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MEXT Scholarship (Graduate Students) 2017

Hi everyone, Congrats to all who passed! For me, I'm still on waiting game.

In my country, The writing exam took place first, After 2 weeks they announced shortlisted 1/3 of candidate for the oral test. the interview take 4 separated days in 2 weeks. and choose around 30 candidates.

My interview was took place 15th July.
There are 3 interviewers. All of them are Japanese.
Before they start asking any question. They told me to introduce myself in 3-5 minute in 4 topics.
-Briefly introduce yourself.
-What is your objective/goal in studying in Japan.
-Study plan
-Future plan after returning to hometown.

Then they started asking about my background, a couple of questions about my study plan, in which language do my course going to take, The professor I chose, What exactly I'm going to do in the future and the last question was about my Japanese language which I've mention that I took some course in the past.

Then suddenly they told me the interview was end and I could leave.

Now all I could do is waiting for the result and getting more and more nervous.
 
that's quite interesting so far it feels like my embassy is the only one that added a second interview a "case style" interview..... It's a style used to to determine your verbal reasoning and analytical thinking as most of the questions are designed so you are likely not to know the right answer..... Maybe it might be employed elsewhere
 
I have yet to realize it completely but it seems that I passed the interview
Even though I am waiting for the embassy to contact me again, now I should contact universities to get LoAs, but I have a few doubts and hope some of you guys can help me:
- During the last months I found some advisors (around 8-10, I am hoping to find some more though) and I was wondering: can I contact all of them at the same time and then prioritize my favourite ones? As straordinary as it may sound, in case I obtain the LoA from all of them, afterwards I will just have to choose three of them to insert in the Placement Form that I will send to the embassy? (I forgot to mention it but in my country we still have to fill the Placement Form)
- I know that we have more chances with national universities, but what about private and public ones? Private and public universities has an EQUAL low rate of acceptance or are there any differences between the two?
- If I get the LoA from universities, there will be still chances to be rejected by them?
 
Yes you would have to choose 3 professors/universities.
minader said:
I know that we have more chances with national universities, but what about private and public ones? Private and public universities has an EQUAL low rate of acceptance or are there any differences between the two?
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We were told not to opt for private universities. Public, national universities are ok.
minader said:
If I get the LoA from universities, there will be still chances to be rejected by them?
Click to expand...
Wondering about this myself as there were quite a few applicants last year who were rejected during the second screening (conducted by the Japanese govt)
 
minader said:
During the last months I found some advisors (around 8-10, I am hoping to find some more though) and I was wondering: can I contact all of them at the same time and then prioritize my favourite ones?
Click to expand...

There is nothing to stop you from contacting 10 people, I suppose... But be aware if you contact 10 people in a small field, it's quite possible they know each other and will see you contacting them all as spam. And are you actually interested in 10 universities? Have you checked them out properly, have you thought about whether you want to live in that town or city? Maybe do that first and just contact the top 4 or 5 that you really like.

In my experience researchers will generally either reply to an email within 1 week or they won't reply at all, if that helps...

minader said:
As straordinary as it may sound, in case I obtain the LoA from all of them, afterwards I will just have to choose three of them to insert in the Placement Form that I will send to the embassy?
Click to expand...

Yes, you cannot list more than 3.

minader said:
I know that we have more chances with national universities, but what about private and public ones? Private and public universities has an EQUAL low rate of acceptance or are there any differences between the two?
Click to expand...

In terms of rates of acceptance, I have not seen anything to indicate that private or public universities are less likely to give you a LoA. The point is, MEXT are less likely to place you there, so if you list a private uni as number 1, be prepared that you might have to go to your second choice. Conversely, if you list a national uni as first choice you're very likely to be placed there.

minader said:
If I get the LoA from universities, there will be still chances to be rejected by them?
Click to expand...

The university themselves will not reject you later. MEXT has the power to reject you later in the secondary screening. However this is extremely unusual, because the embassy should really catch any problems with your application in the first screening. Once you have submitted at least 1 LoA to the embassy you can be like 99% sure you are going to Japan. However MEXT can choose which university on your list to place you at.

Lawrence1 said:
I completely understand! I spent one year gathering information about applying to my university before actually applying for it.
Click to expand...

I am pretty surprised at the number of people applying without reading the guidelines or understanding what they're applying for, to be honest. I kind of wish there were a better official MEXT page with clearer explanations to point everyone to.
 
