

Thanks , Uncle Frank

 

[EUS0J]

Hi everyone I'm from Mexico too. I have info about Monbukagakusho. In Mexico for undergratude studies are around 5 places, for japanese student studies are 5 too. For graduate are 12. I know this because i asked the head about how many posibilities Mexico has and those were the answers. Actually I'm applying to Japanese student studies and I'm so nervous, my exam and interview in in two days. I really apreciate you have this project because in Mexico no one has any idea how to apply to this scholarship.
Thwe next coments will be in Spanish in order to give more info for Latin America countries and Spain.
Bien chavos como mencione estoy aplicando a la beca y esa es la informaciﾃｳn que yo tengo. Les doy los puntos breve de cada una aunque hare enfasis en la de perfeccionamiento del idioma japones, ya que es en la que menos informaciﾃｳn hay en la red.
LICENCIATURA
Depende que quieras estudiar, si es ciencias naturales y exactas haras examen de matematicas fﾃｺﾂ進ca biologﾃｺ} quﾃｺﾅ?ica inglﾃｩs y japonﾃｩs, deberﾃ｡s reunir 220 pts para pasar a la etapa de entrevista (desconozco si siga siendo valido este puntaje), el examen de japonﾃｩs no tiene tanto peso como mate o fﾃｺﾂ進ca. Es mejor que sepas japonﾃｩs en un nivel N4 para que sumes puntos a tu favor, el nivel de inglﾃｩs requierido es equivalente a un TOEFL 550pts. Una vez que pases los filtros de tu embajada deberas esperar la respuesta de MEXT. si eres aceptado vas a Japﾃｳn a estudiar japonﾃｩs por 6 meses y presentar el examen de admision a la unviersidad que desees, si no lo pasas te regresas a tu paﾃｺﾂ? asあ de simple.
MAESTRIA y DOCTORADO
Es en la que mﾃ｡s info hay, asあ que no tiene caso que escriba sobre ella.
PERFECCIONAMIENTO DE JAPONES
Es la que estoy aplicando, espero me la den. Debes estar en la licenciatura a fuerza, nada de que cubrあ crﾃｩditos pero aﾃｺn no me titulo, error frecuente de los aplicantes. Se requiere minimo el N3 para aplicar, no es necesario tener el comprobante oficial ya que a traves del examen que hace la embajada se dan cuenta del nivel, el examen de aﾃｱos pasados estan para llorar, si eres fregonsisimo en japonﾃｩs espera un puntaje de entre 60 a 75 pts no mﾃ｡s, si tienes el N3 espera entre 40 a 60. Si tienes nivel mﾃ｡s abajo te recomiendo que si aplicas te pongas las pilas pues la gramatica del examen no es la tipica de que particula va sino es perrisima, las lecturas son de tres paginas completas con alrededor de conocimiento de entre 1000 a 1800 kanji, pero no te desamines si se le entiende a la idea principal. En cuanto al papeleo que es donde mﾃ｡s tarde, al menos en Mﾃｩxico te piden la carta de recomendacion del director de la universidad, debes tener promedio minimo de 8.0 afortunadamente yo tengo 9.3 de la licenciatura =) me abre muchas posibilidades. debes hacer tu la traduccion de documentos, no vayas ni dos dias y mucho menos un dia antes de cerrar la convocatoria, porque siempre te regresan los papeles por cualquier cosa, y lo mﾃ｡s importante, podras haber cumplido con la Embajada pero si no registras tu candidatura ante la SRE estas descalificado.
Si me dan la beca, prometo escribir un post a fondo en espaﾃｱol, ingles y japones sobre el procedimiento. En verdad debes tener muchos meritos para aplicar, en mi caso me veo favorable por tener ya el certificado de ingles y japones. Ademas estudio Chino, hice investigacion para la UNAM (ahi estudio), etc. esas pequeﾃｱas cosas te dan el plus.
Espero sirva mi aporte, solo se que Filipinos, Estadounidenses, Coreanos y Chinos tienen mas posibilidades que otros paises.

