Monbukagakusho Scholarship for Postgraduate!!

[noisyarsenic]

Hi there,
I applied for the Monbukagakusho Postgrad scholarship in April this year.
has anyone received a reply yet from the embassy (the embassy in Malaysia)? A reply asking to attend the test?
I was wondering when would one usually get a reply. Any malaysians out there who could help answer the question?
Thanks!!

Just when i started to wonder whether my crappy written japanese research proposal failed to impress the people from the embassy, I received the notification letter asking me for a written test on yesterday morning.

However, i'm a bit suprised when i learnt that only shortlisted candidate from the test would be awarded for an interview because a senior of mine who had applied for the scholarship last year told me otherwise. According to him, the test and the interview are suppose to be held on the same day. So what i'm worrying now is that they changed the format of the written test just like what they did with the candidate selection process.

So, can anyone who has taken the test clarify this? Thanks

 

[Charles Barkley]

wow, this is the most active forum about the monbusho scholarship i could find... I am currently applying for the scholarship and I have learned alot reading through everyone's post. Thanks guys.
I still have a question though, If I want to enter the monbusho scholarship as a graduate student, am I still required to fill out the "Study program" form? In this form, you write about your research plans in detail and such. If your applying as an entering graduate student, there is no need for this form right?

You will need this form. MEXT wants to see that you have a plan in mind, that paying for you to come to Japan will produce some tangible benefits in the future. You can't simply say 'I want a degree in ___'

The best thing to do is to begin thinking more deeply about what you actually will be studying when you do your graduate degree. Once you enter the graduate school, you would, I am sure, be able to change your research to a different topic if the one you wrote your research proposal on became unpalatable.

You could probably write a very very general plan, such as studying 'international relations,' but that kind of plan probably will not impress the people at the embassy screening as much as a plan that shows you already know, in some kind of detail, what you want to study.

Good luck.

 

[menrui]

thanks Sir Charles! I love your TNT show btw.

I just decided like 2 days ago to go in as a research student so I can be in Japan for 2 years and at the same time, take entrance exams and such.

I have a degree in biochemistry and I have never done independent research ever. So I'm a bit lost. For the past week I've researching how to do research haha. I need to think of some thing original and simple, but alot of those types of research have already been done. Then I need to write a formal research proposal to show to a professor who I want to research under. So hard. My deadline is June25.

In other news, I just graduate last week and I heard it might take more than a month to mail my diploma... so I'm in a bit of trouble here. better make some phone calls.

And to some of those other questions above, I have no idea how to answer those.

 

[ayumi.tt]

Just when i started to wonder whether my crappy written japanese research proposal failed to impress the people from the embassy, I received the notification letter asking me for a written test on yesterday morning.
However, i'm a bit suprised when i learnt that only shortlisted candidate from the test would be awarded for an interview because a senior of mine who had applied for the scholarship last year told me otherwise. According to him, the test and the interview are suppose to be held on the same day. So what i'm worrying now is that they changed the format of the written test just like what they did with the candidate selection process.
So, can anyone who has taken the test clarify this? Thanks

i received the notification letter today. really excited... alt i am still very far away from studying in japan.
the test for both english and japanese are one hour each.
i supposed, there will be only one paper for japanese test?
i read the past year paper for the japanese test. the last two paper were very difficult for a japanese beginner like me... kind of worried...

 

[dblbstrd]

In other news, I just graduate last week and I heard it might take more than a month to mail my diploma... so I'm in a bit of trouble here. better make some phone calls.

Congrats on graduating! I just finished my BS at the end of march, myself.
I wouldn't worry about the diploma thing. It's pretty much standard for that to take a month or two after your official date of graduation anyway.
Your official transcript should note that you have successfully earned your degree, which is completely sufficient.
Besides that, it's possible to apply and be accepted before you actually graduate, provided that you are going to graduate before your scholarship is set to begin.

 

[noisyarsenic]

i received the notification letter today. really excited... alt i am still very far away from studying in japan.
the test for both english and japanese are one hour each.
i supposed, there will be only one paper for japanese test?
i read the past year paper for the japanese test. the last two paper were very difficult for a japanese beginner like me... kind of worried...

