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MEXT Scholarship (Research/Graduate students) 2019

Application just started here as well. I was wondering (I've probably already asked this before, but I kind off did so much research lately I am not sure anymore about which process for what).

For research applications, you have to fill in a placement preference form. This isn't already with the LoA's right? Or do you already need to have those?
 

The thing is, I've done some research proposals in the past and they all required some type of time table (even if it is very, very unclear or not specific at all). It shows you have a general understanding of the time you have the fill and not just throw around some ideas for what you will be doing.
 
I was wondering when people were going to start posting again.

=For research applications, you have to fill in a placement preference form. This isn't already with the LoA's right? Or do you already need to have those?
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SO, to my knowledge, past applications had this weird "requirement" were their possible supervisors/senseis would ask for the placement preference form when requesting a LoA. Sometimes (most of the time) this was harmful to the applicant as the professor would NOT give you a LoA because you placed his/her school as second or third option. Many had to modify their preference order to "tatemae" the supervisor in order to increase their chances to be granted a LoA.

Now, the specific guidelines of MEXT 2019 page six states:

"Applicants must submit any other necessary documents requested by universities. Do not submit items: ②Placement Preference Form and ⑦Medical Certificate"

and then

"Applicants must always report the response from the universities and submit the final Placement Preference Form based on the responses from the universities to the Japanese diplomatic mission by the specified deadline. It is not allowed to list in the Placement Preference Form the names of universities that have declined the applicant's request."

So part of the application requirement is to handle all the required documents (this includes a placement preference form , remember Note 3: Number the documents(① through ⑪) in the right upper corner of the pages), BUT later (if you are pre-selected), when asking for LoA, you will submit a "Final" placement preference form with those Universities that actually accepted you.

If I am wrong, please advise :emoji_wink:
 
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"It is not allowed to list in the Placement Preference Form the names of universities that have declined the applicant's request."

I am gonna check my paperwork, because I did see a sentence that was actually about this and it read something among the lines of 'You will be needing to get LoA's after the first round of selections'. I am not sure which document read that, but I will search it up. It was definitely a deadline 2019 document.

(Edit: I found it!) Placement Preference form in the grey box:
 
Yes, there are basically two "preference placement forms" ...but just the last one will be the one MEXT will consider. (The embassy wont show your first "draft" preference anyways)
1- One you handle on the primarily selection of the application with all other documents. (this one is more of a , "lets see if she/he did her/his homework and proper googling"
2- (if you are pre-selected by the embassy)The " Final preference form" that the embassy will show MEXT for approval, you will need LoAs (basically to make sure they accepted you as a research student)

I remember past replies on the 2016-2018 section of the forum showing how the Final preference form sometimes was having 2 different Universities because the ones they had selected in the first "preference form" did not gave them LoA.

Thanks for keeping the thread alive.
 
Ah okay! So for first selection I won't have to have the LoA's already but I should start getting them, basically. Good to know. I've been having some trouble since my schooling system is way different from the USA or Japan ones and some 'transfers' to English and then to my native language make things a little bit unclear or complicated in terms of 'What are they really asking?'

I've been trying to find another Dutch person who applied, got in or even applied at all to the Research program without having studied Japan Studies here but I didn't have any luck so far. This is why I have to rely on what I read online, can gather from the internet and so on. I've been doing a lot of in depth research for my proposal and have had contact with multiple Japanese companies as well as letting my proposal proof read by my Japanese employers so I have an idea of what Japanese teachers are 'expecting' but it will still be a wild guess.
 
Itasimisete said:
Ah okay! So for first selection I won't have to have the LoA's already but I should start getting them, basically.
Click to expand...

Technically only "The applicants who have passed the First Screening shall directly contact the Japanese universities" ,if you have not been pre-selected by your embassy you are outside the guidelines. But applicants normally start messaging the professors to " test the waters" and build a professional relationship before asking for letters.Some just waited until they were pre-selected.
Many successful applicants advise to contact the professors in advance but without asking for a letter until you are pre-selected,

(In fact , the professor will probably ask you for all the documents you gave to the embassy with a special stamp from the embassy) check:



NOTE----> You will need stamped documents AND copy of a "certificate" of " pre selection" from the embassy (if you pass).:emoji_cop:


Without this "first screening certificate" you wont be able to obtain an admission letter (LoA), (There have been exceptions on past threads of applicants that had a really good relationship with the sensei and they were recommended without some documents but I am just reading from the guidelines)

If you plan to contact the professor, technically, a professional email with another professional (sensei) from your field of study....is just researching. ....LoA would be another story for when you get pre-selected. (Hope so):emoji_relaxed:

All the original guidelines of MEXT 2019 are here.Application Process. Every Embassy have different dates and deadlines depending on the amount of applicants and country demographic. But all of them have to follow MEXT guidelines, after all It is a MEXT scholarship. The embassy is just the first screening.

ALL embassys need to comply with the SAME English and Japanese exam as well. Here is the 2016 exams with answers for you to practice:
Qualifying Examinations for Applicants for Japanese Government (MEXT) Scholarships - Examination Questions

veel geluk!:emoji_grinning:
 
Yes! The English and Japanese exams I'm fully aware off (I've actually already tried the English exam from 2 years ago or something myself) but the whole document process is sometimes a little hard to get through. It seems like a year worth of paper work sometimes when you read those documents (especially since they are full with text and paragraphs) haha. I so hope that I will nail everything before I have the deadline. Although I am quite lucky with the deadline in Holland, it is pretty late from what I've seen here.

Bedankt!
 
