MEXT Scholarship for Postgraduate 2011: General Discussions.

[prettybunny]

I did not manage to submit the LOA on last Friday. But in the LOA there is a sentence said that we should submit it ﾂ"by the end of Augustﾂ". I think today is still not too late for LOA submission.

I am staying at JB so I used PosLaju to send on last saturday..
hopefully today can reach the Japan embassy

 

[Quote]

Though I didn't apply for the MEXT undergraduate scholarship this year, I plan to give it a go come 2012.

Does anyone have any advice to give to someone currently majoring in English Literature and what Social Science would be best complimentary to that?

I know that the named majors on the guidelines and documents list Japanese Literature, Law, History, and a couple others, but I'm not so sure how many colleges over there have courses designed for what I'm doing. As much as I would love to personally take one of the above mentioned major choices, it seems you have to be super duper good at Japanese even before you can take the prior Language courses so that irks me. I can maybe get close to JLPT1 if I use my study plan prior to applying but I'm not sure that even that will be good enough.

 

[jackyoboy]

Anyone from Malaysia managed to submit their LoA by last friday, the first deadline?
I received mine last friday afternoon. I rushed to the embassy immediately after receiving it but the jam was too horrible that I reached there only to find out that it was already closed

i did
got it few days before the deadline
it's okay though, there's the second deadline; 30th September

 

[destiny2]

i did
got it few days before the deadline
it's okay though, there's the second deadline; 30th September

Wow, your embassy gave 2 deadlines?
Our Embassy only gave one deadline... The middle of September...
Luckily both of my LoA had arrived so I can send them to the Embassy before the deadline...

 

[PeterSimon]

It's been 2-3 weeks since I sent my documents, and I have received absolutely nothing.
Do they only reply if they issue LOAs? Do they let you know if you're not accepted - by sending a notice or by mail? If anyone knows, please tell me.

 

[destiny2]

It's been 2-3 weeks since I sent my documents, and I have received absolutely nothing.
Do they only reply if they issue LOAs? Do they let you know if you're not accepted - by sending a notice or by mail? If anyone knows, please tell me.

In my case, only the professors who have replied my emails issued my LoA. I have to keep reminding them about the LoA since they are very busy. When the LoA have been issued and sent via EMS, they notified me by email.

You should ask your professor about the progress of your LoA, and remind him/her that your embassy deadline are coming near, that there is not much time left for you to submit the LoA. Remember to ask your prof in a polite way.

Good Luck

 

[PeterSimon]

In my case, only the professors who have replied my emails issued my LoA. I have to keep reminding them about the LoA since they are very busy. When the LoA have been issued and sent via EMS, they notified me by email.
You should ask your professor about the progress of your LoA, and remind him/her that your embassy deadline are coming near, that there is not much time left for you to submit the LoA. Remember to ask your prof in a polite way.
Good Luck

Does that mean that you sent documents also to professors who didn't reply to you by mail, and if so, did you get any notice from them?
I actually sent documents to 3 universities, all 3 of them said that I don't have to contact professors beforehand. I only had a positive reply from one professor. But with or without a reply from a professor, I thought that the administration will let me know about the results - they could just say "sorry, you're not accepted" instead of leaving me in the blue. @_@

 

[jackyoboy]

we had 2 deadlines coz the first deadline was just after the summer break in Japan, so they extended the time, the first deadline still holds for Health Certificate submission though.

As for Peter,
that was a bold act, u should have contacted somebody before sending in the documents. but still, there's a reply. Normally they don't reply if they don't show interest

 

[destiny2]

Does that mean that you sent documents also to professors who didn't reply to you by mail, and if so, did you get any notice from them?
I actually sent documents to 3 universities, all 3 of them said that I don't have to contact professors beforehand. I only had a positive reply from one professor. But with or without a reply from a professor, I thought that the administration will let me know about the results - they could just say "sorry, you're not accepted" instead of leaving me in the blue. @_@

I didn't sent documents to professors who didn't reply my emails, I only sent documents to the ones with positive reply.
If the university said that you don't have to contact the professors, then IMO all of the procedure are handled by the admission office. Therefore you should contact the admission office regarding the progress of your LoA. It wouldn't hurt to ask them, right?

we had 2 deadlines coz the first deadline was just after the summer break in Japan, so they extended the time, the first deadline still holds for Health Certificate submission though.
As for Peter,
that was a bold act, u should have contacted somebody before sending in the documents. but still, there's a reply. Normally they don't reply if they don't show interest

ow.. so that's the case. Our deadline for certificate of health is 6th of August.