Olvide mencionar de LICENCIATURA
si tu area es ciencias sociales o humanidades
Haras unicamente Matematicas, Ingles y Japones, pero para este Japones tiene mucho peso, aunque no lo dicen, por lo que nuevamente les sugiero ir manejando nivel de N4, con ese basta para tener las respuestas bien, yo vi los examenes de aﾃｱos pasados y bueno yo ya certifique N3 y ya empece a mejorar para N2, resolvi el examen y tuve 95% de las respuestas buenas de japones, osea hablamos de 95 pts de los 100, ahi ya llevas casi la mitad del puntaje solicitado, asあ que animense chavos.
MAtematicas es complicado, no es un nivel cualquiera, es mate como de licenciatura media en Mﾃｩxico, asあ que si planean aplicar haganlo con un aﾃｱo o dos de anticipacion

Thanks for the input, although you are applying for the japanese course still good to know how many scholarships they are given, I knew they where a few but five? that's too litle, any way, I think you could find good info for the japanese language course if you search the net, is one of the most demanded and difficult as it is, if you study hard enough and don't blew it at the interview saying things like: "I want to go to japan beacause I like that anime or that manga" it should be allright, I mean, they are not searching for otaku's, they are looking for people who's truly devoted to perfecting their japanese skills and then sharing they knowledge in mexico, and not only going to japan for a leisure trip, this also aplies for the bachelor's, master's and doctor's course, I write this in english because I want to include everyone who can find this info useful.

Something I would like to note for people trying out for the masters and/or doctor's scholarship, I've been talking to former Monbukagakusho scholarship holders, and it seems that most of them didn't even try to get the scholarship form the embassy, instead, they applied directly to the university, once they got accpeted by them, they asked if they could recommend them for the scholarship, and most universities did, it was easier, faster and they get into they prefered school, this may not be true in all cases but is something to keep in mind, if you don't get trough the embassy recommendation you can apply directly to the univeristies, you would have to send documents and that represents a cost (examination fees, packing and stuff) you'll be asked other things such as TOEFL, GRE or GMAT results as well as JLPT results, along with the project, forms and recommendations letters, any way, thanks for the info, application date for the research program is gettng closer (at least here in mexico) so once it starts I would try to keep you guys posted trough the process.

 

[asianandroids]

Hey EUS0J,

I'm from Mexico too and applying for the MEXT as a Research Student. I don't know anyone else who is doing it in Mexico, so that'd make you the first person. Do you mind if we keep in touch? And by the way, do you know when the application date is? Because I keep going to the Embassy website and they have no information whatsoever about it.

Thanks!

 

[Bas86]

hello all ,

am going to conduct my application to the embassy of japan in lebanon , as a master in mechanical engineering .
I wish to discuss this issue with you coworkers ,
the scholarship will be declared after the middle of march 2014 . and it will be soon ,

best regards to you all my friends )

 

[Frida]

It's good to see some Mexicans here.

Last year I wanted to try for the scholarship but my bachelor's degree would come in too late so I had to postpone it to this year.
I want to do a Master in Intercultural/Cross-cultural communications.

I am goint to start contacting the professors at around mid-May to see if they would be interested in my project if I got selected for the scholarship.

One of the things I learnt last year is that many people wait to contact the professors until they pass the interview, and by then it's almost summer vacations for school in Japan, so they only get the answers until mid August, and sometimes that is already too late.

Also for Mexicans fellows, as soon as the period for the application starts, I would recommend to contact SRE to get the formats we have to give to the government here in Mexico.

 

[Michel Marion]

Hi everyone,

I have some questions and if someone could help me shed light on all of this it'd be great!

Before I do so, I may mention that I am a current master student in Korea in Korean History. I study the Japanese legal system in Korea during the colonial period and thus my research can be said to be both Japanese and Korean history. I already have a master from my home uni in Canada but decide to do another in Korean to become perfectly fluent and give me the time to start on my Japanese. I am, I would say, at about level 4 in Japanese right now. Since all the primary sources I would be using for my doctorate would be in Japanese, I had in mind to apply for the MEXT scholarship to get a good two years experiences in Japan and get my Japanese to where it should be, and, in the meantime, access the documents I would need in the future and study there. I am attending Japanese classes right now at the intermediate level, but I don't think I could carry any sort of decent conversation as of yet.