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madphysicist said:
I am pretty surprised at the number of people applying without reading the guidelines or understanding what they're applying for, to be honest. I kind of wish there were a better official MEXT page with clearer explanations to point everyone to.
Click to expand...

Haha, oh man - once you start to look around (don't waste your time doing this too much, though) you realize that this ALMOST is the NORM in higher ed.

Weeds out a lot of the competition, luckily.
 
hojoojoh said:
Haha, oh man - once you start to look around (don't waste your time doing this too much, though) you realize that this ALMOST is the NORM in higher ed.

Weeds out a lot of the competition, luckily.
Click to expand...
Yup the embassy is very quick to fail you for leaving out the dumbest things especially when you send your application documents to them. I also spent a year plus planning mostly drafting my proposal and making sure my preferred university was in a good location, social scene, close to friends and future prospects.
Also it's so much easier to contact Professors in April, May
 
I have read from several sources that we don't get our stipend for the first month. I am wondering if, on the second month, if we receive DOUBLE the amount - one stipend for the first month (October in my case), and one of for the second month for which we are signing off on at that time.

Can anyone confirm this?
 

I also spent a year getting my documents straight and getting approvals from professors before applying, and yes, getting response from them is def easier in April/May.

madphysicist said:
In my experience researchers will generally either reply to an email within 1 week or they won't reply at all,
Click to expand...

This happens more often than you would think! I had contacted professors before I applied last year , including one whose lab I was really interested in, discussed research stuff and all , only to be told (later) that he was shifting to another university and he doesn't know if he would be allowed to accept MEXT students there.

hojoojoh said:
Weeds out a lot of the competition, luckily
Click to expand...
Idk if I am a bad person or anything, but I agree with this XD lol
Other applicants haven't even bothered to google it seems. I feel bad for them, I tried to help one person out but he said something on the lines of you are so going to fail this year and was boasting about how he got in on his first try and I had to try twice. Kinda stopped helping everyone after that.
 
I found around ten professors who might be my advisors but only three of them specializes exactly in what I am hoping to go research in Japan... the problem is that most of them (and unfortunately also the aforementioned three professors) are around Tokyo and as far as I know it should not be that easy to get the letter of acceptance there due to high number of applicants. I may contact only four or five as you suggest but what if all of them reject me? At that point it might gets too late to contact other universities since the deadline is the end of August.
My research topic is a bit specific and it seems the more distant you get from big cities, the harder it gets to find advisors. :\

Perhaps I should have contacted those possible advisors earlier but in my country Placement Form is to be provided only after passing the interview (which is the contrary from other countries if I am not wrong) so I thought it would have been normal to wait until then, but not a good idea maybe...

I never thought about the eventuality you describe, namely to be being considered spam or anyway someone who has done little research. Some time ago I remember reading the blog of a former MEXT applicant (Lars Martinson) who suggested to find 10 to 20 universities because many of them might reject you or not even answer back...

I see... so I guess that If I have only one slot left on the Placement form the best choice would be to list a national university even if I also have the LoA from a private university which otherwise I would prefer to that national one.
I recently read that if your home university and your university in Japan are partners, then your chances to be accepted increase considerably, but unfortunately only one of the universities I found meets this condition. I was wondering what else wil be considered by the university when choosing among the applicants, mhm.

Thank you for your precious information anyway, both to you and to Indojindesu!
 

If you haven't already, read this post that was linked before:
MEXT Scholarship (Embassy) | TranSenz: Expat Living in Japan
(I have to say that the author has never been an applicant and there are a few things he says I strongly disagree with, but he gives an overview of what the university's thought process is.)

Generally, universities will give a LoA to anyone who meets their deadline and minimum criteria. As long as there are no obvious problems with your documents and you have a prof willing to supervise you, that's all you need. Remember YOU are the one bringing THEM money.

MEXT say that it may be more difficult to place you in a non-Tokyo university, though from what I've seen it seems that the private/national distinction matters and location doesn't matter.


He also found professors well in advance. That is what I advocate too. But there is nothing you can do about that now, so there's no point feeling sad about it. I think you should:

-Work out your order of preference for the universities. Just focus on how much you actually want to study there, ignore the perceived difficulty of being accepted
-In the nest day or two, email your top 3-4 choices of professor, making sure your email is concise and polite. You could write something like "If you are not able to supervise me but know a colleague who might be, please let me know"
-AS SOON as you get any kind of positive reply from a professor, send your documents to the university
-If you get no replies within one week, email the next 2-3 on your list
-Repeat
-When you are choosing the final 3 for the placement form, consider how helpful the professors were to you during this process.

