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MEXT Scholarship for Postgraduate 2011: General Discussions.


Hey, as far as I know, it's quite easy to be accepted by professors if you have the embassy MEXT scholarship recommendation. Just make sure that you put it clear on the email title that you have the MEXT scholarship recommendation so that they will open your mail to have a look.
 
Hey, guys. One of my loa from the University of Tokyo just arrived yesterday by EMS. They are really efficient out there.

How much time did it take them to consider your application and give you the LOA? Was it really 3 weeks like in Waseda?
 
For all of you who passed the preliminary selection, I don't know if you guys have to resubmit all the applications using the embassy's paper, like we do in Indonesia, but it's a real pain in the butt. Haha since I don't know how to use a type writter, I'm writing it all out by hand. Hopefully they won't count it against me that it's not typed out. On one application, there's a few parts where I had to use whiteout to fix some mistakes :'( The application forms are all connected together so I can't run it through a printer. Since the other forms are just single pages, I can still use the computer to edit those.
 
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Hello! I am new to this forum.

Does anyone know the process to enter PhD program?
I applied for a 'Research Student 2011' scholarship and I have been recommended by the embassy and now I am trying obtain the Letter of Acceptance as a 'Research Student'.
I want to enter directly to PhD program if possible, even though I was recommended as a research student for Mext scholarship.

What happens if I could get an admission for PhD before I start my research student program?
 
@PoopyPants: Are you sure the embassy requires you to submit the forms they sent to you? Here in Malaysia, we don't have to use the forms they sent to us. We can edit the word documents available online and submit the printed ones without using any of the documents the embassy sent us. It would be better if you can confirm with the embassy (which I did, because I didn't want to use handwriting to fill in the forms).

To others who are trying to obtain LOAs, I have a few questions. Do you guys contact the
(i) departments or
(ii) the professors?

Here in Malaysia, they send us a list of the university departments contacts. Thus, should I contact the departments and hope they will connect me to the lecturer? Or should I contact the lecturer directly? However, to contact the lecturer, I would have to go the their website, which is mostly in Japanese, where I have a hard time trying to find out their research field. Which way do you guys think is better?
 
Hey, guys. One of my loa from the University of Tokyo just arrived yesterday by EMS. They are really efficient out there.


Did you contact the professor or the administration office for the LOA?
 
How much time did it take them to consider your application and give you the LOA? Was it really 3 weeks like in Waseda?
For the University of Tokyo, normally they will give loa at late Aug, at least for my Faculty. But as I told them that my embassy deadline is Aug 13rd, and they telephoned my embassy to check that as well. And now, I got it by EMS which arrived last friday.
But for Kyoto University, the faculty doesn't want to change even that I told them about my embassy deadline. And they'll give me an offer only in mid September which I will hand in to the embassy then.
I guess it's different among universities. But definitely, inform them about your embassy deadline before you hand in the application.

If you get a phD offer, then you can start directly as a phD student, instead of the initial research student.
Different school has different entering application process for phD. Normally, besides the G30 program, you'll have to go to Japan to take exams for phD application on your own expenses.

Contact the professor first for good. If the professor agrees to take care of you, then everything would be fine.
 
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Did you contact the professor or the administration office for the LOA?
Contact the professor directly. Then if the professor wants to accept you, he'll contact the graduate school office and the office will ask you to mail them all the application materials needed, and then after some discussions, you'll get the loa.
 

No worries. I did the same (use my handwriting, haha). And the embassy people said it's okay. Just be sure that your handwriting is readable, that's all.
 
Contact the professor directly. Then if the professor wants to accept you, he'll contact the graduate school office and the office will ask you to mail them all the application materials needed, and then after some discussions, you'll get the loa.


I've got the verbal consent from the professor since march. The thing is....he's not responding to my mail now:?. Perhaps he's too busy but I've got dateline to meet so I'm kinda worried.
 
Thank you flidar!
If I could get an admission for PhD, do I have to let the embassy or MEXT know that I want to start from PhD? or The University will contact directly to MEXT? I just do not understand what I have to do to change my application status from research student to regular course student.
If anyone has any idea, please let me know.


 
Hi, rainbow. If you can get an admission for phD, then you don't have to hand in loa to the embassy. Instead, you hand in the phD offer directly to the embassy. And the rest will be done between MEXT and the university which you don't have to worry about.
Like in my case for Kyoto U, they will give me an offer in mid September. So they won't give me a loa. Although the embassy deadline here is Aug 13rd, I'll have to do something about it!

I've got the verbal consent from the professor since march. The thing is....he's not responding to my mail now:?. Perhaps he's too busy but I've got dateline to meet so I'm kinda worried.
I think in this case, you gotta do something about it, especially if he doesn't repond to you in a week, like call him directly or something, just to make things clear. I also meet a not so reliable professor who very gladly accepted me verbally at first but then after a while, changed his mind and refused me with the excuse of my change of major which he should know ever since the beginning. Anyway, since he's just a backup for me.
I just mean sometimes, **** happens! Get prepared for every possible result so that you will not fail in the end! Better get yourself two loas for safe.
 