Ouff, it's done hehe. Thanks for reading until now

As for my questions:

1- Well, it's not very clear what a Research student does in Japan compared with a Master degree student. Do research students also attend classes, take exams, and as generally expected to follow the same track as other Master students or do they get to access the uni facilities to work on the research they pitched, and meet on occasions with their advisers to discuss about their research?

2- I understand that my chances are very low to receive the scholarship since I am trying to get in the field of humanities and they specifically mention that in such cases the applicant must speak Japanese at an advanced level. My take is that perhaps I could argue that since I am already fluent in Korean and already know a good amount of Kanji, my learning curve would be quicker....--_-- And that because of the particular difficulty of researching colonial documents, this opportunity would be crucial for me as a preparation for my Phd. I would thus propose to research a certain law I am specializing in...or something like that. For those who have gotten the scholarship for fields within the humanities, does this sound like a possible track? My ultimate dream would be to have an adviser you would point me out to crucial scholars and documents I should study and I would then spend the next 2 years doing so and developing some sort of project out of it.

My goal is thus to be in Japan for 2 years to work on my research, and while I would actively work toward improving my Japan to complete fluency, attending classes in Japanese appear a bit daunting right now.

Thanks for reading!!!

If, conversely, I can be of any help to someone looking for more info on coming to study to Korea, you're welcome to ask hehe ^^

 

[nar]

1- Well, it's not very clear what a Research student does in Japan compared with a Master degree student. Do research students also attend classes, take exams, and as generally expected to follow the same track as other Master students or do they get to access the uni facilities to work on the research they pitched, and meet on occasions with their advisers to discuss about their research?

A standalone research student who does not wish to seek a degree afterwards work on their research without taking any classes. However it's common for foreign students and for the scholarship applicants who wish to seek a masters or doctorate degree to first enroll as a research student, use this time to take the 6 months of japanese language training provided by the scholarship as well as additional training and preparation for the entrance exams for masters and doctorate programs. Then they simply upgrade to masters or doctorate programs on passing the entrance exams. Your plan for staying for 2 years to get used to the language and working on a research project before proceeding to a degree program is pretty much exactly what the research student period is used for for degree seeking students. The period is a maximum of 2 years under the MEXT scholarship however so you'll probably want to accelerate your timetable a bit to have a bit of leeway.

2- I understand that my chances are very low to receive the scholarship since I am trying to get in the field of humanities and they specifically mention that in such cases the applicant must speak Japanese at an advanced level. My take is that perhaps I could argue that since I am already fluent in Korean and already know a good amount of Kanji, my learning curve would be quicker....--_-- And that because of the particular difficulty of researching colonial documents, this opportunity would be crucial for me as a preparation for my Phd. I would thus propose to research a certain law I am specializing in...or something like that. For those who have gotten the scholarship for fields within the humanities, does this sound like a possible track? My ultimate dream would be to have an adviser you would point me out to crucial scholars and documents I should study and I would then spend the next 2 years doing so and developing some sort of project out of it.

My friend applied for humanities and got in with a level of Japanese that I believe is roughly equivalent to yours. However he was applying for a program researching European cultures (Apparently there are a decent number of departments in Japans that specialize in this) so he probably didn't need to be held to a higher standard of Japanese but according to him the thing that helped the most was that he knew his advisor beforehand and thus his advisor helped him with his application. That may help you as well if you can get to know some professors, though he had a personal introduction as he used to work in JET as an english teacher in the same city as the university.

 

[Michel Marion]

Nar, thanks so much for your answer, it's much appreciated! I shall definitely apply now that I read your answer, thanks a bunch

 

[EUS0J]

Hey EUS0J,

I'm from Mexico too and applying for the MEXT as a Research Student. I don't know anyone else who is doing it in Mexico, so that'd make you the first person. Do you mind if we keep in touch? And by the way, do you know when the application date is? Because I keep going to the Embassy website and they have no information whatsoever about it.

Thanks!

Hello, as for the application date I believe it starts at april 8, from that moment you have to call the embassy and ask for the scholarship talks, just check the embassy webpage on a weekly basis, keep in mind that they make this talks a requirement if it is your first time applying for the scholarship, so you will have to attend to one of them, there they will explain you a bit more about all the process you will have to go trough, also, since you don't live in Mexico City, please note that you will have to make some trips here, for the talks, the exam and eventually the interview, if you want to contact me directly I send you a reply for the PM you send me, but I'm not sure if you allready saw it, anyway if there's anything I can help you with feel free to ask.