If you are able to write in Japanese, that will help. If you are able to mention a personal connection (e.g. "my previous lecturer Prof X suggested I contact you") that will go a long way.

Something Lars did that I think is a bad idea is that he included a link to a web page. If you put a link, it increases the chance of your email going automatically into the spam folder where it may never be seen...
 
madphysicist said:
I am pretty surprised at the number of people applying without reading the guidelines or understanding what they're applying for, to be honest. I kind of wish there were a better official MEXT page with clearer explanations to point everyone to.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean but there really can't be a single perfect guideline MEXT page with clearer rules (except for embassy recommended route) since every school has their own preferences on how they want to view the application. It is additionally not uncommon for schools to have additional or stricter guidelines than MEXT itself. But I suppose it also helps show the professors reviewing the applications the few that really put in the effort to make it as perfect as they can and read the guidelines carefully.
 

OK. This a little important. I highly do not recommend contacting them in the same time for a myriad of reasons. First and foremost I recommend ranking the professors based on their relevant research to your expertise, if you will want to pursue the research for your future (the research you start now has a good chance of impacting what you will do in the future so make sure you love it!), university, h-index, and overall general appearance of their webpage and if they seem to be a part of many activities (not just research, like working with companies or volunteering with local schools or non-profit organizations or having many collaborations with other professors/labs).

Based on this list, email them in that order. I recommend waiting about one or (preferably) two weeks before going down the list if they don't respond. Be aware about contacting professors in the same department of the same school or similar research in the same school since it isn't uncommon for professors to check around between each other. This is make sure the person applying isn't just spamming many professors in hope of getting a few takers.

Be sure to read the professors publications before writing the email and be specific why you want to work with them and how you can contribute (by describing your skills and background). Don't make the email too long or there is a good chance it won't be read. Try to email them with your university email so they know it is something a bit more serious. Don't email them a lot. If they don't respond it is because they are busy so wait and don't hesitate to go down the list after two weeks.

Also be aware that if you contact 10 professors and all 10 want you, you will have to say no to 9 of them. It may make you feel good but rejecting an offer from a professor wastes not only your time but their time and never makes it easy on anyone. You run the risk of cutting ties even before really making them, so please do it with care!
 
I suggest you start with the three who specialize in your area of interest. Yes, they might reject you, but there is a high chance of getting accepted as you have very similar research interests.
If you are really serious about joining one particular lab, you can try calling the office of the university/department/Graduate school (This is after you have emailed the professors and received no reply, Maybe your email was sent to the spam folder or maybe he/she is on leave, etc ).
They will try and get you in contact with the Professor or suggest an alternative. There is a risk of pissing off the university people if you are too pushy, but they mostly help you if you are polite enough. But as far as possible, try and get your approval from the professor without the university's help.
 
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There are two chances in a month for you to sign for the monthly stipend.
If you sign by the 1st deadline (usually the first week+ to second week of the month), you'll get the money by the end of that month (usually 20+th).
If you sign after that and by the 2nd deadline (this is basically the last working day of the month), you'll receive your stipend around mid of the following month.
If you didn't sign at all during that month, no monthly stipend for that particular month.
Although this is not from Kobe U and different U may have different schedule, I believe this calendar will help you in understanding it better.
 
Do note that university offices will close for 3-5 days during the Obon holiday, usually around mid of August (check each particular university website for exact date).
Make sure you take that into account when applying for LOA
 

Well but we are talking about embassy recommendation in this thread, for which the guidelines are unnecessarily vague and confusing IMO. There are a lot of things they could clarify. Yes, for uni recommendation you can generally just follow that university's rules, but there are still some things that could do with clearer explanation e.g. the "letter of recommendation from the Dean" that is not really from the Dean.

I have made numerous applications for scholarships and even a couple for PhDs and none has ever been as much work or come with such vague instructions as MEXT.
 

Yeah. I must admit, it also took me some time (about a full month) to finally get the entire application done.
 
Thank you, that page is actually where I gained most of what I know, as well as Lars Martinson blog. So if I meet the minimum criteria is almost sure that I will be accepted? I thought that applying to a famous university might make it harder because if there are many applicants the university might not be able to accept eveyone, and so a further selection would be needed..

madphysicist said:
MEXT say that it may be more difficult to place you in a non-Tokyo university, though from what I've seen it seems that the private/national distinction matters and location doesn't matter.
Click to expand...
Do you mean universities in Tokyo, right?
But wow, the location not being such a big barrier to be accepted makes the choice much easier, it would be great!

