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Monbukagakusho Scholarship for Postgraduate!!

hi,


thanks a lot for this useful info, and can you give more if remembering? I have applied for 2010, and been preparing a lot on the previous years papers, 2006, 2007 and 2008. So, is it worth? Is the paper of 2010 familiar for me? I am worrying about it because 60 minutes are short for me. I dont want to spend time to become familiar with the question types in this year.
Thanks again
 
hi,
thanks a lot for this useful info. I've applied Monbusho 2010, and been preparing on the previous papers, 2006, 2007 and 2008. So, can you give more info if you remember? It would be quite helpful for me. I dont want to spend my time to become familiar with the test format, question types, etc. 60 minutes are very short for me.
thanks again
 
>kellylen,
For your case, it should be (in my opinion - do confirm with Ms Yin, she is very kind!!! )
1. They asked to specify the field of specilization studied in the past..does tht mean i need to state my research area during my master's or just in general as in chemical engineering...
Field of specialization studied in the past: Chemical Engineering - Supercritical Fluid Extraction
2.THis might sounds a simple question but im still somewhat confused overthis matter..For my case field of study, should i put it as Natural Science or be more specific Chemical Engineering? there is another part where i need to fill up the detailed field of study..so wht should i fill up for that
Natural Science: Chemical Engineering
3.On the form for field of study and study program, in which they asked us to write the proposed study program..they have divided the parts into 2 section 1.present field of study and 2.your research theme after arrival in japan. What is the difference between both section..How do i fill up this part..
Present Field of Study: Natural Science - Chemical Engineering (your research field)
Research Theme: (your research title)
4.Additional question i was made to understood that its best that we enrol first as research student and take the entrance exam before enrolling as doctoral student as in my case..therefore the question number 14 term u wish to study in japan i should choose iii.from a research student through doctoral course completion..am i rite on this?
Do you get any column as research student - doctoral course? Most of the students will have to be research student first before starting their postgraduate course. Although some universities do not.
Actually that period is for you to prepare yourself in the Japanese environment, and for you to prepare for your entrance examination. Please be reminded that most Japanese univeristies would require you to sit for entrance examination before you can be their postgraduate student, even if you are MEXT scholar.

*opps... Sorry clockworkorange, I didn't notice your post was here. I re-answered it again.
 
mongoljohn - the english and japanese exams have different formats this year so I think you dont need to try to familiarize with the test format. The good news is that the english exam is very easy. just relax. that would be my best advice.
 
aikz... i din receive any letter for MEXT yet...
looks like i din manage to pass the test.. sigh...
 
Hello!

I've got a tiny question to ask regarding the application forms. In part 7(ii) of the attachment form where it mentions that: Do you have any particular university in which you wish to be enrolled? Yes/No. How do I answer 7(iii)? Are we supposed to be applying for admission into the university of our choice now?

I'm at a blur here...
 


If you can secure an admission (verbal, unofficial) to the university of your choice right now, it will boost your chances during the interview. It is however, not a must at this point. In my case last year, i got a conditional consent before the interview, whereby my supervisor stated that he will take me in IF i pass the scholarship selection.

According to application procedure, AFTER you pass the interview, you will be given a "preliminary screening certificate" to be sent to your professor in Japan as a prove of passing the Embassy's selection. After that you need to get a recommendation letter + LoA from your university(s) - you may apply to up to 3 universities.
All these are to be done via post mail hence will take time. So if you can secure a supervisor right now, it'll help you a lot later on. So do try your best in finding at least one now.
The deadline for submitting your LoA to the embassy is usually in Sept.

Based on last year's situation. We were entitled to choose up to 3 universities of choice. It is best to have 3 preferred university + verbal/email consent from respective supervisors. MEXT will try to place you according to your preference. Similar to what UPU in malaysia did when you applied for local Uni (my apologies to applicants from other countries, i'm taking m'sia as a reference as ekoy is from m'sia).

However, if you already had the consent from the supervisor, it'll be very easy for MEXT as they just need to verify your acceptance into that Uni. If you don't have their consent, MEXT would have to go through rounds of discussion with the Uni and try to obtain a place for you. I'm of the opinion that they always try their best and in many cases, able to secure placements within an applicants 3 choices.

Wakaru?

Btw, is everyone here who passed the exam aware of the timeline of the application?
Do google around and find more information before you get panicked of not knowing what to do.
This is one of the most informative page i found last year
ドメインパーキング
Whenever you are in doubt, please always refer to the Application Guidelines FIRST (i believe this is given to you in your package). Almost everything is written very clearly there.
 
