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MEXT Scholarship (Research/Graduate students) 2018

HI everyone!
I am so happy to share with all that I just received my second letter of acceptance!!!
Since we are left with no more than 10 days to request LoAs, I would like to share a few things with those who haven't got any yet or are still confused with the issue:
1- Forget about your original 3 choices. You can contact some more universities and list the one (at most 3) university that accepts you, on the new placement preference form that was given to you by the embassy. (Come on... the embassy will never tell you this openly even if they want you to exactly do that).
2- August 31st is the deadline for contacting universities, not for submission of LoAs (which is by the middle of September for some countries or by the end of it for some others, this includes mailing period)
3- Another important thing is to let graduate schools/Profs know that you are flexible on your research topic and supervisor choice (if you are of course), I think it increases your chances.
4- Make sure you contact a good number of graduate schools/ profs closest possible to your desired field of study (not forgetting the language constraint too)
HOPE WE ALL LAND IN NIPPON NEXT APRIL (/OCTOBER)...
GOOD LUCK TO US ALL!!!
 
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I think you should check with your Embassy if it's okay or not to change your placement preference sheet. In my opinion it would be a shame if you get an LoA but they ignore it cause it wasn't on your form...
 
Hello! Finally received the LoA for my first choice, such a weight off my shoulder! I am not sure if anything can go wrong after this point? Given it's a national university and I assume MEXT is supposed to have funds for all Embassy-selected students around the globe each year, I am unsure if there are any cases of people being ultimately rejected at a later stage of this process.
 
I heard that there are still few applicants who were rejected at second round, although they had letters of acceptance. And we never know the reason. Therefore, just hope for the best.
 
According to my embassy, the only way we could be rejected at this phase is not getting any LoA or getting only one from a really expensive university and government cannot pay for it for budgetary reasons (but that's unusual), other than that it would be that they detect any fault with the documentation but the embassy already checks them extra carefully before sending them so that's unlikely.
 
Hi Houjou, Congrats for receiving your first LoA, As for the chances afterwards, this is what I have come up with, after gathering information from here and there:
1)- Mext gives a number of slots to each embassy every year. So the ministry plans to offer the scholarship to anyone who passes the first screening. But since the universities are independent bodies, we need to get their consent to accept us, and they judge us by examining the documents we send them. (After all, you're not going to study in the Ministry:emoji_stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::emoji_stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::emoji_stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye.
So anyone who passes the first screening and gets at least one LoA should get the scholarship.
2)- Can one fail the second screening even after getting a LoA? YES!!!!:emoji_cold_sweat::emoji_cold_sweat::emoji_cold_sweat:
These are the reasons :
-a/ The main reason is budgetary. If you choose for instance a private university (only), the cost may be too high for Mext to bear, and you may be denied the scholarship (rare case). Or, in case of a serious budget cut, the scholarship may be denied even to applicants who chose and were accepted by national universities (very very very rare case).
'''':emoji_thumbsup:By the way, Good news for this years applicants: For this year 2017 (so far), the Japanese Economy has had a record performance, that hasn't been attained since eleven 11 years '''' (I think they should be regretting by now why they didn't give out some more scholarship slots:emoji_money_mouth.
-b/ The other reason for secondary screening rejection is if the study you are going to do arouses concern over proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD),,, But I don't think you are planning to be behind the world's next Mass Destruction threat:emoji_rage:, are you??
So in sum, you can confidently wait the next stages, chances of you landing in nippon next april (/ october) are like 99.98%.
BUT IT SEEMS NOTHING IS EVER 100% ASSURING, I STILL WORRY SOMETIMES
GOOD LUCK TO US ALL.
 
Thank you CED-AFRIKKA, SayuKami21 and Alyssa!!!

