Monbukagakusho Scholarship for Postgraduate!!

dopemills said:

Just a quick question. Does your degree grades matter when applying for the scholarship?

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Not necessary. I mean that is not necessary to have only A or maximum grades. At list for graduate.In my case they never ask me about grades or school to the interview only about my job, why i want to study in Japan etc. I guess what matter most are your result to the English test, Japanese (optional if you don't plan to study Japanese) - for undergraduate are some other tests, the interview and a good study project(if research student). In my opinion I think it's enough to be a good student and you have a chance with the condition to have very good result to the exams.

I hope it helps

I understand. Thanks for your reply. Having say that, would it be somewhat correct to say that chances in getting accepted are higher for postgraduate as compared to undergrad?

dopemills said:

I understand. Thanks for your reply. Having say that, would it be somewhat correct to say that chances in getting accepted are higher for postgraduate as compared to undergrad?

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Do some research on the scholarship: MEXT releases all kinds of statistics and information about the scholarship. Questions like this will be easily answered by looking at the number of postgraduate vs. graduate recipients.

It should answer most of your questions.

Monbusho

dopemills said:

I understand. Thanks for your reply. Having say that, would it be somewhat correct to say that chances in getting accepted are higher for postgraduate as compared to undergrad?

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Yea, it is much easier for postgraduate to obtain d scholarship compared to undergrad..good luck

dopemills said:

I understand. Thanks for your reply. Having say that, would it be somewhat correct to say that chances in getting accepted are higher for postgraduate as compared to undergrad?

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Yes it true. I think because there are more scholarships for graduate that undergraduate. You can find statistics and information at jasso site
and on the MEXT site. I'm sorry I can't give you the exact adress because I don't have anough posts yet to put url.

Hi everyone, my first post here.

I wish to enquire for the postgraduate scholarship requirements, is it a strict rule that
"Applicants wishing to enter Master's or Doctoral program must have completed a regular course of study of Sixteen (16) year's formal school education"?

What if I completed 12 years of Primary and Secondary school and my undergraduate engineering course is just 3 years in length, which makes up my formal education years as only 15 years?

Thank You.

vloh8 said:

Hi everyone, my first post here.
I wish to enquire for the postgraduate scholarship requirements, is it a strict rule that
"Applicants wishing to enter Master's or Doctoral program must have completed a regular course of study of Sixteen (16) year's formal school education"?
What if I completed 12 years of Primary and Secondary school and my undergraduate engineering course is just 3 years in length, which makes up my formal education years as only 15 years?
Thank You.

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If your course is the equivalent of a Bachelor's degree, then in principle it shouldn't matter how many years it took to complete.
If it is not equivalent to a Bachelor's degree, then I believe you will not be eligible, as you must be eligible for graduate level study (the schools probably will not accept you if you don't have the proper degree).In general I think these folks are pretty formal about things like that, they are picky about most of the details.

If you're not sure, the best thing for you to do would be to check with your embassy or consulate general when the next application period opens up, and tell them specifically what your study program is and they can tell you if you are eligible to apply or not.

Cheers,

db

Years of education

vloh8 said:

Hi everyone, my first post here.
I wish to enquire for the postgraduate scholarship requirements, is it a strict rule that
"Applicants wishing to enter Master's or Doctoral program must have completed a regular course of study of Sixteen (16) year's formal school education"?
What if I completed 12 years of Primary and Secondary school and my undergraduate engineering course is just 3 years in length, which makes up my formal education years as only 15 years?
Thank You.

Click to expand...

Hi,

Don't worry about the years. 15 years will be just fine, no problem for me also..good luck with your application

Thanks for the reply, db and osging!

really in october ?

Quote:
Originally Posted by rider84 View Post
So you are now in Japan studying for your postgraduate?

no, not yet. I postpone my leaving to Japan to October this year.


really ? i previously thought you went in april to japan ALMA, but it doesn't seem to be the case . i came by chance to see what you wrote when reviewing all what was said in this thread .
cool !
so you are rather new there.aren't you ?
are you doing well with the japanese lessons ? hope everything's alright now.
as for me.... still waiting and waiting...it seems like everything's frozen (no answer yet) .

no, I did came just in october, so, almost 3 months. overall, is not that bad, not great either. but I am not complaining (much). my japanese class is really really intensive, and I am not even close to be that confident to speak. but, so far, so good, at least I can partially understand if somebody speak really slow

anyway, good luck to you!

Hi!
My name is wenling and I'm from Malaysia.
It's nice meeting so many people from around the world discussing, sharing and applying Monbukagakusho Scholarship for studies in Japan.