 

[PeterSimon]

As for Peter,
that was a bold act, u should have contacted somebody before sending in the documents. but still, there's a reply. Normally they don't reply if they don't show interest

The most often answer I received from the professors was "I can't decide alone, the university decides". That's why I submitted documents to the administration of the universities.
I'm a bit confused about whose decision it is whether to issue a LOA - from what I read here, it seems your professors decide entirely on their own, but I was told it's up to the university.

 

[jackyoboy]

The most often answer I received from the professors was "I can't decide alone, the university decides". That's why I submitted documents to the administration of the universities.
I'm a bit confused about whose decision it is whether to issue a LOA - from what I read here, it seems your professors decide entirely on their own, but I was told it's up to the university.

it is up to the professors to accept you as their students or not and before that, the department or faculty should go through for your acceptance into the university. i was dealing with an administrator, in my case it went on like this.
i'm not sure about the others, it's possible that the professors might have made contact to the university to accept them as postgraduate students.

From what i know, getting a placement in the university means to gain lodging, facilities and of course insurance. Therefore i think most of the procedures will be handled by the admins. Just my two cents.

 

[seacrac]

Indicating University Preferences

Hi everyone,

I believe by now, some of us have obtained multiple LoAs. However, this is where my dilemma is. How do we indicate to MEXT our order of university preferences? Anyone have an idea?

The most often answer I received from the professors was "I can't decide alone, the university decides". That's why I submitted documents to the administration of the universities.
I'm a bit confused about whose decision it is whether to issue a LOA - from what I read here, it seems your professors decide entirely on their own, but I was told it's up to the university.

It depends on the university. University of Tokyo for example, does not requires you to contact the professors beforehand. Other universities I have contacted so far however, requires me to contact the professor first.

 

[destiny2]

Hi everyone,
I believe by now, some of us have obtained multiple LoAs. However, this is where my dilemma is. How do we indicate to MEXT our order of university preferences? Anyone have an idea?

In my country, after passing the preliminary selection, the Japan Embassy requires the applicant to fill two set of Attachment Form. In this form, we are required to fill in our university preference, in 1, 2, 3 order, along with the professor name in the respective university and our progress in obtaining the LoA from those universities.

 

[prettybunny]

so far i only received one LoA, so i dun hv this dilemma..
just curious, after submission of LoA, do we still need to do anything or just sit back and wait for the final decision of MEXT at the end of Jan 2011?

it is up to the professors to accept you as their students or not and before that, the department or faculty should go through for your acceptance into the university. i was dealing with an administrator, in my case it went on like this.
i'm not sure about the others, it's possible that the professors might have made contact to the university to accept them as postgraduate students.
From what i know, getting a placement in the university means to gain lodging, facilities and of course insurance. Therefore i think most of the procedures will be handled by the admins. Just my two cents.

For my case, my prof is interested in taking me, therefore he went to talk to admin office and ask them to handle my documents asap. i think the final decision still need to be made by the professor, the admin people is just to do documentation and stamp the university seal

 

[blurcheryl]

i did
got it few days before the deadline
it's okay though, there's the second deadline; 30th September

Cuz Ms. Yin emphasized that we should try to get it before 27th August so I thought there must be a reason to it. I don't know, I'm just guessing.

The most often answer I received from the professors was "I can't decide alone, the university decides". That's why I submitted documents to the administration of the universities.
I'm a bit confused about whose decision it is whether to issue a LOA - from what I read here, it seems your professors decide entirely on their own, but I was told it's up to the university.

I think the decision is made by both professor and the university. I contacted the professors first in all cases. After getting their consent, I then sent my documents to the administrative offices respectively. Why don't you try calling them instead? I did. I even called twice. The first call was to the admin office but I was asked to wait further. A week later, I called the professor but his secretary picked up since he was out of town. I told everything to his secretary and she was helpful enough to remind the professor about my case. Then 2 days later, I received the softcopy of my LoA from the admin office.