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Hi can i add on to the question as posted above..i have already obtained a verbal agreement from the professor that i wish to work with but there is no official letter or anything yet from the uni since i want to secure this scholarships first..therefore my question in the MEXT form for the receiving admission part, should i circle acquired or acquiring or not yet acquired? does a verbal agreement constituted as acquired admissions?
 
kellylen,

Personally i do not think that a verbal agreement constitutes to "Acquired Admissions"
You are yet to be accepted as a confirmed student.
If you're in doubt. Leave that column blank first. On the day of your interview, you will have a few minutes outside the interview room where Ms Yin will check through all your application forms. Ask her then.
If you really want to fill it in now, write an email to Ms Yin.
 
ooilingfan,

Hai, wakarimasu! Thank you so much for your explanation. *hands over more tissues to ooilingfan* Will contact the professors tmr!
 
I think you can attach the correspondences with the professor as the proof. Try calling Ms. Yin to confirm which to circle. You can even do that on the day you will be going for the interview (ask her on the spot) She is for sure would be happy to assist you.
 
Hi,

i have just attended the interview yesterday...and the penalist was so friendly which definately makes the whole thing so much less nerve wrecking then it should be..bravo to them for having the patient to face so many applicants and yet maintaning their composure...they do concentrate more on the proposal this time aorund which i do think its fair and right..for others good luck and all the best..my best advice, make sure all ur forms are in the right order before u even step in into the japanese embassy.check all the details and any fine print written in the form and dont forget to give everything that they want..good luck to others..may the best wins..haha
 
I think the interview should end by now.
GoodLuck. See you guys next year in Japan.
Anyone coming to Osaka University please please notify us before you come. We find a few 'hidden' malaysians every now and then =p
 
Hello everyone, my first post here. Hajimemashite! =)

So...For people coming fresh out of university undergraduate, do you usually apply as research student or as master student? I've been reading through this forum the past hour or so, and see someone mentioning that usually it's research student first then master's. Is this correct? I do not have an honor's bachelor unfortunately.

Next question: as I was reading the threads, i noticed many thread was about english exam. But then I read the application guideline posted on studyjapan's site (darn it can't add the site since i'm a newbie ><)

and it says "Japanese written must be taken, and english written is for those who wish".
Then why were there so many threads on preparing for english exam? Will it boost up the chance of acceptance?
I think i'll end it here for now..it's getting too long haha. I shall continue later on.

Good night and thank you!

ps. I will be applying for 2011 year..so just trying to get the early warmth =)
 
northpig87 -
As far as I understand, in countries where the native language is English (or one of the native languages is English, I don't know if you speak French as well where you are in Canada!) the English language test is compulsory, and the Japanese test is optional. That is the case here in Australia anyway, I believe it is also the case in Malaysia (because the native language is not Japanese, even though it is not English either) and the U.S. But it varies by country, so it's worth checking with the embassy in your area.
As for whether you apply as a research student or a Master's student, on the form there are two relevant questions:
1) How long do you plan to stay (research through to master's, research through to PhD, or just research student)
2) What is the first course you wish to take (research student, Master's, PhD)
Technically, everyone starts out as a research student until they are admitted to a Master's course or PhD, but if you apply and are admitted to a Master's before you leave, you can start right away in Japan without completing a research student period, so it's not compulsory. otherwise, you need to pass the Master's entrance examinations after you get to Japan if you want to stay after the research period. Some people only want to do a research student period, so it's up to you!
Hope that helps, anyone feel free to correct anything I've said if you have better info! Good luck!
 
Hey northpig87,

from what I have heard about the language exams, you need to get high score in at least one of them in order to pass to the next round. Most of the people here would probably score higher in the English exam and that leads to extensive discussions about it. Moreover, the knowledge of Japanese language is not required for the scholarship and lots of people don't even know it. Assuming that you are native English speaker(if not, then sorry), this part should be easier for you.
For the master's/research student issue, I think it depends on the individual case. I am finishing my MA right now, so I am going for the research student, but as I said it depends on you(I would say).
This is all my mere observations and assumptions, so it might be not be completely accurate....but hope it helps
 
Hi Rica! Thanks for the quick reply!

So (I'm from vancouver, so English is my native language,and french I can only say Bonjour and Salute haha) for people graduated from a native English university/country, the English test actually becomes compulsory? It's quite conflicting but I guess that's the way it is XD.
And for research student, yes I guess I'll start out as research student then. Assuming 80 years of life, one extra year in Japan doing research can't be bad! haha

So now moving onto my next question: research plan! :O This section scares me the most as I have no idea whatsoever what kind of plan I can come up with at this moment. ( I do have one more year of school, hopefully that'll help -_-) And it also confuses me a bit, since as far as I understand for gradschool, and from my past experience in working in grad school as undergrad internship is that professor has this huuuge head full of research plan and he dishes one out to each phd/master student and they elaborate and get result and publish paper. So ultimately the plan comes more from the prof than the student. Of course students are welcomed to bring ideas but most likely the prof already has enough plans he wants results for.......sorry that went too long,

so my question is: how specific/novel/professional/scientific/holycrazyyoumustbeagenius do people usually write on this section? From reading through the 2000+ replies on this thread, i see some writing pages and pages of it and someone writing only a page of general plan and still getting accepted...so (i'm in science/physics by the way)

north

EDIT: Hi Coco, thank you for the reply. And that is what I've also read. On a first glance, I'd say then scoring a high score on the japanese exam will give me a better chance. But then again in world of science, all papers published are in english, and English is the language in science and engineering, so maybe English is valued more? mmmmmmmmmmm which one!? or take both!? haha.
 