Well, I am also one of the hopefuls and I hope I can get some advice from time to time from people who are currently applying / have succeeded in their application.

Last year was my 3rd time applying and I finally managed to pull through nearly all challenges and now waiting for reply from the Japanese Government.
My first time was applying for undergraduate studies (didn't make it through the examinations), my second time was applying for postgraduate studies (didn't make it through the screening round, I personally think that it was because my research proposal was not clear and I did not qualify for the year requirement for postgraduate studies in Japan: only 14 years +).

2007 was really a hectic and crazy time for me because I was rushing my Master Degree dissertation due in early September.
Furthermore, I was also working full-time to support the cost of my Master Degree. So, time was really a constraint for me.
I went for the English exam without even testing out the past year papers available on the Internet (I only realize its existence after I sat for the exam). I only revise through some old Malaysia University English Test (MUET) English papers and also test my self through some free online English test.
I think the most important thing is that you must really concentrate on the questions asked as a lot of them are tricky and may have a few possible answers. Look at it again and again before finalizing the answers.

Later, I was notified to go for the interview. I was really nervous and I went around asking my former lecturers for some pointers. I also got one of the Master Degree Professor to look through my revised research proposal for comments and improvements as required by the application form for a detailed research proposal.

On the interview day, I met some of the other hopefuls who have managed to passed the examination and converse with them (help to relieve tension and nervousness). Maybe some of you guys and ladies are here in the forum!

During the interview, it is important that you know what you intend to do in your research proposal as you will be required to explain certain aspect of it. Do provide solid explanations as you would need to convince them you know your stuff really well. There will also be some questions on Japanese culture, issues, and policies on strengthening friendship between countries.

The toughest part is to look for research supervisors. I sent out by email to 32 of them and only 8 replied. 4 professors declined as their attached university doesn't offer PhD, 2 other professor declined as it is not really in their specific field, 1 professor wanted me to take the university entrance exam, and finally 1 professor recommended me to another colleague in another university... the rest just didn't reply...

Somehow along the way, I managed to convince 1 professor to accept me, send my documents by courier to Japan and back to Malaysia and that was already mid-August... luckily I have written a letter requesting for extension of time to the embassy and the officer in charge accepted it but stated "as soon as possible" and "no guarantees". Once got the acceptance form back, I got to take one day unpaid leave from work and send it to the embassy personally... gosh, it was really a lot of work...

I hope by stating my experience here would somehow help applicants to better understand the process.

Here's my questions to those who have succeeded (It has been bugging me for some time):

1)Is it important / necessary that research student must complete their dissertation in Japanese language? I understand that Japanese conversation and writing is totally different dimension...

2)Can an individual (without any Japanese language knowledge) really buck up on the language by attending the 6 month intensive course in Japan? What happen after the 6 month? I have to learn on my own?

3)Can your research proposal be amended to a different specific research areas due to methodology or literature constraint or analysis scope too wide? Must we stick to what we have proposed during the application stage without any changes?

4)I applied for the April intake, so in Malaysia scenario, when will usually the letter of offer were to arrive? Feb? Will I be re-delegated to the October intake?

5)Will my application be rejected by the Japanese Government in the final stage? What's the percentage of failure? Could there be any possible reasons? Will a letter be sent also to inform unsuccessful applicant?

To all those who are planning to apply this year, I wish you all the best and just go ahead for it! You never know you could be the lucky one this year!

It is great knowing there are so many people out here helping one another and do keep guiding all the hopefuls!

Hope you guys could help me out too!
All the best in everyone's future undertakings!

Hi Wenling, welcome to the gang, I wish you luck in this endeavor!

I'll answer your five questions to the best of my knowledge.

1)I believe your research can basically be conducted in English instead of Japanese, if your professor speaks English and that is what you are more comfortable with.

2)I've heard these language courses are pretty intensive, but I don't know firsthand. If you know some Japanese, you'll know a lot more after six months. Things like senmon yougo (technical terms specific to your field) you will probably need to study on your own anyway. I bet they just work on your standard Japanese.. grammar, reading/writing.

3)I'm not sure of this exactly, but I don't think it's strictly required that your research be exactly what you proposed, as long as it's related to the same field and can be overseen by the advising professor who has been assigned to you. Don't take this to be the final answer as I don't have any authority on such matters-- it's just my speculation.

4)I'm not in Malaysia so I can't answer this for sure but I imagine you should get further info by February or so, yes. I was told at some point that they don't really want to deal with two sets of deadlines, so I think they might make the preliminary decisions for April and October at the same time anyway... basically if you're selected for the scholarship and you want to go in April, I think they would most likely send you in April.

