Monbukagakusho Scholarship for Postgraduate!!

Yeah. Got my last LoA in (Waseda), and my consulate is making the final prep for sending things into MEXT.

Man, my Japanese is rusty - went into the consulate today and could feel my inability to speak, and repeatedly picked words that sounded close to what I wanted, but unable to pick the right one.

A bit depressing, but the fact everything is going in makes me happy.

menrui said:

Yeah, I think most people are just waiting for their LoA. So not much to talk about.

Vyen,
Wow that really sucks. My I ask what your research topic is about?

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oh..my research topic is about risk management and control.

Hi Vyen,

Hang in there. Some professors might be too tied up with their work or could be conducting research on overseas field trip or even busy grading entrance exam papers! I suggest you keep following up with the International Student's or academic office. Most of the time, they're very willing to help you out  Hope you will get the letter soon.

Yeap, don't give up! There's still time.....

I have no idea what risk management and control is...
Anyways, yeah, maybe they are busy or something. But dont give up just yet. did you email the prof. directly? or the graduate school/international office?

> Vyen

hm... you can try finding that under risk engineering. Quite a number of university has that course.

I am listing a few:
Toyohashi University of Technology
University of Tsukuba

and the list go on. Hope this will help.

Don't give up, try contact the professors' secretaries, should they have one. Most professors there they have at least one secretary.

Dear all,

Thanks for the support. hopefully I will get 1 uni to accept me next week.
I think everything will be just fine...

So far I haven't had any contact with the university, save for walking through the campus today. I have been very busy with setting up all the essentials for life in japan--getting the gaijin card, setting up internet, setting up my apartment, etc.

I will say, however, that the area I am living in, setagayaku in Tokyo is just awesome. And the dorm I am staying at is just filled with helpful people and people from just about any country you can think of in the world. If you take advantage of them, this place and the scholarship offer tons of opportunities.

I am so glad to be a student in Tokyo instead of a teacher in Tohoku. So very very glad.

^wow, I'm really jealous/envious. I've been out of school for like 3 month now and I feel like I'm going to explode! Waiting for this scholarship is making me crazy.

Hi guys,
I'm interested in applying for the Monbusho scholarship (postgrad) for the next round of applications. However I have some doubts that hopefully can be clarified to me by fellow forumers.

1. I'm a bit confused with the language requirement of the Monbusho scholarship. Earlier on this thread I read that some of the applicants do not have any basic knowledge of the Japanese language, yet managed to get a place in their respective universities. Yet when I checked the latest advertisement for Monbusho scholarship, it states that both English and Japanese will be evaluated during your screening for your acceptance. Can anyone clarify with me on this matter? Or has the requirements changed in this latest round of application?

2. What are the timelines of the scholarship application? From the application to the final acceptance and all events in between.

3. Do we need to have a solid research title ready before approaching the potential supervisors or we could discuss with them and try to merge our research interest with their current projects?

4. From the ad. it seems that they're accepting students from Natural Sciences and Humanities. I'm wondering if Computer Science/ Software Engineering falls into any of these 2 categories?

Thanks a bunch fellow forumers. You've inspired me to study in Japan

Maddict,

I will try my best to answer your question.

1. both of the language will be evaluated in the exam given by embassy, but is not a requirement to take Japanese paper.

2. from application until final result will take around 11 months.

3. yes. it is better to have a detailed research proposal before contacting the professors.

4. yes. they do accept computer science or software engineering student.

^welcome to the club! I will try to answer your questions the best I can.

1. I'm not 100% sure, but I will state my theory. Yes, both English and Japanese WILL be evaluated. Keep in mind that it is not thing that is evaluated. In my opinion, your research proposal and interview have much more weight:
a) My MEXT coordinator(US) told me, I have to be able to get a minimum score(no idea what it is) in 1 of either the Jpn or Eng test.
b) This scholarship is a tight competition and I'm sure that a higher score will always help. Also, the interview has some jpn in it, so you can impress the panel.
c) Depending on what field you are entering, your Jpn skills might be important. For example, if you are entering social science, yeah your jpn skills might be considered more. But maybe like, chemical science, they won't put as much emphasis on it.

