MEXT Scholarship for Postgraduate 2010: General Discussions.

[Ajay]

Phew! just turned in my application this week. In India it seems there is one more level of filtering, which is done by the Indian Ministery of Human Resource and Development. Let us see what is going to happen. I am waiting with my fingures crossed.

the exam was two parts the english exam also the japanese exam
i answered the english exam but i did nothing with the japanese exam bcz i do not know much ,,, but i am eager to learn japanese (( aregato ))
i think i did well at the exam ,, because they called me to join the interview ,,
first of all i came late , about 3 minutes , because of heavy traffic on road every road i took was blocked ,
when i intered the room i found four japanese people waiting for me , i started introduce my self , i apologied about my lateness explaining the reasons , then my job , then they asked me many and many Qs , i felt that it was the longest interview i ever had ,,
they told me that they will call me after one week period .
i hope i did well .

Interesting! so it seems like there is a change in the examination pattern this year. This always happens with me . First it happened during the 12th / Senior Secondary exams, then during the entrance examinations for undergraduate studies, then during my masters entrance examination and now here too. Guess I was born in a wrong year or something. I will wait for our Malayasian friends to confirm if the written exam they faced is any different from the earlier ones.

Regarding preparation for this examination, judging from the past posts in 2009 postgrad thread, it seems that the cutoff is roughly 80%, I did solve two past papers and got something like 76% and 84% respectively . I think for reading comprehension (RCs), a decent thing will be to practice some stuff from GRE/SAT guide books as like this exam their RCs are of roughly the same length and focus a lot on logical thinking rather than on just finding the right line. Again due to the fact that this exam is same as the one administered to the undergrad candidates, I think SAT will be a bit more closer.

Will any one like to share his preparation ideas for this exam?

 

[mobos]

about the exam

Hi thetrystero
::: there were many people applied to the scholarship , but they permitted only few people to enter the exam .
i wish i can obtain this chance .......

 

[realku2004]

i passed the exam but still nervous about the interview >>>>>>>>>>>
tomorrow i will join an interview with Japanese embassy and i don't know how the question will be ,,,, if any person can show me the way , tips , or advices
the exam was tough , and time was short , and the exam was a little bit different from previous years
they started with
Q1- long and long reading passage - 7 Q
Q2- long and long reading passage - 8 Q
Q3- fill the gaps - the most noxious question at the of this question some one call me to move my car which was partially blocking the gate of some shops
Q4- MCQ i didnt remember if it was 15 or 20
Q5 fill the gaps in the passage 10 choices and only use 5
hmmmmmmmmm
tomorrow , interview , god please help.

Thank you very much for your very important information. Could you please clarify some sections of the question?

Q1- long and long reading passage - 7 Q
Q2- long and long reading passage - 8 Q

Clarify: What is the topic of the passage? Can u remember plsssss????

Q3- fill the gaps - the most noxious question at the of this question some one call me to move my car which was partially blocking the gate of some shops

Clarify: fill the gaps: was it mcq pattern? Grammatical issues? What is the topic????

Q4- MCQ i didnt remember if it was 15 or 20

Clarify: Grammatical probs? Which grammar (Preposition or idiom??)

Q5 fill the gaps in the passage 10 choices and only use 5

Clarify: MCQ?? Grammatical??

At last, u already faced the exam and passed (I think), so will u suggest, which will be helpful for me for the exam (TOEFL, GRE, TOEIC or others)? I am from Bangladesh and eager to know about the exam. Pls help me.....

 

[manniefresh]

Hey everyone,

I just heard from the NY, USA consulate. I was not chosen for the interview!! I thought I looked good on paper. Better luck next year.

Good luck to everyone else.

 

[mobos]

i am disappointed

am very disappointed because i did well in exam , but the interview was completely unfavorable , they asked me unbelievable question , because i have a bear they asked me if i am from AL-QAIDA , i don't believe that they even can imagine such a thing . today they call me and said , "" you did well on exam , but unfortunately we cant choose you "" the interview wasn't good ..
am very disappointed ...... i think this is a some kind of misjudgment ...

 

[sbe]

research scholarship interview

hi all-- i found out that i passed the first stage and have my interview / japanese test next week.

does anyone know what type of questions they ask at the interview?

thanks!

 

[menrui]

briefly, here are some questions I thought were most important

-Why do you want to study in Japan?
-Why is your research important? duh
-Why is it important for your research to be conducted in Japan?

here are some of my suggestions:
-it's an interview. dress nice, and show them good character/personality
-that might ask you some questions about Japan or your previous experience with Japan stuff to make sure that you are actually interested in Japan... so be ready for that.
-if you do know some Japanese, be ready for a brief conversation.
-um, don't lie, that just makes things harder

I remember my interview... I told them that I didn't like seafood, and that shocked them a bit. Then I told them that I liked anime, which they all laughed about. But in the end they didn't mind.

Oh, and of course, the judge panel will differ with each embassy/consulate. I was very lucky too have 3 very friendly judges. I was nervous at first, but I became much more relaxed as the interview went on. I hear that the malaysians have some really tough judges.

 

[sbe]

briefly, here are some questions I thought were most important

-Why do you want to study in Japan?
-Why is your research important? duh
-Why is it important for your research to be conducted in Japan?

here are some of my suggestions:
-it's an interview. dress nice, and show them good character/personality
-that might ask you some questions about Japan or your previous experience with Japan stuff to make sure that you are actually interested in Japan... so be ready for that.
-if you do know some Japanese, be ready for a brief conversation.
-um, don't lie, that just makes things harder

I remember my interview... I told them that I didn't like seafood, and that shocked them a bit. Then I told them that I liked anime, which they all laughed about. But in the end they didn't mind.