Ha ha northpig, go for holycrazyyoumustbeagenius!
I can't really give you any advice yet, I wrote about 2500 words. I'm still waiting to hear if I am selected for an interview. But many people have had different successful experiences with the research proposals. You have heaps of time though, I'd say get a good idea of what you'd like to study, and start reading in the field. That would give you a good start!
 

Hi, from my experience,
the length is not important. The content is.
Be specific, be concrete, clear, concise and most importantly, relevant to your specialty.
You can write in a form of Background, proposed methodology, expected outcome, potential contribution etc.... like a research proposal.
As long as it's logic, and you can explain yourself on its feasibility and confident in getting into a lab (in japan, they call labs for all, including non-science field - kenkyuushitsu), you'll be fine.

I wrote about 2/3 of a page only. Quite short. I got a professor backing me at the point of interview hence i think it boosted my chances.
 
I think ooilingfan pointed out the most important parts such as 'Background, proposed methodology, expected outcome, potential contribution' etc. I also included literature overview and had bibliography at the end. There are several guidelines around the internet on 'how to write research proposal effectively', so it might be helpful to search it as well.
I think the length is not that important, as long it's consistent and clear and looks serious enough(and also it's good to read-so you can keep people interested in what you want to do). My proposal was about 5 pages (1,5 spacing), but it rather depends.

P.S. If you would be able to score high in Japanese test, it would be only your advantage in later stages, but I think you don't need to get stressed about it.
 
er... i think you can omit bibliography. You're not submitting a thesis =p
Again, only put in things that are Relevant. Not too much, not too less.
It's best if you can make it specific, but easy-to-understand enough by a layperson.
Personally, i think 5 pages is too long. They don't have that much time to read through all. Chances are they might miss out on your important points when they choose to read randomly or scan through very fast.
I strongly recommend not more than 1 page. 2 tops if you must.
Do consider the panel's point of view. How many applicants are they screening. They are not allocating too much time per person. So make it short and concise if you want to have an all-round evaluation in a very short amount of time.
My experience from my previous job that involved handling of university scholarships tells me the same thing.
Thick-ring binded resumes and portfolios don't help much.
 
this illustrates that there is no exact manual how to write that. What I wrote just worked for me. Still you have quite some time to figure it out. So, good luck.
 
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I may have been thinking too much into this, but... that's me!
My research proposal included -
Q. 1: Some background information on my study area, my relevant work experience and my area of interest. Only 1 reference in this section, basically summing up the state of the technology at the moment (OK, it was a nice catch line!) <less that 1 page single spaced>
Q. 2: Included a concise explanation of the questions I would be working with, and the reasons this research could only be done in Japan, and a one sentence overview of my proposed methodology because it led nicely into the next section. About 8 references, mainly backing up my statistics showing why it had to be done in Japan. <less that one page single spaced>
Q. 3: (The Long One!) I know which master's course I want to get into, and I also know that they will only accept Monbusho applications that list them as the first and ONLY choice. So my application is pretty heavily tailored to them, however aside from the timetable section the rest of my proposal still translates to other schools (just in case I get embassy recommended but MEXT has to find me a place).
So basically, this section consists of:
* A proposed course of study
* A description of my project (context, methodology, examples from the field, how I will apply my skills specifically)
* How I see my research benefiting me personally, Japan and Australia. Examples of how I will be using my research in the future.
(About 4 references) <3 pages>
* Bibliography <1 page>
OK, so this is kind of a... full on example.
The reason I went this direction is that in my previous experience researching in the field, I am constantly having to justify to other academics in other (different but related) areas how what I'm doing is actually research. Therefore, I know that by writing this proposal as if it is an academic paper, it would help me in the long run with justifying my research. This might not be the case for you, if you are researching in a scientific field for example, I imagine it might be easier to justify your research, and you might not have to go to the same lengths as me!
I also know that in my country there are not a lot of applicants (probably less than 30) so our applications definitely will be read from beginning to end, so I can afford to be a little longer.
I'm yet to hear if I'm selected for an interview, so I don't know if this approach has been successful. If I don't get selected, next year's proposal may be a little more specific in terms of my research question and area, but I will still present it academically, because that's what works for me!
I think that the research proposal in the end is very individual, it shows not just what kind of research you want to do, it shows whether you are a good writer, whether you can organise your ideas, your language ability, and it gives the readers a bit of an idea about who you are. What works for one person might not work for the next, so as long as it includes what is being asked for in the question, I'd say write it however you feel will be best to get your idea across.
On a personal note, man I hope I get a letter soon, the wait is killing me! I've been preparing for the interview for weeks now just in case. I'm too excited to wait!
 
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