5) I don't really think anyone knows any definitive answer to this, and we definitely don't have a big enough sample of accounts to make any statistical inference on how many at this stage get through. It was thought that most people seem to make it through, but it is apparently possible for them to reject some applicants, so you'll just have to wait and see.

Hope that helps! And good luck to you!

Hello everyone!

Hello there, i have just found this forum and read through all the threads, very good idea start this! My situation is little different, Im going to graduate this year in June and want to apply for Monbusho scholarship for postgraduate. I have been in touch with Japanese Embassy in Czech Rep., usually we get 4 spots every year. The rest is pretty much the same as in other countries. What I could not find here yet is a answer to some of following questions.

1) Any idea how does the selection of university/adviser influence the final decision made by MEXT? What I mean in particular is, private vs national universities, TOP universities vs other ones. etc. Assuming that one already got the Letter of Acceptance.

2) Does anyone have an experience with applying for MEXT scholarship via University recommendation? Again, any idea if matters privat vs national university?

3) Does anyone know, if one can try University Recommendation and also Embassy Recommendation in case the U.R. doesnt work out? In the end, the goal remains the same, right?

4) Well, I know I am not the only who asks: "I got through embassy screening and obtained the letter of acceptance, what are my chances I will get the scholarship?" Is there any conclusion from recent experience of the forum members?

5) Assuming one got through embassy screening, what follows is finding university, adviser and obtaining letter of acceptance, right? Does it always have to be three different universities and 3 advisers - 3 LoAs?

Sorry for so many questions, i believe there might be someone to know the answers. Hope it is going to help others as well.

Congratulations to this year "winners" the rest: "Dont give up!"

Greetings from Tokyo!

jd

Can anyone give me the idea for the following matters
I am a student in the university of tokyo with monbusho scholarship, is there any option to apply for getting some funds (like for travelling, tours, conference or if someone has spouse) excluding the scholarship money.

jdxccasper--

I'm afraid I can't really answer many of your questions, but here's what I know.
I only submitted one proposed university/advisor and one letter of acceptance, and so far so good for me.

I would imagine you can only apply once during an application cycle so I don't think you can apply for both university and embassy recommendation, but these could be separate things entirely so I'm not 100% sure on that.

Hope that helps!

babs857- I don't believe MEXT will offer funding for those things, but I don't think they will prohibit you from getting that sort of funding from other sources (you can't accept other scholarships though).

Hi Jdxccasper

Well, I'll try to answer as far as I know...
1) Any idea how does the selection of university/adviser influence the final decision made by MEXT? What I mean in particular is, private vs national universities, TOP universities vs other ones. etc. Assuming that one already got the Letter of Acceptance.
As long as MEXT is the one who pays your University, it seems that they prefer to send you to national universities for being cheaper. That's what the Consulate tell me and I've know about cases from people whose first option was a private univeristy, but MEXT send to second option because it was National. By the way, it's easier for MEXT, because both MEXT and national uiniversities are linked to the Japanese Government. About TOP universities or others, I think it won't interfere. But big universities are more likely to accept foreign students than small ones.
2) Does anyone have an experience with applying for MEXT scholarship via University recommendation? Again, any idea if matters privat vs national university?
I never heard about MEXT scholarship via University recommendation. Probably it would be another kind of Scholarship.
3) Does anyone know, if one can try University Recommendation and also Embassy Recommendation in case the U.R. doesnt work out? In the end, the goal remains the same, right?
The MEXT Scholarship, as far as I know, can only be obtained via Embassy Recommendation. But you can try OTHERS scholarships, like Kenpi Ryugaku, JICA and so on.
4) Well, I know I am not the only who asks: "I got through embassy screening and obtained the letter of acceptance, what are my chances I will get the scholarship?" Is there any conclusion from recent experience of the forum members?
Not yet. Here in Brazil, in the last 5 years, all students that obtained the letter of acceptance got the scholarship. But, of course, there is always the Murphy's Law (Things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance)
5) Assuming one got through embassy screening, what follows is finding university, adviser and obtaining letter of acceptance, right? Does it always have to be three different universities and 3 advisers - 3 LoAs?
Yup. But if you could find just one, there is no problem (but if, somehow, they fail to make contact with this one, you'll be in problem)

Guys, Thanks a lot for you answer! Appreciate it!