Oh, and of course, the judge panel will differ with each embassy/consulate. I was very lucky too have 3 very friendly judges. I was nervous at first, but I became much more relaxed as the interview went on. I hear that the malaysians have some really tough judges.

thanks so much! i also heard that they sometimes ask at the end if we have any questions--- well, i have heaps of them! but most of them (like how many people get the scholarship? or how many people apply?) don't seem like the best idea... do you have any idea about what would be good to ask?

i'm just a bit nervous because i know this is my last chance to make a good impression!

thanks again.

 

[ismori]

you can ask them if they thought your interview went well? hahaha

 

[menrui]

^nice~ but no...

Anyways, yes, please refrain from asking statistic questions about the scholarship. Hmmm you can ask questions about the details of the scholarship... Since you will be talking about Japan during the interview, maybe you can ask about the the topics that were discussed. Oh, since your next step(if you pass the interview) is to find a professor, maybe you could ask them for some advice.

I think I can answer those statistic questions. I think my embassy had 20 applicants, 8 people were given the test/interview, 2 were given the recommendation, and lastly we both received the scholarship. Someone from Atlanta gave similar stats. However, my MEXT coordinator did tell me that, there have been years when they recommended 0, and as much as 3.

 

[sbe]

epp-- might be a bit different for the ny consulate. they have three days of interviews/tests, but i have no idea about numbers.

i guess one of the advantages for getting the scholarship is that i will finally know some of the stats!

 

[PetiteM]

They only take 4 a year nationwide here
I just passed my interview today, and I'm so anxious. I mean I made the judges smile and laugh and they seemed interested in what I had to say and my research program, but I'm still nervous. I made it to the final 10, and they're only gonna choose 4. oh please let me be one of them!


to help those who have yet to pass their interviews, here's the question they asked me, hoping it helps:
explain to us the research project you submitted, why this theme?
why did you handwrite your application and not typed it? (this was a surprise but they werent mean about it, just wanted to know why I felt handwriting was more suited to me)
do you have an idea which japanese schools you'd like to go into?
studying in Japan is a lot of stress and pressure, do you feel l you can handle it and HOW will you go about that once there?
you are female, does your family and parents approve of you travelling on your own to japan to study?


there was a bunch of other questions; a panel of 3 judges rotated with their questions, asking why japan specifically and so on and so forth.

I hope I did well. I was clean, had a manicure, natural make up and a brushing for the meeting. I really hope I get it. oh they also asked if I would apply again in the event I did NOT get the scholarship this year. I said yes and I would come back armed with a year of studying their language then ;p

Good luck to everyone else applying too!

 

[clipvain]

PetiteM, congrats! seems like your interview went very well!
hope you will be able to get through everything eventually!

As for myself.. I'm still in the process of drafting my research proposal...

 

[nyfa]

Hi everyone,

After lurking for a while, finally I decided to post . I just want to ask. Some rumor mentioned that if we want to apply for Monbusho, we have to come from the university of our nationality. It's like, unwritten rule. I'm an Indonesian, but I finished my Bachelor degree abroad. I applied for Monbusho via Indonesian embassy though and that rumor made me kinda nervous since I only heard that after I submitted my application two weeks ago.

Anyone here knows a case like that?

Thank you . All the best for all of us .

 

[realku2004]

Any body clarify the points indicated in the study plan

*Present Field of study
*Your Research theme after arrival in Japan and
*Study program in Japan

 

[Coco68]

Hey nyfa,
I think it's just rumor. I study abroad and applied in my home country and no problem, so I guess it's just a rumor, although I can't guarantee, might be different in different countries, but try to be positive. If you are already studying abroad without problems, it might give them a 'hint' that you will be able to keep up with your studies in Japan, right? So, I hope this fact might be your strong point and not a weakness in the end.

 

[nyfa]

Hi Coco68

Thank you for sharing . I hope it does give me an advantage. Are you in Japan now?

 

[PetiteM]

oh my sweet god you guys, I'm so scared I'm shivering all over.... the Embassy just called, and get that, they want to know how to pronounce my name... I'm guessing they want to write in Hiragana, is this a good or bad sign?

he said they'd call me with the results later... omg... this is so nerve-wrecking...

clipvain - thank you! I really hope I get to go... good luck to you with applying!

 

[dalmatian]

hi nyfa,

Finally found a friend within the same country.. ^^
I agree that I think it will be your advantage because you already have experienced studying abroad. In my opinion, the most important point in the monbukagakusho selection is our academic abilities.

 

[nyfa]

Hi PetitM,
Wow. Congratulations . I do hope that you will get selected .

Hi Dalmatian,
Let's keep in contact cause our embassy really doesn't have exact date for every screening deadline, lol. Even information from website is not really reliable xD.
And thank you, I do hope that can be my advantage. Although my grades are not really 'wow' >.<

 

[sbe]

Any body clarify the points indicated in the study plan
*Present Field of study
*Your Research theme after arrival in Japan and
*Study program in Japan

i believe the present field of study is what you are studying now, or did as an undergrad.

...research theme is a brief abstract of what you will do in japan

...and study program is your detailed research proposal.


hope this helps!

 

[PetiteM]

I got accepted! the embassy just called to congratulate me! OH MY GOD!!!
I hope everyone here gets to be as happy!!
next is getting an acceptance from a japanese school! omg im so happy... I could cry...

nyfa - thank you!!! <3 I hope you get accepted as well!!!!

 

[nyfa]

PetiteM, congratulations!!

It's still going to be a long process in my country though, maybe the final outcome will only be out like next month, lol.

 

[sbe]

congratulations!!!

 

[dalmatian]

Congratulation PetiteM, Gud luck for your study...!!!