I'm sure you will do great. Considering you are the only one replying, I can assume you have done your homework. :emoji_joy:::.
This is a Masters/PhD scholarship, so I also suspect some prefer to remain in the shadows to avoid jeopardizing their application. :emoji_shrug: Perhaps there are some Japanese fluent ninjas as well. :emoji_thermometer_face:

Almost 8pm?
 
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I think most have already answered it ... but I did ask the same thing during a consultation with our embassy here.

You do have to fill it up. It's more for fulfilling the requirements at this point. You'll be submitting another one if you pass the first round of screening.
 
I jut stumbled into a format inquiry...
For the Application form...I read (previews years) it had to be printed Double-sided.

But I can find where in the guidelines it says I should do that this year. Are they asking double-sided prints of the form at your embassies?

I went to one of my selected universities to check their requirements and for the 2017 they were asking double-sided as well..:emoji_disappointed_relieved:
 
I've never seen anything about this. I'm sure if this was a requirement they would've explicitly said so on the application form or in the guidelines. But if you're having doubts, maybe contact you embassy?
 
Hi guys i have a question
when you write your proposal does it have to be based on Japan or it can be based on a different country but beneficial to japan. It confusing me

And when submitting the recommendation letter should it be sealed with three copies or...
 
Hi! I am from the Philippines and applying too for the MEXT Research scholarship. Still working on my proposal. Good luck to us!
 
Lowlow said:
Hi guys i have a question
when you write your proposal does it have to be based on Japan or it can be based on a different country but beneficial to japan. It confusing me.
Click to expand...

Yes, you must be able to answer to the question "why studying in Japan rather elsewhere". It could be because something is just available in Japan (typically Japanese literature degree) but for fields that are available worldwide the reason will be more likely a professor or a laboratory specialised on what you want to do. If I remember correctly I said something like professors + more social acceptance of what I'm doing.

For the letters, you need something like 6 copies, so it probably best to ask one letter and make the copies yourself. At least when I applied the sealed thing wasn't a requirement, just a mere option.
 

Hallo!
I am also applying this year. I did not study Japanstudies, so I wonder if I got a chance. I have to call the embassy to ask if I can submit the health form after the other documents if/when I pass the interview. Getting one is pretty pricey.
 
I have a couple of simple questions:

What do they mean by pasting the photograph? I've never had to do such a thing, and I'd figure the standard glue I'd use would bleed through the paper. I read somewhere I could use double sided tape, but I can't find that source.

Should the parts of the application that utilize multiple pages be stapled? Toyohashi University's website was the first I've seen where they mentioned no staples, which makes me think I need to reprint my application again haha.

I remember reading somewhere about not being able to visit Japan 6 months prior to the scholarship start date. Is this the case? If so, I'll cancel my New Years plans in Tokyo!
 
Lowlow said:
And when submitting the recommendation letter should it be sealed with three copies or...
Click to expand...

In my case, I told my adviser in the University that I needed an original and two extra copies. He gave me the original in an official university envelope and the other two in a plain-looking one.

During my consultation with embassy here they mentioned that the extra copies weren't a hard requirement since some professors give sealed envelopes with only the original letter. They'd rather I give the sealed envelope with no copies. However, if they gave me a letter with no envelope, they advised me to photocopy it myself but not place it in a sealed envelope.

I guess it will depend on the embassy of your country, but that's the case for the Philippines at least. :


For the application form, I don't think it has to be double-sided. However, for the research plan ...
 
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Anyone applying from India this year??? For research student?
 
"
For the application form, I don't think it has to be double-sided. However, for the research plan ...
Click to expand...

I just asked my embassy for advise. They (@ my embassy) prefer the application form just one sided. As you mentioned, the research plan is clearly specified to be double-sided. Some universities form specifically ask double-sided.
I just want to be 100% in accordance with the requirements to avoid any argument later on.


Photograph requirements are simple yet confusing (as they are in Japanglish) . Printing the photograph in photo-paper is a must. For that I went to my local Photo-center/Pharmacy/Place where they take ID pictures (mostly because I do not have photo-paper at my place) and printed a set of the exact measurements they asked for. Then, you have to write your name on the back of the picture and write your country. (This is mostly in the case it detach in the mailing process, this may happen when using glue sticks which do not "bleed" through the paper). The requirements states that you can "paste the photograph data" on the form, which I believe in Japanglish means it is also possible to print your form with your picture in it. Because Japan is very traditional, and people still use uniform-cvs with printed photos glued on them, I did it the old fashion way/photo-paper way and then as per the Guideline, printed 2 scanned copies of the original form. Final result. 1 Original form with real photo-paper photograph name in the back glued with glue stick, 2 copies (in color) of that 1st form.

Staples, there is no clear answer rather than your selected university preference. I will use paper-clips to stay in the safe side.

I am researching as well your third question, as I would like to travel as well.
 
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Hello, everyone! I just submitted my requirements to the Japanese Embassy yesterday. Wishing for the best!
 
would it be detrimental to have a (strong) letter of recommendation from a lecturer at my university? I attend a large university and I've had no interactions with our dean, and I do not have an advisor per se...
 
Daehyung said:
would it be detrimental to have a (strong) letter of recommendation from a lecturer at my university? I attend a large university and I've had no interactions with our dean, and I do not have an advisor per se...
Click to expand...

The key point is having a letter of recommendation. Not every faculty have a dean anyway. However, the higher the rank of the recommander, the better.
 
Hello. Thank you for this amazing thread. There's something that's kind of vague to me, so any sort of assistance would be appreciated. Should I tick "yes" or "no"? Note that I'm neither living out of my country, nor applying to another scholarship other than MEXT.
 
I didn't fill in anything. You only have to tick a box if the questions applies to you.
 
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