About MEXT Scholarship, there definitely are three ways to obtain the scholarship (Embassy Rec. and University Rec. are the ones that matters most). My situation is following, my home University has a partnership with a Japanese private university. It is fresh thing, so no body really knows how things work. I might have a chance to apply for Uni.Rec. through this Japanese private university. Thing is, first they screen all candidates from all their partner universities and selected few to recommend to MEXT. So far so good, nothing unusual I would say. BUT what I have been told, they have a very poor history, MEXT always turns their recommendation down. ( dont know why, dont know the quality of candidates either, but i would say the snag is partly being private uni.) Their situation seems to be much more difficult i believe for the reason mentioned in above replay. Anyway, for what I wanted to do was to give it a try anyway, means try my luck in University Recommendation which has better time line for starting the research. With such low chances I would only do it, if i know i can try the Embassy Rec. as well. So it means I need to know whether I am allowed to do so. i have already been told that i should be ok. But cant count on that and Embassy doesnt really know about this possibility either. I would probably give my shot with Embassy rather if I gotta choose. I know it is messy. I think I need to ask about this to someone rather competent so know for sure, do you guys know some info contact directly to MEXT or so? That is the first thing to find out. Thanks a lot, i feel like i finally found someone who knows what the hack im always talking about

PS: I was studying one year in Tokyo, want to come back badly for research/PhD. Got to know some Japanese but still mada mada... Now i happen to be back for few weeks. Oups, sumo just started!

jdxccasper said:

I would probably give my shot with Embassy rather if I gotta choose. I know it is messy. I think I need to ask about this to someone rather competent so know for sure, do you guys know some info contact directly to MEXT or so? That is the first thing to find out. Thanks a lot, i feel like i finally found someone who knows what the hack im always talking about
PS: I was studying one year in Tokyo, want to come back badly for research/PhD. Got to know some Japanese but still mada mada... Now i happen to be back for few weeks. Oups, sumo just started!

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I don't have a information directly from MEXT I just know from the experience of my friends and mine. So, as far as I know You can't apply for both. You eider have an embassy recommendation or an university recommendation. The only situation I've heard possible is to go in japan with a MEXT scholarship obtain by the Embassy recommendation and later if you want let say continue studying there, you can ask the university recommendation so that MEXT continue giving you scholarship for a master/PHD.

Undergraduate scholarship it's much harder to get so it might not be the fault of the university that the student were not accepted. There are about 400 for everybody so there is a strong possibility that others be better then them.
I think it's depend more from what country you are and how good you are, than who recommended you.

I know one thing for sure, that if at the moment of selection you have also an university letter of acceptance from Japan you chances are much bigger.

Nevertheless you should talk to your embassy they might help you better. Usually people there are very helpful.

Hello!ﾂ I already asked if I could eventually apply for both, first University Recommendation followed by Embassy Recommendation. It was couple weeks ago when I just got that idea. Thing is, I am not gonna take two spots, right? and by the time the first screening is done at Embassy i might know some results from University Rec. procedure. I know one is not supposed to apply for different scholarship but I still see it like two ways leading to achieving one goal. Anyway, the unofficial answer (from Japanese cultural center under Japanese embassy in Czech Rep.) was that it might be possible. Now I really need to check it with MEXT directly otherwise I could get in trouble Im afraid. Things are never too easy, of course. Somehow I got in touch with Sensei from private university (partner university of my home Uni.) who is doing quite different research activities but I could still do it. Lets say I apply for Uni. Rec. with this sensei, so I do write my research plan according to this placement. If it works out, all good then, if it doesnt Im pretty much screwed cause I dont think it would be wise to apply again for Embassy Rec. with different research plan. Sounds messy again, right? Thing is, I know what I want to do. That is marketing. But I know I would have to write the research plan in a different way in case of applying for Univ. Rec. where the research is more about engineering. I study both to explain. In the beginning I thought it would be piece of cake to get the scholarship with University Recommendation, but I had no idea it might be more difficult in the end, just the time line remains much better.

It is me again, hope I dont bother you with my thought and questions too much... I know I gotta check that previous problem with MEXT directly. But I have something else on my mind as well...

1) Japanese is not supposed to be essential for research student application and selection procedure in order to get Embassy Recommendation but how comes when I surf through Japanese Universities' websites I several times found the requirement of JLPT1, courses available in Japanese language only, etc. taling about MEXT scholarship students...

2) I will be looking for research, possibly PhD in the area of Business administration, mainly Marketing. Does anyone has some experience or advice about Tokyo's Universities to closely look at? Apart from what can be found on website. I wonder if there is any difference in quality National vs Private university...

Thanks a lot. Peace!

1) Japanese is not supposed to be essential for research student application and selection procedure in order to get Embassy Recommendation but how comes when I surf through Japanese Universities' websites I several times found the requirement of JLPT1, courses available in Japanese language only, etc. taling about MEXT scholarship students...