I've roughly skimmed through the Jap papers, it seems quite easy to me. Anyway, jap test isn't going to be the main factor in selecting candidates, it merely provides you an additional advantage. The main test at which we should ace is english test where they had mentioned clearly that they'll made their selection base on its result. On the other hand, the english test also seems to be trickier than the jap test though.

Kind of wonder whether i can pull it off as my english is not so proficient.

 

[tomayto]

me and 5 of my classmates applied for this scholarship. currently only 3 of us received the reply. hopefully the other 3 will also receive good news soon. im not proficient in japanese so will totally be dependent to my english test performance.saw the past years question, a bit tricky i say.kind of worried here. haha. btw anyone planning to do research on comp science related field?

 

[clockworkorange]

Hi everyone!!!! Its good to hear from the other malaysian candidates. I received my notification letter last week as well.

To noisyarsenic, i'm not sure if the format of the test paper has changed either. I think the best way to find out would be to just call the embassy maybe? and from your post, i gather our interview day will be on a different day from the exam? I'm quite surprised that they used to hold the exam and interview on the same day as I assumed only those who succeeded in the exam will get interviewed.

Also, to ayumi, i'm not really sure if there will be 1 paper for the japanese exam although in the notification letter the jap test is only one hour i think. I spoke with the embassy back in march and according to the guy i spoke to there will be 3 papers. But things might have changed since then. I wun be taking the japanese exam as i can't speak or write japanese.

Anyway, good luck to all of us!!!!!

 

[menrui]

a~~~
anyone else spending alot of money on all the health check-up? My parents, they are kind of retarded, do not have health insurance for the family. So I am having to pay fully for all the medical stuff straight out of my pocket... it sucks, but it'll be worth it once I get the scholarship .

Oh, I just found out that I am a bit hearing impaired, I cant hear really low noises as a normal person can. Hmmm It has never really been a big problem for me, but it does explain why I cant hear low whispers some times. Anyways, I hope they dont take that too seriously haha.

In other news, I have almost all of the application completed. I need my advisor recommendation and to finish up my research plans.

 

[dblbstrd]

a~~~
anyone else spending alot of money on all the health check-up? My parents, they are kind of retarded, do not have health insurance for the family. So I am having to pay fully for all the medical stuff straight out of my pocket... it sucks, but it'll be worth it once I get the scholarship .
Oh, I just found out that I am a bit hearing impaired, I cant hear really low noises as a normal person can. Hmmm It has never really been a big problem for me, but it does explain why I cant hear low whispers some times. Anyways, I hope they dont take that too seriously haha.
In other news, I have almost all of the application completed. I need my advisor recommendation and to finish up my research plans.

I had health insurance so I only had to pay like a $15 copay at the time of checkup, and a few bucks that I was billed later for, myself.
I wouldn't worry about the slight hearing thing. I had a minor issue that the doc noted but I was never even asked about it. The doctor I went to even said, "From the looks of the questions on this form, it seems as if they're trying to screen for diseases or something."
So, yeah, no problem there I believe.

Good luck getting the rest of your stuff together!

 

[timarin]

Hi all. I found this forum about a month ago when I was looking for info on the MEXT scholarship and I'm just now finding some time to post. I found it to have a lot of useful information for preparing my application. Anyways, I sent my application to the New York consulate a couple weeks ago and now it's wait time. I have mixed feelings about my finished research proposal. But I guess it's the same for a lot of us. There are always things that we'd go back and improve on. Anyways, good luck to everyone else applying for 2009. Hopefully I'll be back on here with good news sometime.

 

[kumakumasan]

English Questions

I had some questions about the English portion of the exam and wondered if this might be a good place to post them. I'm having trouble figuring out what is wrong in questions III 4, III 8 from this previous exam: (I don't have enough posts to add the url, but it's at wwwDOTstudyjapanDOTgoDOTjp/en/toj/pdf/08-004.pdf
The answer key: wwwDOTstudyjapanDOTgoDOTjp/en/toj/pdf/08-kenkyu_answer.pdf

Any help would be great! Good luck to all those applying!

 

[menrui]

^ I really hate those types of question and I'm not very good at english altogether, so I probably shouldn't be answering your qeustion. Furthermore, I'm not sure whats wrong either haha.