2. Maybe the other malaysian applicant can give you the dates. I will give you the basic outline:
First screening(Applications).
Test/interview.
Getting a acceptance from a Univ/Prof.
Second screening(you do nothing here. MEXT looks over everything, and then decides whether or not to accept you).
Getting a VISA?
Departure(april)

3. Hmmm, in my opinion, a solid research proposal would be the best. but people have manage to discuss it with their prof.
a) A solid one shows the professor that you put more thought into it, and you can take care of yoruself, etc.
b) The professor might be busy and not want to deal with it.
c) other stuff, i cant think of them right now
However, attempting to propose a research that relates to the profs does seem really good, because it shows your interest in the prof, etc. There might be some problems from that. Generally, you have 1 month to get a prof acceptance, trust me, its not alot of time. you can contact your prof before the interview, but if you dont pass the test/interview.... you get the idea. I say you risk it and go for the latter.

4. Yes, i think comp sci is in the category of natural science.... even if computers are not natural. (weird)

Hi Vyen and Menrui,

Wow, that was a prompt reply. I was out for lunch and walla! 2 replies. 1 month to contact the professor is seriously a short time period to actually discuss anything. I think at best it would be 1 or 2 correspondence and discussion and the rest would be to settle the legal matters. Even with local professors I take about 2-3 months to discuss and agree on a suitable research title for myself. Guess the best thing I could do is to start on the details of my research now. I'm going to Japan to further my studies anyhow, however I think if I could get myself some form of scholarship it would be better. Good luck to all of you waiting for your scholarship!

Hello maddict!!!

Vyen and menrui pretty much answered ur questions but i thot i'd put in my 2 cents worth since i had the same questions when i first wanted to apply. I hope this helps!!!

1) You do not need to know Japanese when u apply. Obviously ur at an advantage if u do but u dun need to know it. I don't know any japanese so i did not take the japanese language test. I only took the english one. According to the representative from the embassy, they take into account that the majority of malaysians do not know japanese. At the test, the representative further explained that they grade the english papers first before proceeding to the japanese papers. So lets say u take both papers and u scored badly for ur english test, they do not bother marking ur japanese test no matter how well u did. In other words, pass english first. And if u did well in ur english but did not take the japanese test because u dun know the language, u'll pass.

2) The applications usually open in March - check the embassy website ard that time. This year, the application forms were out on March 15th. The application form requires u to explain ur study plan which is ur research. The deadline for the application was April 11th or 14th (i can't remember). The shortlisted candidates were notified on June 15th to take the language tests. I only took the english one. 2 weeks later, i was notified that i passed. This is the point when u start having lots to do -> write ur research plan in detail, start looking up potential universities and prepare for ur interview. Once u pass the interview, then u have to contact professors and obtain a Letter of Acceptance from the university of ur choice. I did not contact any professors prior to the interview so i had about a month to do so. Its a tight deadline but i prefer it to contacting professors earlier. I think it would be awkward if i dun get the scholarship or if i decide not to go to the same university after all. But other ppl may think differently so its up to u. Then we wait to see if we pass and get to go to Japan - results are out in Feb next year.

3)Yes, u need to have a solid title for ur research. This is because u have to present ur study plan which includes the methodology of ur research. I did mine like a normal research proposal. I also included a timeline in my study plan which i think is important. I dun think u can go to such detail if u only have a rough idea on what to research. But i do think that researching what the japanese professors are currently involved in is important before u decide on ur own research topic. I had a very tough time finding a professor because most of them were not doing the same research.

4) Yes, i think Computer Science falls under the category of Natural Science.

Thats it. Sorry for the rambling!!

maddict said:

Hi guys,
I'm interested in applying for the Monbusho scholarship (postgrad) for the next round of applications. However I have some doubts that hopefully can be clarified to me by fellow forumers.

1. I'm a bit confused with the language requirement of the Monbusho scholarship. Earlier on this thread I read that some of the applicants do not have any basic knowledge of the Japanese language, yet managed to get a place in their respective universities. Yet when I checked the latest advertisement for Monbusho scholarship, it states that both English and Japanese will be evaluated during your screening for your acceptance. Can anyone clarify with me on this matter? Or has the requirements changed in this latest round of application?

2. What are the timelines of the scholarship application? From the application to the final acceptance and all events in between.

3. Do we need to have a solid research title ready before approaching the potential supervisors or we could discuss with them and try to merge our research interest with their current projects?

4. From the ad. it seems that they're accepting students from Natural Sciences and Humanities. I'm wondering if Computer Science/ Software Engineering falls into any of these 2 categories?

Thanks a bunch fellow forumers. You've inspired me to study in Japan

Click to expand...

I've posted a thread previously on a detailed timeline of the application.
It should be almost the same every year.