 

[Luis]

Hi everybody!!
Did you remeber that im applying for the japanese studies scholarship?, so I´m really happy =)
My application was good, i did my japanese exam and the interview. So my documents were sent to Tokyo
last week. So I have to wait until August to the final decision, I´m so nervous.
Hope my mexicans partners and I get the Monbugakasho.

Recuerdan que estoy aplicando para la beca de perfeccionamiento de japonés? Estoy muy feliz =)
Mi aplicación fue buena. Pase el examen de japonés y la entrevista. Mis documentos fueron enviados a Tokyo la semana pasada
Entonces tengo que esperar hasta Agosto para la decisión final. Estoy nervioso.
Espero que mis compañeros mexicanos y yo obtengamos la Monbukagakusho.

 

[Bas86]

Hi everybody!!
Did you remeber that im applying for the japanese studies scholarship?, so I´m really happy =)
My application was good, i did my japanese exam and the interview. So my documents were sent to Tokyo
last week. So I have to wait until August to the final decision, I´m so nervous.
Hope my mexicans partners and I get the Monbugakasho.
Recuerdan que estoy aplicando para la beca de perfeccionamiento de japonés? Estoy muy feliz =)
Mi aplicación fue buena. Pase el examen de japonés y la entrevista. Mis documentos fueron enviados a Tokyo la semana pasada
Entonces tengo que esperar hasta Agosto para la decisión final. Estoy nervioso.
Espero que mis compañeros mexicanos y yo obtengamos la Monbukagakusho.

Did they purchased the Scholarship 2015 , In my country we still wait for It , they havn't announced the scholarship , Wish to you the best .

 

[Luis]

Did they purchased the Scholarship 2015 , In my country we still wait for It , they havn't announced the scholarship , Wish to you the best .

Hi the scholarship that i applied was japanese studies students for 2014 in september will be the travel if all goes well. So for research student is in april when embassy of japan in the world opens the application, but i recomend you that call to the embassy in your country because i think you must have to attend a scholarship talk in order to get the real documents.
And if you trying to apply this april, your travel will be april (2015).
I dont know how the procedure in Lebanon is, but i think is the same o like Mexico.
Really if you want to apply try to get a good plan research
Wish you too the best
for sure if i get the scholarship no doubt in contact me !!!!

 

[Luis]

Hello, as for the application date I believe it starts at april 8, from that moment you have to call the embassy and ask for the scholarship talks, just check the embassy webpage on a weekly basis, keep in mind that they make this talks a requirement if it is your first time applying for the scholarship, so you will have to attend to one of them, there they will explain you a bit more about all the process you will have to go trough, also, since you don't live in Mexico City, please note that you will have to make some trips here, for the talks, the exam and eventually the interview, if you want to contact me directly I send you a reply for the PM you send me, but I'm not sure if you allready saw it, anyway if there's anything I can help you with feel free to ask.

I will like to be in touch with you two, I'm happy to know there are mexicans to want this scholarship.
In my case im studying the university yet, but i applied to the japanese studies students because
i want to deep in my japanase skills. I have the JLPT N3 so if i get the Monbukagakusho in december i will try the N2 and July (2015) N1.
For sure if i get the scholarship and you too, we could have a meet in Japan
Good luck you two.
Im still wating for final decision.

 

[Bas86]

Thx my friend , i planned for that scholarship since the past april 2014 , and am taking japanese cours on my own , it is almost amaizing language for a smart and decent culture ,
I wish to be accepted and I is a dream for me to be in japan ,
I wish to be selected same as you my friend

 

[jaeykos]