Thank you for the concise suggestions, I will try to do as you say. However, are you sure I should contact the professors first and not the international office? I ask because TranSenz's page recommends to contact the international office, which afterwards will send the request to my desired advisor. I thought that now was too late to contact each possible advisor, for example one of the universities I found states this on its MEXT page:
It seems in this particular case the international office suggests to send the e-mail directly to them if I have already passed the primary screening. They also say that it will take minimum two weeks and maximum one month to answer back, which is a lot, especially if at the end they reject my application...
However, in the case I contact the professor first and then the international office, should I state on my second e-mail to the office that I already got in contact with the professor?

Lastly, I noticed that two of my top priority universities require the Placement Form along the other documents... does that mean that I will be asked to list all the three universities I am wishing to study at before knowing if I will get or not the Letter of Acceptance? In that case I guess that contacting the professors beforehand would be the best choice even if I do not have much time, it also seems the regular procedure since Lawrence1 and Indojindesu as well are suggesting to do the same. I was going to get this wrong if it were not for you.

Unfortunately I still cannot contact the universities because I am waiting for the embassy to send me its seal, which I hope will happen within tomorrow.
 
I forgot one thing: do you think it might be a good idea to write both in Japanese and English? I am applying as a Japanese studies researcher so writing in Japanese should be required, but it don't think it will do any harm attaching a translation at the bottom of the e-mail, just to be sure all I say is clear enough.
 
If you are a Japanese major,I suggest write only in Japanese. Adding a translation might just make the professor feel you dont have confidence in your Japanese skills(thats what I would feel if I am the professor) . Get your email write up checked by your local university teacher or a Japanese friend , perfect it and send it.
 
minader said:
Do you mean universities in Tokyo, right?
Click to expand...

Yes, sorry I made a mistake. But anyway, contact the universities that you actually want to study at, don't worry about location.


As I said, the university will want you because they want foreign students with funding. The biggest barrier is finding a prof who will accept you. It's possible a prof might not want to take you on if they already have several grad students (some do not care about this though and just amass as many students as they can...).

The ONLY things the university are selecting on are a) is there a professor who can supervise you? and b) is your application complete and received before the deadline?
If you are studying in Japanese they will also check c) is your Japanese level sufficient?

minader said:
I ask because TranSenz's page recommends to contact the international office, which afterwards will send the request to my desired advisor.
Click to expand...

I think TranSenz's post is really misleading on this point. Usually you should send your application documents to the international office, yes that's right. However, they need to get your advisor's signature. How many professors are going to sign to take on a student they have literally never heard anything from? I mean they might do it, but it's far less risky to ask them first.

That is why I think he actually gives very bad advice here by saying "you don't need to contact the prof". I think you should at the very least send an email to the professor saying "I have sent my documents to the international office, I would be grateful if you would consider taking me on". It is only polite.

(I suspect TranSenz has never been a grad student and it hasn't occurred to him that starting a research course, especially a PhD, without having ever talked to your supervisor is an utterly terrible idea).

You should definitely name the specific prof you want to work with when contacting the office. It cannot hurt to say if s/he has already agreed to accept you.



Not sure, but if it's not stamped by the embassy you can always submit the placement form to them and then change it later on before submitting to the embassy... I recall someone doing that last year.

But honestly if there are only 3 profs that really reflect your interests (sorry I missed that you said that), you should concentrate on them. Even if you don't have all the documents yet, you can write to the profs today.
 

This has come up in discussions I've had with another recipient from this year and though I only vaguely remember, I think it came up for me (I sent to 3 schools, one was a big name private).

I think I just sent them the form or even I sent it to them with their school as #1. When I submitted to the embassy, however, I had re-arranged the order due to the fact that my LoAs had come in and things had changed.
 

Thanks for this info - it is helpful to know about the signature deadlines that run all month. I was on a small monthly stipend years ago when an undergrad in JP and would go to sign off on it every month. The office would actually text me something like: "奨学金が出ましたよ" and then there would be a stampede into the office of us students, haha.

I wonder about that first month though. MEXT outlines that we can't get it that month and thus should plan for ourselves - ie., save and bring money. From your calendar link it seems that the first month's amount (April on this calendar - which I assume would be the same if your first month there is October, which mine will be at Kobe) DOES come at the end of that month. Otherwise, it seems like the second month would be a special one with TWO deposits in one month.

Thanks a lot!
 
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