Definitely not planning to work on weapons of mass destruction and also not in a private university. Still, betting so much on it this time that I am scared of MEXT finding some issue with my documentation or something. Can't help it :emoji_weary:
 
hey friends,
Does any one know if MEXT will financially support a research student for the first TWO years only for she/he could master in Japanese language or not? (they support for learning japanese is normally for 6 months as far as I am concerned ) My university requires me to study japanese for two years !! then take the entrance exam in japanese language and after I succeed ( that I have heard it is almost impossible because Japanese language is very hard to be learnt in such a short time) I can start my Master degree !! I do not know what to do ? My research plan is not about Japanese language but unfortunately the related graduate department in any Japanese university I contacted, asked me if I am proficient in Japanese . I do not know any thing about Japanese language ,literally zero !! Is there any way if we could contact the MEXT office and ask them directly ? Do you know any one with such a situation ?
 
^ I think you should talk it out with your Embassy, as far as I know the maximum amount of time we can expend in Japan as non-degree students is 2 years, so I think is technically possible that you can enter the master after 2 years in Japan but that's really weird for me, every university that I have contacted so far has told me that if I arrive in Japan by April 2018 I should be enrolling the doctoral program around April 2019 and I put in my timetable that during that year I would be studying Japanese, adapting to the laboratory etc and going through all the application process and tests needed to enter the doctoral program.
 
Dear SayuKami21,

So you are planing to study Japanese for the first 12 months and then start your doctoral program , right? do they take your entrance exam for doctorate program in English or Japanese? and how many years should you study in doctorate level in your case ? many questions, I know, but things are very vague for me, I need to ask :emoji_upside_down::emoji_relaxed:
 
I contacted my embassy and they said I could change my preference form. I am glad, because after speaking to my potential advisors, my preference has definitely changed. I think I may actually place Nagoya first before Waseda and Todai.

Hey, what is everyone's plan? Master's? Doctorate? Only research?
 

Well, on my application I put Master's but I will probably start out as a research student for a year, so I can study Japanese more to pass Nagoya's entrance exam.

October 2018 arrive in Japan, 6 month Japanese language program

April 2019 Research student life begins, doing more Japanese studying until it's time to take the entrance exam in 2020. If anything goes wrong like if I don't pass, I'll probably do another year as a research student.
 
Centuries said:
I contacted my embassy and they said I could change my preference form. I am glad, because after speaking to my potential advisors, my preference has definitely changed. I think I may actually place Nagoya first before Waseda and Todai.
Click to expand...

Nice! I'm glad to hear you could change your preferences to suit you better! I'm also applying to Todai and Waseda, except Tsukuba instead of Nagoya. May I ask about how you decided on your preference order? I was really torn between choosing Tsukuba vs Todai as a first choice; I interned at a company in Tsukuba, but I have really close ties to people in Tokyo. Both Profs were really cool, and had interesting work in similar fields. I ended up going by order of university prestige cause I couldn't make up my mind emotionally.

Alexaandra12 said:
Well, on my application I put Master's but I will probably start out as a research student for a year, so I can study Japanese more to pass Nagoya's entrance exam.
Click to expand...

I'm applying to a Master's too! Hopefully starting as a research student in April 2018, then writing an entrance exam (August 2018 or October 2018) to get into a program. I apparently don't have to do the 6-month language prep, even though I kinda want to.
 

Hey Suny,

I agree with Sayu in that technically you could get funding as a Research Student for two years since MEXT supports that. Then you should be able to apply to extend your scholarship 'until completion of a grad program' given that you are able to write and pass the entrance exam by then. I think you have to contact your countries embassy or consulate-general to clarify how it would work in your case.

The language of the entrance exam depends on the graduate program you are applying for. Typically Doctorates are for a minimum of 3 years, 4 in medicine etc. But in practice, depending on how good your project goes, may take even longer. I think you mentioned that you're aiming for a Master's and those are typically 2 years, again in some cases maybe more.