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So, after all, I'll be sending my documents without having received any prior approval. My most wanted destination is Todai, where the professor told me he can't take decisions himself and the university will compare my application with others. I didn't take this reply as a "no", so I'll send my application.
I didn't get replies from another place, but I'll send documents anyway - after all, they say we don't need to contact professors in advance there.
Am I playing too risky?
 
@seacrac We have to submit our applications on the forms they provided so I ended up going to the embassy to get additional forms to redo the ones i made mistakes on.

I suggest going straight to professors, because ultimately they will be the ones to advise you. So if you can get an acceptance from the professor, it shouldnt be too difficult to get an approval from the department.

@nyfa Thats good to hear. I hope my writing is legible
 
Hmm I have been trying to get LoA's from two professors since last week but they don't seem to be replying. Was wondering if this is usual? Am trying to apply to the University of Nagoya and Tokyo.

Should I 'bug' them a bit about it or try other professors?
 
Hello.
I passed the interview, but I have problem finding schools. Could you recommend me graduate schools in Educational technology. I'm already applying for LoA to Waseda. Could be programs in e-learning, educational technology. Tokyo tech is not replying.
Thanks in advance.
 

I have also contacted one professor from Nagoya University and he replied. Maybe you should try to contact him again, with a more informative title of the message, so that he will read it, even if he is busy.

For getting the LoA, I also had to send the application forms to the Graduate School. I do not know about your deadline, but if it is urgent, you should better try to get any response (a "no" is also one and then at least you know that you need to try another professor).

Good luck!
 
I'm facing the same situation with the professor from Todai. In fact, I sent a mail to the international student office of the graduate school as well but there was no response. So I called up the office this morning and told them that I've got a dateline to meet but they told me that I gotta wait for my turn because they have many applicants. I guess it might be the same for you. They probably received your e-mail and will contact you once your turn arrives.
 

Thank you mirimon, I have tried contacting the profs again with a more concise title to the mail. I guess I'll wait for one or two more days before trying to contact a new professor.

May I ask about how many weeks was it before Nagoya university sent your LoA back to you? Thank you so much for your help!


Lets hang in there together! Its a pretty nerve wrecking time for us all now but I hope we'll all pull through haha =)
 

i think the safest way is to send your email to both the office and the professor. Have fellow Malaysian received the package which Miss Yin sent on 30 of july?
 
i think the safest way is to send your email to both the office and the professor. Have fellow Malaysian received the package which Miss Yin sent on 30 of july?


Yup that's what I did...sent to both office and professor but no response from both sides till I called the office. I picked up the documents myself last week. There's an official letter inside stating that we've passed the interview, 3 passing certificates and 3 copies of Letter of Acceptance.

>jophillia

No doubt this is nerve wrecking!!
 

I had already contacted the professor before getting the Certificate of Primary Screening, since in our country it is better to have already found someone willing to be your supervisor. But from sending the LoA to him and then contacting and getting things done with the Graduate Department, it took about two weeks, and I will likely receive the LoA in one week. So, altogether, three weeks.... I can really understand your feeling, but don't give up!
 
Hey guys!

I've just been reading though all this Loa stuff. It seems like I've got the same problems as everyone does and I'm still very excited but on the other hand really scared of no being able to secure a LoA. Furthermore I think it's really really confusing with Loa and entrance admission because I'd like to enter a PhD program directly...

A Prof from Kyoto University wrote me that he'll fill in the LoA for me and I will have to sit the exams to enter the Uni next year. I've chosen in all forms of the application that I'd like to enter a PhD program- is it ok if I 'only' get a LoA?

Furthermore he only wanted to get the certificate that I've passed the primary screening as a pdf- he didn't want anything else and he hasn't answered anything after I sent him the document. I told him that I'd need the LoA in September the latest (our deadline to submit the LoA to the embassy is 'beginning of october' so there is still plenty of time. But they also stated that unis only accept applications till Aug. 31 -is this true? I guess so...)

And I got a problem- my Uni here is so bad when it comes to student-services... I wrote them 2 times to please put the recommendation form in an envelope and sign over the seal. The only thing I got is the form scanned by email. It's got a stamp on it but if I print it it's not the original stamp. Should I just hand it in like this?
Plus I asked them 3 times to please send me a certificate that I'll graduate in Oct- got it only in German till now- no response to my emails... this uni is so demanding and they don't support you at all...

And the doc I went to didn't fill in the 'Urinanalysis- should I just hand in the health examination incomplete?

I haven't got much time left- we need to hand all the forms in by Aug 12....
Thanks a lot for your opinions in advance! Hope to see you in Japan next year
 

Hi guys, this is just a little info.. but this might be the cause. Last year -also around this month- when I took care of my LoA, I remember the admin lady from my preferred universities told me that there was going to be slower pace of replies from professors around this month (or his/her secretaries) due to summer holiday.
 
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