My guess... for III4, besides those weird dashes, I think "become" should be past tense, "became." For III8, I think there should be a comma before "which."

Anyways, I was writing my research as if it were a formal research(chemistry) proposal and it is getting quite long, with citations and notes from previous researches and such. So I decided to cut it short and save the formal ones for the professors. Anyone know if keeping it long and complicated would impress the committee? Or do you think it would just confuse and bore them?

 

[窶堙?窶堙昶?堋ｶ]

Hi everyone,

It's was great to meet everyone here. I was also applying the postgraduate sholarship and I received the letter to go for the written test. In fact, I have a few questions in which I was in the circumstances of confusing.

1.) Minimum how many marks we need to gain in order to secure for an interview? Actually both my English and Japanese proficiency was in the medium level. I'm worrying about the written test now (especially part three). Is there anything we can do at least to fairly improve the grammar part ?
2.) I'm interested in Master programme. However, is it impossible for a foreigner to straightly enroll as Master Degree student without being a research student for 6 months or 1 year?
3.) To check out whether anyone has interest on the proposed research, do we need to start to contact with the university professor who we want to work with although we not yet past the preliminary selection stage? Is it ok to do so? Because as I know they might against a sudden email from an acquaintance?
4.)I've finished my research proposal both in English and Japanese, I only have 5 pages in total (for both languages )to speak for my whole research. How many pages be consider as "presentable"?

 

[kumakumasan]

Thank you very much menrui!!!

窶堙?窶堙昶?堋ｶ:
1) For me, my tests and interview are on the same day; perhaps your country has different requirements. You can check the instructions that came with your application; they list the criteria. Here's what mine says: "Written examination: Must show that the applicant obtained scores better than a certain level either in Japanese or English".
2) ?
3) Of course you're free to contact professors for research ideas anytime, for example to see if they wold be your advisor if you applied to that school, but I think generally for this scholarship, they give you time after you pass the exams/interviews for this process.
4) ?

Best of luck to everyone!!

 

[Charles Barkley]

もみじ: If you receive the scholarship to study at a school and you have already passed the entrance examinations/been accepted to that school's graduate program, you should be able to begin working on a degree from the beginning.

Also, did you copy the same thing in English and Japanese? Maybe I am wrong, but that seems redundant. They just want one or the other. My research proposal + field of study spanned 3 pages, single spaced in English. That seemed plenty.

 

[Charles Barkley]

^ I really hate those types of question and I'm not very good at english altogether, so I probably shouldn't be answering your qeustion. Furthermore, I'm not sure whats wrong either haha.
My guess... for III4, besides those weird dashes, I think "become" should be past tense, "became." For III8, I think there should be a comma before "which."

III4--> gyrating oil prices--with the exception of a brief spike during the gulf war--seem to have become a thing of the past. 'A brief spike' would not seem to be an exception to the conclusion that 'gyrating oil prices have become a thing of the past.' But I am not entirely sure about this point. The wording is not how I would have done it, so perhaps there is something wrong with the structure, not the meaning as well, but I cannot pinpoint it, so I am going with my above explanation.

III8--> consistent should be changed to 'inconsistent,' since the passage as it is contradicts what immediately precedes it.

The dashes--or things that can be used like parentheses to add extra information--are not weird.

'Have become' is correct as is.

'Which consists in' does not require a comma and would read strangely were one added.

ETA: But I will admit those were very hard questions--I did not notice anything wrong during my first reading, though there were a couple of mistakes outside of the underlined areas. Props to non-native speakers who can ace that test. I hope my Japanese will one day be so good...

 

[kumakumasan]

Thanks CB!!! Wow, it's easy to miss these things. Thanks for taking the time to post these answers!

 

[MatsuyamaHime]

Dood, my proposal's gettin lengthy.

Simple Copy and paste into Word is 7 full pages.

If I cut out certain parts that aren't detrimental and the time-line table, it's 4 full pages.

And this...without the literature review!!!

I'm actually happy that there's too much. That means that I can cut stuff and have it still be exceptionally precise and informative.

*pats self on back*

Anyway, time to focus on the other parts of the application!!!