Hello beautiful people

I'm a civil engineering student from Canada; I will be graduating next April and plan to study masters in Japan in October 2015. I just found out about the MEXT couple days ago and since then, i've been reading relentlessly on everything relevant to it. However there are still couple things that I just can't figure out still:
1) MEXT Scholarship through the Embassy or University Recommendation: As far as I understand, a student can apply for MEXT either through the embassy from his country or a university. For Embassy Recommendation, I first have to pass the first screening from the embassy, find the university that i want to get into and get accepted, and then get approval by the embassy again for the final approval. On the other hand, for the University Recommendation, the university can recommend me to the ministry once I get accepted to the University. If I am correct with this information, I wonder why I should get MEXT though Embassy when the process of the ladder seems so much simpler. Furthermore, I read that MEXT is much harder to get through the embassy compared to University Recommendation. Is it also true that I am not allowed to do both of them? If that is true, can I still go for Uni Recommendation if I get rejected by the Embassy:?
2) Dates for University Recommendation: if I want to enroll in October 2015, when is the right time for me to start applying to the Universities in Japan? I know that the embassy starts offering the application from the start of April, but I have no idea if I choose to get MEXT via University Recommendation. Should I start contacting the universities at this moment (March 2014)?
3) my chance of getting MEXT: i mean.. everyone applying for MEXT wants to know this.. and there is never a definitive answer for this question. However, I was wondering if any of you guys, especially the ones awarded in past, could help me figuring out my chance of getting MEXT based on these information:
Program & Discipline: Master's Program for Civil Engineering
University I want to attend: University of Tokyo, University of Kyoto
Country: Canada
Current University: University of Waterloo (pretty reputable school in Canada)
GPA: mid 80s (Some where around 3.5 out of 4 in GPA)
Experience: 1 term of research assistantship at the university, 5 internships (4 months each) since 1st year of university
Fluency in Japanese: Conversational, can read basic Japanese (lived in Japan for total of 9 years; 5 years from 0-5 and 5 years from 10-14; I did attend in English school so I hope that does not disqualify me from MEXT requirements)
Other languages: Korean (Im orginally from Korean and became Canadian several years ago)
I hope I am good enough of a candidate... please feel free to say anything.. thanks so much for your time reading this post!!

 

[Bas86]

I'm a civil engineering student from Canada; I will be graduating next April and plan to study masters in Japan in October 2015. I just found out about the MEXT couple days ago and since then, i've been reading relentlessly on everything relevant to it. However there are still couple things that I just can't figure out still:
1) MEXT Scholarship through the Embassy or University Recommendation: As far as I understand, a student can apply for MEXT either through the embassy from his country or a university. For Embassy Recommendation, I first have to pass the first screening from the embassy, find the university that i want to get into and get accepted, and then get approval by the embassy again for the final approval. On the other hand, for the University Recommendation, the university can recommend me to the ministry once I get accepted to the University. If I am correct with this information, I wonder why I should get MEXT though Embassy when the process of the ladder seems so much simpler. Furthermore, I read that MEXT is much harder to get through the embassy compared to University Recommendation. Is it also true that I am not allowed to do both of them? If that is true, can I still go for Uni Recommendation if I get rejected by the Embassy:?
2) Dates for University Recommendation: if I want to enroll in October 2015, when is the right time for me to start applying to the Universities in Japan? I know that the embassy starts offering the application from the start of April, but I have no idea if I choose to get MEXT via University Recommendation. Should I start contacting the universities at this moment (March 2014)?
3) my chance of getting MEXT: i mean.. everyone applying for MEXT wants to know this.. and there is never a definitive answer for this question. However, I was wondering if any of you guys, especially the ones awarded in past, could help me figuring out my chance of getting MEXT based on these information:
Program & Discipline: Master's Program for Civil Engineering
University I want to attend: University of Tokyo, University of Kyoto
Country: Canada
Current University: University of Waterloo (pretty reputable school in Canada)
GPA: mid 80s (Some where around 3.5 out of 4 in GPA)
Experience: 1 term of research assistantship at the university, 5 internships (4 months each) since 1st year of university
Fluency in Japanese: Conversational, can read basic Japanese (lived in Japan for total of 9 years; 5 years from 0-5 and 5 years from 10-14; I did attend in English school so I hope that does not disqualify me from MEXT requirements)
Other languages: Korean (Im orginally from Korean and became Canadian several years ago)
I hope I am good enough of a candidate... please feel free to say anything.. thanks so much for your time reading this post!!

My dear Friend , If you have good GPA , Apply Via university it is easier to get the scholarship , But for me I Prefer to be selected by embassy because I think there is no chance for me to be qualified by the university

Steps are different if you apply as embassy or university recommendation. You should Surf the japanese embassy of your country to collect more informations about the scholarship , and for a while you should begin contacting universities if you would take the scholarship with university recommendation .