 

[blurcheryl]

Hi everyone,
I believe by now, some of us have obtained multiple LoAs. However, this is where my dilemma is. How do we indicate to MEXT our order of university preferences? Anyone have an idea?

I recalled somebody mentioned that we no longer need to rank our preferences. MEXT will just decide which university suits us most based on the LoAs we submitted.

 

[ijulia]

To seacrac and blurcheryl: as far as I know we have to rank them here- if it is not possible to get placed in the uni of the first choice they will try to place you in your second choice and so on... but it would be best to give the embassy a quick call.


I just came back from holidays and got 2 Loas (Kyoto Uni and Tohoku Uni) and an acceptance from Todai for a PhD in civil engineering. As the study program at Tohoku would suit my research interests better I am unsure if I should rank it before Todai or after?

I think Todai has got the better reputation and would let me enter a PhD directly. But I am somehow scared of the expenses of living in Tokyo and the size of the city and uni and so on... Would it be possible to cover the costs of living in Tokyo with the MEXT grant?

Sendai is cheaper and smaller. The program in Kyoto would fit least with my interests and research proposal. What would you rank first? Am I right about the reputation of Todai Uni?

Thanks for your help!

 

[PeterSimon]

I think Todai has got the better reputation and would let me enter a PhD directly. But I am somehow scared of the expenses of living in Tokyo and the size of the city and uni and so on... Would it be possible to cover the costs of living in Tokyo with the MEXT grant?

Completely. Go with Todai.


Thanks for the advices about the LOAs, guys. I still can't believe that I sent documents to 3 universities and didn't get *ANY* answer, not even a notification of decline. I'll wait some more and then I'll try to negotiate with the embassy to send my stuff to MEXT even if without LOAs.

 

[AYunxiaojie]

Hi everybody. this is my first post in this thread (and this forum, too). I am happy to know such a helpful forum.

I also apply for MEXT 2011 (Embassy recommended). I've already received 2 LOAs from 2 universities that I've contacted. In my case, I sent emails to the Administration Office first. One university guides that I should submit my application through postal mail to the Office and then my application would be screened by Faculty, not only my proposed Prof. The other university said that I should choose one of the Profs and directly contact him to obtain his acceptance.

Now I am considering which LOAs to submit to the Japanese Embassy. Is there anyone who wish to come to Kobe next year?

 

[kamei01]

I have a question, because I'm having problem to find a professor. I have a couple of researchers who works in a lab but I don't think they are professors...so, could I choose them?

 

[ykk]

hello everybody!

They called me and told me that someone had a problem and now I am a elegible candidate for the scholarship! yeaaaay!!! hoorrayyy!

I AM THE HAPPIEST PERSON IN ARGENTINAAAAAAAAAAA!

I've scanned all the documents and sent the forms to my fav prof @ Keio Daigaku and changed my preferences to only him.

Question:
Should I still try to get any other LOA from other universities? I've already changed my preferences in my attachment form, is that OK? I'm taking a big risk just trying to get only one LOA but Keio's rules say that you have to choose their university as only and first choice

I am worried I've came so far and now I am putting all my hopes in one LOA...

thank you all very much for your support all this year (and the previous!!!)

 

[PoopyPants]

Congratulations YKK!!!!! This year will be the year!!

 

[jackyoboy]

hello everybody!
They called me and told me that someone had a problem and now I am a elegible candidate for the scholarship! yeaaaay!!! hoorrayyy!

I AM THE HAPPIEST PERSON IN ARGENTINAAAAAAAAAAA!
I've scanned all the documents and sent the forms to my fav prof @ Keio Daigaku and changed my preferences to only him.
Question:
Should I still try to get any other LOA from other universities? I've already changed my preferences in my attachment form, is that OK? I'm taking a big risk just trying to get only one LOA but Keio's rules say that you have to choose their university as only and first choice
I am worried I've came so far and now I am putting all my hopes in one LOA...
thank you all very much for your support all this year (and the previous!!!)

Hi man, glad to hear the good news. Congratulations

I also requested for only one LOA as there are not a lot of research facilities similar to what I am doing. So I am hoping for the best too

 

[destiny2]

Wow, congratulations ykk!!!
I don't think one LoA will be a problem, since in the previous year, MEXT will find a suitable university for people who didn't get an LoA.

 

[blurcheryl]

Wow ykk...such great news from you! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!