Just like Sayu said, I think it's very strange the uni would want you to do two whole years of Japanese study. In what field do you hope to do research? I think at least in the hard sciences you could pull it off if you have a supervisor who knows English, but if it's in a field/department like Japanese literature, where everyone operates in purely Japanese you'd have to work pretty hard. Have you applied to other universities that don't require such a high level of Japanese? I'm usually optimistic about this sort of thing, but if the university needs two years of Japanese study, it sounds like it will be rough.
 
 
I, too, listed my preference by school prestige when I first applied. However, after I began talking with my potential advisors, my preference changed. I decided on Nagoya over Todai and Waseda because:

- The Nagoya advisor was the most interested in my project and seemed invested in it right off the bat.

- My fieldwork would be in Nagoya.

- The Nagoya administrators were very helpful, accommodating, and conversational. I got a good vibe from everyone I've contacted and who has been in contact with me.

- I don't know much Japanese and am able to take Japanese courses throughout my time there.

- Nagoya is ranked higher than Waseda on many ranked lists.

There are also "quality of life" factors I've been considering, too. Nagoya has the "city scene" of a large city but also has a lot of shrines, parks and greenery. It is a central location and has a cheaper cost of living.

These are just a few factors involved in my decision.
 
Hello everyone. Congratulations for getting into this stage, and I'm happy to say that I'm also at the stage of acquiring LOAs.

I'm just curious and wondering if anyone here has some idea on this. Upon submitting the LOAs and placement preference form, MEXT will send confirmation to all 3 (or 2) universities listed in the form at once, or they will start by contacting the first choice and get confirmation first?

Thank you and all the best everyone!
 
HI Yuuye, Nobody knows what exactly happens after Mext receives the documents... But What I personally think is that they contact your first choice university first (If they are ready to send you there of course), and move to the next one on your list if the former, for any reason, refuses to accept you.
You're definitely not going to your next choice if both Mext and your previous choice university are 'ok' on your placement.
 

Thank you for the replies. I really wished to be placed in my first choice (a national university). Another 2 choices are also a national university as well as a public university, so I'm wondering what are the chances of being placed in my first choice. Hmmm... thanks for the feedback
 
 
Sorry for the above post, I am new to the site and am not used to the layout/controls so I posted that accidentally.

I have been recommended by the Embassy in London, and am now in the process of applying for my LOAs. Is anyone else here applying from the UK?

I was wondering if it is 100% necessary to directly contact professors at our chosen universities when applying for LOAs. The three unis I chose all directed me to the international or admissions offices, and didn't mention contacting professors directly (Todai/Waseda/Keio). Should I have sent emails out to professors informing them that I intend to list them as desired supervisors?

Also, does anyone know the general timeline of MEXT (for Master's students). How long are we classed as 'research students' before we can enroll on Master's courses? And does the language training come before or during the 'research' term?

Sorry for all the questions. I am sure you all understand how confusing this process can be. Congratulations to everyone who has been accepted, and good luck with the rest of the process. I hope to see you all in Japan!
 
Oops! I just got an email from my potential advisor at Todai that he *can't* advise me. I am not sure if that means I have been assigned to someone else there or that the letter won't come through after all?

I am so happy that I was able to revise my placement preference. I may not have three letters, but two is good - and my first choice is a national uni now. Let's all stay positive!
 
Oh, a question: do you leave the schools that did not give you a letter of acceptance OFF of the form? Do I only list the two that I received letters from, leave the third blank?
 
Just my $0.02. At Waseda I contacted the instructor via the graduate school office and once she said she was on board I got the LoA by courtier a week later.

Todai is a bit strange, I contacted two professors neither of which responded so I ended up hedging my bet and trying to get a spot in the ITASIA program. It's a bit of a shame because our research interests align perfectly but I got no sign of life from them.

Third choice is just a back and forth of emails and I'll update when I understand what is going on..
 
Centuries said:
Oh, a question: do you leave the schools that did not give you a letter of acceptance OFF of the form? Do I only list the two that I received letters from, leave the third blank?
Click to expand...
Yeah I think... My embassy exactly told me that... Best of luck
 
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