Looking forward for good news

 

[jaeykos]

Thank you Bas 86, I'm going to try to contact them and see what happens.

 

[dmnte]

Hi guys,

I also plan to apply for the research scholarship, but I would prefer to go straight into a masters degree course rather than be a research student first and then transfer. i have talked to the japanese embassy here and some universities in Japan and they say to wait till I pass the first round first. Does anyone know of people that have gone straight into a masters course without doing the research student first ?
If so do you know how they went about this ?

Thanks

 

[jaeykos]

Hi guys,

I also plan to apply for the research scholarship, but I would prefer to go straight into a masters degree course rather than be a research student first and then transfer. i have talked to the japanese embassy here and some universities in Japan and they say to wait till I pass the first round first. Does anyone know of people that have gone straight into a masters course without doing the research student first ?
If so do you know how they went about this ?

Thanks

I believe that depends on which university you want to attend. For instance when i checked out Tokyo U website, it says they only except students for masters in October; Tokyo U does not accept research student. On the other hand, Osaka U or kyoto U (sorry i forgot which one) actually recommends students to begin with research then upgrade to masters, since extending MEXT is not that hard.
I am new at this too.. but I read from one of the posts that i should contact the professors I am interested in working with (whether its research or masters) and gather information on their research. Use this info to write up your thesis proposal, instead of writing "i want to do masters so i dont need a thesis".

 

[dmnte]

Yes, I think just putting down "I want to do masters" wouldnt get you very far.

Although I was thinking about it and the first 6 months will be used for language training which will be a benefit either way, this means I could use the first 6 months to study spend 6 months as a research student and do my entrance exams and then start the masters at the start of the second year.

I would prefer to go straight into a masters but i know my japanese level isnt good enough for uni.

Any1 see any problems in this ?

 

[dreamsky999]

I believe that depends on which university you want to attend. For instance when i checked out Tokyo U website, it says they only except students for masters in October; Tokyo U does not accept research student. On the other hand, Osaka U or kyoto U (sorry i forgot which one) actually recommends students to begin with research then upgrade to masters, since extending MEXT is not that hard.
I am new at this too.. but I read from one of the posts that i should contact the professors I am interested in working with (whether its research or masters) and gather information on their research. Use this info to write up your thesis proposal, instead of writing "i want to do masters so i dont need a thesis".

Hi, I've stumbled upon this..
Research Student Admission of Tokyo University, on School of Science
Perhaps this is the latest one?
Also, thanks for the research backtrack tips.

 

[drewa]

Hey guys has the 2015 applications come out in your country yet? I am wanting it to hurry up and be released here in America sooooo much!

 

[jaeykos]

nope not yet.. it says it will be coming out soon though

 

[Frida]

Not here either. I think it'll come out next week.

I'm already asking at school for the letters of recommendation... I didn't think getting it would be so hard.

I'm trying to get an appointment with the Dean of the school and his assistant just says he is too busy. And my advisor says he does not have the authority to write one in a headed notepaper from the school (that is how they ask for them here in Mexico) -__-

I have to find a way to get them.

 

[drewa]

Not here either. I think it'll come out next week.

I'm already asking at school for the letters of recommendation... I didn't think getting it would be so hard.

I'm trying to get an appointment with the Dean of the school and his assistant just says he is too busy. And my advisor says he does not have the authority to write one in a headed notepaper from the school (that is how they ask for them here in Mexico) -__-


I have to find a way to get them.

Next week? What makes you say that? I was so excited cause at first I thought that it would be out on April 1st haha.
So how many people from Mexico apply for this? As for America, I don't think many people do. In the first place it's rare(in my opinion) that a high school will offer Japanese. So Japanese isn't too popular here. However I don't think it will increase my chances haha.

And, yeah, it's hard, but feels great when you get the scholarship!
My letter of recommendation is from my principal. He pretty much said he will write it and to just bring the papers when I get a hold of it.
Maybe try explaining to your Dean one more time about this opportunity. It's just a letter, it won't take so long to write, ya know?
But if that doesn't work, I'm almost 100% positive(ask your embassy though) that you can get recommendation from a teacher but attach a note explaining your circumstances