 

[fulhamerica]

I am sure the answer to this question will depend greatly upon both uni and field of study, however, I am curious to know about the actual day to day events of the Research Students. For any current or former research students out there. Do you report to your professor everyday? How is your evaluation conducted? Is most research/work conducted under the guidance of a professor, independent etc.?
I am just curious as to the daily routine of the research student, and any specific experiences they might have.
Thanks

 

[clockworkorange]

Hi guys,

I was wondering if anyone could tell me where u guys get the past year exam papers? I get them from studyjapan but the posts here mention answers. I can't seem to find the answers to the english papers though.

To もみじ:
all ur questions have pretty much been answered but just to share what little i know:

1) The guy I spoke to at the embassy said it is important to score in the english exam as they take into account that most malaysians dun speak japanese (like me. )
But obviously, japanese would be an advantage i think.

2) Like Charles said, I think you have to pass the entrance exam first in order to skip being a research student and move straight to the degree.

3) I dun see why u can't contact the professors now if u wan to. A lady i spoke to at JASSO told me that i shud send something very much like a curriculum vita to them when i'm going to contact them.

4) I'm a bit confused on this one. What exactly is the research proposal for? U must have passed the initial application process to be going for the exam. Does this mean its for the professors?


Like fulhamerica, I'm also curious about life as a research student over there. Actually I'm more concerned about where they live.. hostels? do universities provide accommodation? I'd really appreciate if someone could answer!!

 

[窶堙?窶堙昶?堋ｶ]

Hi everyone,

Thanks guys..... Ur advice is very useful for me. The proposal that I mentioned here actually is for the professors in Japan about the research/study programme I wanna undertake.

So I've been prepared it in both languages as for reference. What I mean is it ok if I attached the proposal in both languages when I send my curriculum vitae to them?

Thanks a lot for your info ya

 

[iprashant]

gave my english test last week now waiting for futher calls

Hello all,

I gave my English test on May 30. The questions were a bit trickier as discussed earlier in the thread. In our country we don't have to give Japanese test and i haven't learned Japanese yet so it was a relief for me to appear for English test only. Anyway i am waiting for further calls for interview.

The main problem i had was preparing Research Proposal and i prepared my proposal in two days and don't know how reasonable and logical it is. I dint even revised it .

 

[dblbstrd]

I am sure the answer to this question will depend greatly upon both uni and field of study, however, I am curious to know about the actual day to day events of the Research Students. For any current or former research students out there. Do you report to your professor everyday? How is your evaluation conducted? Is most research/work conducted under the guidance of a professor, independent etc.?
I am just curious as to the daily routine of the research student, and any specific experiences they might have.
Thanks

I almost don't see my professor at all outside of the class he teaches, and he rarely checks on me. The only times I've heard from him have been regarding prepping for the entrance exam and applying to jump from research to master's level, and whenever the administration office calls to complain that I haven't turned in some papers that I was supposed to.
I have found myself lightly involved in projects being conducted by PhD students, and the people in charge of said projects are who I deal with rather than the professor who accepted me here.
I've gathered from other research/grad students that they are often left to work pretty independently, though in my particular lab there are "teams" that work on certain things, and everybody eventually winds up in one of those teams and probably working on something pretty specific.
This all depends largely on what school/department you go to and your professor.

To answer clockwork orange on accommodation, this depends what university you go to and where it is located, but if you go to a national university or other certain universities, or are in a city where such a thing exists, there are dorms available for foreign students. At my university we're offered the opportunity to live in the dorm (which is VERY cheap, must be subsidized somehow) for 12 months and then are expected to find our own place after that.

On the research proposal, you can keep it plain and simple. Whatever is enough to thoroughly describe the most basic idea of your research plan is sufficient. I don't believe that my proposal was any longer than one single-spaced page, and I made it through...

 

[kumakumasan]

English Practice Test

Anybody care to compare answers for this practice English exam:
wwwDOTstudyjapanDOTgoDOTjp/en/toj/pdf/06-004.pdf
I'm just a little confused about section III; everything else is fairly straightforward.
Thanks and good luck everyone!!

Oh, and if anyone has the answers to this exam, that would be great! I couldn't find them...

Here are my answers for section III:
1:d 2:d 3:d 4:b 5:b 6:d 7:b 8:b 9:c 10:a