Unfortunatelly, there is not much options. Some Universities' websites have an English version, but I REALLY know that is not the case in almost of them. Besides i understand a bit of japanese, I confess it's preety hard to find, for example, an orientator professor for my project. Anyway, you have some few options. First you could send an email to University and ask if someone can help. Write your idea and they'll probably help you. Second option is ask for help to your consulate. They will understand your difficulties and probably find someway to 'translate' sites or give you your information. At last, if you have any friend that understands japanese, it will be more easy.

By the way, it's true that japanese language is not essential for resarch students, but I can tell that it is really important. Some universities don't have class in English, so you will have to learn it quicly.

I have been studying Japanese for about two years, so I know some but it is definitely mada mada...Anyway, I find universities, their graduate school Im interested in, but then there usually is written something like this:
"Please note that Keio University only has an English based course at the graduate schools of Science and Technology, Media and Governance, Media Design, and System Design and Management. The applicant who seeks to obtain a degree at the Graduate Schools other than these Graduate Schools is required to have a native level Japanese knowledge, since the entrance examination and all the courses are in Japanese. Although the MEXT provides a 6-month language training period, this will not be enough to prepare for the entrance examination if you are a Japanese beginner." OR "Proficiency in Japanese (equivalent to Level 1 of the Japanese Languageﾂ Proficiency Exam) is considered absolutely necessary for matriculation. Anything less, such as a 6-month period of study at a Japanese Language school, is considered insufficient.ﾂ All lectures are to be conducted in Japanese. Hosei University does not provide preparatory Japanese Language classes. International students are, thus, expected to have the appropriate language ability prior to enrollment."

That is a better case, usually it just says that all the curses are offered in Japanese only. I aim for research, PhD and so I wonder if my Japanese that is not JLPT1 level will be major obstacle when applying for LoA. So I am more confused than in the beginning. How essential Japanese proficiency is while applying for LoA? That is a question...

For research student? Almost none. Although i understand a lot of japanese (an advanced level, but not fluent yet), around half of the 15 research students sento to Japan by Sao Paulo Consulate doesn't even know how to count to 10 in Japanese. So, for your LoA, japanese language is not so important. They expect you will learn a lot in the first six months of japanese class and then you will become fluent until the end of the 2-3 years period.

It does not mean that it will be easy. As I say, it seems that japanese language is not necessary for your LoA, but it will probably be when you will change of RESEARCH student to PHD student. Normally, Universities have tests and interviews in japanese. And after the first 6 months of japanese study, you will have classes in japanese.

dblbstrd said:

Hi Wenling, welcome to the gang, I wish you luck in this endeavor!
I'll answer your five questions to the best of my knowledge.
1)I believe your research can basically be conducted in English instead of Japanese, if your professor speaks English and that is what you are more comfortable with.
2)I've heard these language courses are pretty intensive, but I don't know firsthand. If you know some Japanese, you'll know a lot more after six months. Things like senmon yougo (technical terms specific to your field) you will probably need to study on your own anyway. I bet they just work on your standard Japanese.. grammar, reading/writing.
3)I'm not sure of this exactly, but I don't think it's strictly required that your research be exactly what you proposed, as long as it's related to the same field and can be overseen by the advising professor who has been assigned to you. Don't take this to be the final answer as I don't have any authority on such matters-- it's just my speculation.
4)I'm not in Malaysia so I can't answer this for sure but I imagine you should get further info by February or so, yes. I was told at some point that they don't really want to deal with two sets of deadlines, so I think they might make the preliminary decisions for April and October at the same time anyway... basically if you're selected for the scholarship and you want to go in April, I think they would most likely send you in April.
5) I don't really think anyone knows any definitive answer to this, and we definitely don't have a big enough sample of accounts to make any statistical inference on how many at this stage get through. It was thought that most people seem to make it through, but it is apparently possible for them to reject some applicants, so you'll just have to wait and see.
Hope that helps! And good luck to you!

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Sorry for the late reply.
Thanks a lot for your help, dblbstrd!

There's one more questions that I would like to ask after reading some of the newer posts here.
I've got my Letter of Acceptance from a Private University. Is it possible that MEXT could possibly reassign me to another National University? What would happened to my current supervisor then? Will MEXT actually let us choose between Private and National University or once MEXT recommended, it is consider as final?

I am also worried of coping with the new language. It seems that everyone here has some form of basic knowledge in Japanese language but I have none. I wonder will I be able to cope with those advance students. Any advice on how to fully utilize the 6 month language programme and after that, where should I go to further polish up my Japanese language?

dblbstrd, are you currently studying in Japan?

P.S: I just call up the Japanese embassy in my country and they said that the result will be announce anytime now. I am keeping my fingers cross. Wishing everyone who are waiting for the results all the best!