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Rough Outline of Monbusho Scholarship Process

DJnerate

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22 May 2006
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Hi,

Stumbled upon this forum while I was Googling for something else. University is taking up most of my time now, so this will probably be one of my only posts here. Since the Monbukagakusho scholarship seems to be a hot topic every year, here's most of the info I can give, from first-hand experience and seniors' anecdotes.

First off, let me introduce myself, Malaysian, 21, Monbusho 2005/2006 Undergraduate scholar in Medicine major, currently in Tokyo. And that's about it.

The Monbusho scholarship is really difficult to get unless you are an exceptional student, or are extremely lucky (as in my case). People frequently take the Social Science and Natural Science A exams to get through to the interview, as Natural Science B is a true killer due to the potentially absurd questions in the Biology paper. In Malaysia, there was purported only 1 pass in the past 6 years for NSB. Malaysians also have to compete with Chung Ling students, especially for NSA, every year Chung Ling school in Penang sends over a busload of students to sit for the exam.

After the exam, you'll be interviewed on the usual things, like why Japan, why your field of study, etc. Medical applicants will have the harshest time here, as they also have to explain why they want to enter the medical field. It seems to help if you're already studying in or have already enrolled in a medical university. Be aware that competition for the Medicine major is already extremely tight at this stage, most medical applicants are given Pharmacy instead.

Choice of major is another big thing here. After the 1 year Japanese language course (in either Tokyo or Osaka), you will be assigned a place in a national university, based upon quotas. At the interview stage, if you select an obscure major that rarely gets assigned a quota, the interviewers may choose to reject you on those grounds.

After the interview they will notify you if you have been nominated to the Monbusho. If you fail at this point, better luck next time, it took me 2 tries to get in. Then, it's all waiting until January, when they inform you of the final result.

Use this time to try learn actual Japanese, random Japanese phrases will not help you. If possible, take an elementary course or start learning comprehensive Japanese grammar (this is most useful). Grammar and vocabulary are what's required to make it easier in the 1-year Japanese language course, not tourist phrases.

An outline of the entire course is given as follows:

1-year Japanese language course at either Tokyo/Osaka University of Foreign Studies. You select the university that you will study your major in halfway through the course.

Competition is tight at this stage too, students will compete for places in the ir universities of choice due to the limited number of places. Popular majors include electrical engineering, international relations, economics, and several others.

After that it's 4 years in the assigned university, 6 years for Medical and Dental students.

Popular universities of choice are the Universities of Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Tohoku. Hitotsubashi University is a favourite among social science students as well. (Special note for Med students: Toudai has no quota for Monbusho medical students as of now, so stop dreaming.)

Good luck. Like they say, if at first you don't succeed, dust yourself off and fail again.
 
I asked my Japanese teacher and she saids it's "dame". You'd have to be a GRADE A student in university.
 
Hah, most the Japanese people I know say that Japanese language is SUPER DIFFICULT as well ;-)

You can get monbusho!
 
Harvey said:
Hah, most the Japanese people I know say that Japanese language is SUPER DIFFICULT as well ;-)
You can get monbusho!
My Japanese teacher is Belgian :) She graduated from university studying Japanese, and she says SHE even't can get a monbusho. So I think it's pretty "dame" for me :p
 
RockLee said:
My Japanese teacher is Belgian :) She graduated from university studying Japanese, and she says SHE even't can get a monbusho. So I think it's pretty "dame" for me :p

I'm intrigued. Where do you study Japanese, and who is this mystery Japanese teacher? :p
 
hey,DJenerate.did i have to be a straight A student?how about the one who wants to take engineering?
 
I'm on Monbusho and I have several other friends on Monbusho and I think that all will agree that monbusho is not that difficult to get if get the university recommendation. However, going through the local embassy and taking the test, etc. is quite competitive. My advice is to find a professor at a japanese university to recommend you. If you do that then your grades will matter a lot less.
 
I have a question. I hope former alumni could help me in my problem. My question goes like this. How feasible is it for MEXT to permit a change in course for the undergraduate category. For example, you are a medical student in your country and you applied for the medicine category for the scholarship, and yet you are given a slot in pharmacy and not in medicine. Do they allow students in the preliminary education to change course, that is from pharmacy into medicine? What if they obtained a good grade in the preliminary education (nihonggo and other sugbjects), will it be possible for them to change it to Medicine since both of these two courses are under a 6-year program anyway???

I hope someone could answer and solve my dilemma! Thanks to all and ganbatte!
 
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