There is an AYF (Asian Youth Fellowship) program now available, also offered by MEXT, similiar content. But it is super competitive - only 1 Master, and 1 PhD. I i didn't bother applying. But you can try - just to get some experience before applying for the MEXT next march.

maddict said:

Hi Vyen and Menrui,

Wow, that was a prompt reply. I was out for lunch and walla! 2 replies. 1 month to contact the professor is seriously a short time period to actually discuss anything. I think at best it would be 1 or 2 correspondence and discussion and the rest would be to settle the legal matters. Even with local professors I take about 2-3 months to discuss and agree on a suitable research title for myself. Guess the best thing I could do is to start on the details of my research now. I'm going to Japan to further my studies anyhow, however I think if I could get myself some form of scholarship it would be better. Good luck to all of you waiting for your scholarship!

Click to expand...

My advise: Search for Professors from March/April - after you submitted your application. That you will have 3-4 months time to not only get one, but have IN DEPTH discussion with him/her.

Don't worry bout japanese language now, it's not crucial at this point.

I personally felt that i passed the interview because i have a detailed research proposal and strong recommendation as well as consent from the supervisor.
I didn't actually perform well during the interview. But the correspondence (emails with prof) helped.

You are required to submit a research proposal during your initial application. However, after you passed the written test, you are allowed to AMEND your proposal to be more specific. Which will be around June by then. So it's good to have a prof to advise you on the content. However, if you plan to apply to several Unis, write a proposal that is specific, yet still leave some flexibility so that it is applicable to more supervisors, if not you'll have trouble finding a 2nd supervisor. (as in my case). My proposal is like tailored made for that particular project of the supervisor.

You can start doing some research now by shortlisting a number of Unis that you're targeting:
30 Top Japanese Universities

There will be 3 choices when you apply. Choose the combination wisely as the more famous a uni, the more competitve it is to get in. So it might affect your chances on the scholarship as well when you're denied a place from that Uni due to limited quota.

Goodluck and all the best!

Some FAQ for Maddict:
http://www.intersc.tsukuba.ac.jp/01prospective/monbukagakusho.htm

For computer science/ software engineering, there are a number of universities offering that in at masters and ph.D. Sometimes you will have to look under informatics science/ engineering. Their courses are really specific, you should have a look first. Maybe this Global COE or 21st century COE program will give you a really good insight on what are the major research in the field of universities in Japan. Have a try on that.

Japanese likes the word 'engineering'. They are like adding everything with the suffix engineering.

Thanks for all the replies from all of you, definately helpful. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I like to prepare or at least be prepared for everything, thats why I'm checking with all of you early, despite the application being 6 months away.

Yeah computer science can be quite difficult to categorize sometimes and this is definately one trouble I've been facing for all my applications. Certain universities categorize it as Engineering, some as Science and some as Informatics. Sometimes I feel like applying for a Computer Science postgrad is like walking into a wild bush . Thank you ooilingfan for the advise on professor approach and the link. Will look on it after work. Thanks kuoki for the info. I finally resorted to using the search boxes provided in most uni websites directly to the computer science departments of the particular university. Easy and straight to the point

Thank you all.

Of the newbies who have started about the same time as me, about a third don't seem to speak much Japanese.

Not speaking Japanese certainly presents some challenges, and everyone here has expressed that they wished they had studied more Japanese before coming over, so keep that in mind. Not speaking English or Japanese would be disastrous.

Charles,

How much is the rental in Waseda area? Is the cost of living there high?

I just informed by the embassy that they received my LoA from Waseda Uni. Now I got to decide which is my first choice, Waseda or Doshisha.:?

Guys, thanks for the support and encouragement~~

Vyen said:

Charles,
How much is the rental in Waseda area? Is the cost of living there high?
I just informed by the embassy that they received my LoA from Waseda Uni. Now I got to decide which is my first choice, Waseda or Doshisha.:?
Guys, thanks for the support and encouragement~~

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Congratulations Vyen!

Congratulations Vyen..
Let's all meet up in Japan!!

I am living in a dorm that is a bit far away from Waseda. You should have the opportunity to move into a Jasso run dorm, but if you don't, you will be looking at around 5-6 man per month for the cheapest places in that area of shinjuku. As far as Tokyo goes, it didn't look particularly expensive.

Good job Vyen!
yea~ get-together~ konpa! jpn inn getaway!
Anyways, we can plan that out after we're in japan.

I received my last LoA yesterday, and sent everything in today. Looks like im done... now, i wait. my coordinator said they are hoping to receive results as soon as Oct. of Nov., but it can be as late as Feb... or even later.

Also, has anyone tried to read their LoA? I read some of it(as much as i can haha), and it seems like good communication with the professor is a BIG must. From what I read, or what I think i read, the professor has to write about how you communicated with him/her, about your research, their opinions about your research and about you, etc.