The gold at the end of the rainbow is so close, you can taste it!
(Photo Credit: Marc Veraat, CC BY 2.0 , modified for size).
For Embassy-Recommended MEXT Scholarship applicants, winter can be a nerve-wracking time. You have passed the Primary Screening, acquired your LoAs and turned them in to the Japanese Embassy or Consulate and . . . heard nothing but silence for months.
Understandably, that leaves a lot of applicants worried: Am I going to get the scholarship? Will I be placed in my first-choice university? Will I go into the Japanese language program? When am I going to hear any news?
Well, first things first:
At this point, you are practically certain to receive the MEXT scholarship!
I have never heard of any applicant that passed the Primary Screening and submitted at least one LoA that did not ultimately receive the scholarship. So you do not need to worry about that. Time to move on to the next important question: What comes next?
Secondary Screening Results
After you submitted your Letters of Acceptance to the Embassy, your application went to MEXT for the Secondary Screening. But don’t worry, this is not a competitive screening!
The Secondary Screening is only making sure that all of your paperwork has been completed correctly and there are no problems with your application. If you have passed the Primary Screening and turned in at least one Letter of Acceptance, then you should have nothing to worry about at this point.
The only way I know of to lose the scholarship at the secondary screening is if MEXT determines that your research subject is into weapons technology or dual-use technology (which should have already been caught at the Primary Screening level), or if MEXT uncovers a deliberate lie in your application materials or a criminal record that would prevent you from being able to get a visa for Japan.
Again, I have never heard of any of those things happening. You should have absolutely nothing to worry about.
Secondary Screening Results: When Are They Available?
Unfortunately, like so many other things in Japan, the answer is, “It depends.”
In 2017, applicants from several countries (Albania, Angola, India, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, Turkey, US, UK) reported receiving confirmation of passing the Secondary Screening by the end of November.
If you have received your confirmation of passing the secondary screening, please share the date and your country in the comments below!
It is up to each individual Embassy or Consulate to decide when, or even if, they will tell applicants that they have passed the Secondary Screening. Some may wait and announce the Secondary Screening and University Placement results at the same time. The timing may even differ between consulates within the same country. The only way to find out when – or if – you will get notified is to check the application guidelines for your embassy and, if the answer isn’t written there, to contact them directly.
Again, it is not a competitive screening and you should have nothing to worry about, so there really is no need, but I understand that your future is on the line here and you might be a little nervous!
University Placement
After you pass the Secondary Screening, MEXT will start contacting the universities on your placement preference form to ask them to start accepting you. MEXT contacts universities one at a time in the preference order that you gave, except that if your top choice(s) are private or public universities, MEXT may contact your highest choice National University, first. There is really nothing you can do about it.
When MEXT contacts the universities, they will ask if the university will accept you, what status they will accept you as, and whether or not the university wants you to participate in the semester-long language training program, first.
Enrollment Status
By “status”, I mean, whether the university will accept you as a research (non-degree) or degree-seeking student at first. As I wrote in a previous article, the university has three opportunities to designate your status (or upgrade you from Research Student to Degree student – you will not be downgraded). The first is when it issues your LoA. The second is the University Placement phase. If you were initially given an LoA as a research student, but passed the university’s entrance exam before the placement phase, the University can upgrade your status to degree-seeking student at this point.
The third opportunity will be when you arrive in Japan. You still have a chance after the university placement to take and pass the entrance exam and arrive as a degree-seeking student.
Japanese Language Program
If you have relatively low Japanese language ability, the university may decide to assign you to spend your first semester in an intensive Japanese language program before starting your studies. This program is designed to help you learn day-to-day Japanese so that you can accomplish tasks like shopping, traveling, and communicating with your landlord, etc.
It is not an academic Japanese program. It will not help you improve your Japanese to the level that you would be able to take classes or conduct research in Japanese.
If you have a moderate level of Japanese ability already – and especially if you are enrolling in a program taught in Japanese – then you are unlikely to be enrolled in this program.
Depending on your assigned university, the Japanese language program may be held at the same university where you will study or (especially in the case of private universities) it may be at another university in the same city.
University Placement Results: When Are They Available
Once again, this varies based on each embassy or consulate.
Typically, they will not release the results for any applicants until all applicants through that embassy or consulate have been placed. That means that if everyone gets accepted by the first university that MEXT contacts, you may find out your results early. However, if even one applicant does not get places in the first university and MEXT has to contact a second or third university, everyone’s results could be delayed.
The important thing to take away is that just because your results are slower than someone else’s in another country, that does not indicate that you won’t get the scholarship or that you won’t get your first choice. There are many other factors at play!
As of the 2017 application cycle, a large number of countries saw their results released during the second week of January. For that year, at least, that seemed to be the default date if everyone got into their first choice. There were also one or two examples of consulates where the one person who handled MEXT scholarships was out sick that day, so results came later.
In the case of India, at least one embassy or consulate had announced that results would be available in February, but then ended up releasing them in late January.
University Placement Results: How Are They Released
Embassies or consulates typically contact applicants by email.
If you have received your university placement, please share the date and your country in the comments below!
University Placement: Unofficial Results in Advance
There are two ways that applicants often find out their university placement results before the official announcement (sometimes even before the Secondary Screening results announcement). Technically, neither one should happen, but if you do find out this way, you can consider the results to be correct.
On the other hand, if you do not hear unofficial results, do not take that as a bad sign (and do not ask for them). It just means that the university is actually following MEXT’s rules.
Adviser Leak
If you have stayed in touch with the professor that you asked for an LoA, then sometimes that professor will tell you directly that you have been placed in his or her lab. That could even happen before the university confirms your acceptance to MEXT, but there is no reason to think that they would change your name.
If a professor that issued you an LoA contacts you to say that you have been accepted to his or her lab, consider that to be unofficial, but accurate.
Housing Leak
In the case of students who will arrive in April, sometimes the university’s housing office will contact you before you get the final MEXT results to invite you to apply for housing.
The only reason that the housing office would have your contact information would be if you were on the university’s list of students to enroll in the spring, so you can consider this to be confirmation that you will be assigned to that university.
I also recommend that you follow up on those emails and apply for housing if you are interested. The chances are good that by the time you get the official results, you may miss the housing deadlines, so do not delay!
What To Do After Getting Your Official University Placement Results
First contact any other university or professor that you had been in touch with about letters of acceptance, tell them that you have been placed in another university, thank them for their support, and say that you still look forward to working with them in the future.
After all, you will still be a scholar in the same field in Japan, and there are a limited number of universities teaching in each field in English, so there is a good chance you will cross paths again in the future.
Preparing for Your Departure
The timing can vary significantly, depending on when you will start your timing in Japan.
If your future university has contacted you about housing and you haven’t followed up yet, do that right away.
The university will usually contact you and tell you what day that they want you to arrive. Later, a travel agency will contact you to arrange your tickets, so be sure to arrive in time for the dates assigned by your university!
You will also have to complete a visa application, but there is a special Student Visa application process for MEXT scholars, so look for instructions from the Embassy or consulate about that process.
Share Your Experience!
If you are applying for the Embassy Recommended MEXT Scholarship, please let us know when you got your notification, as well as the country your are applying for, in the comments below.
Of course feel free to ask any questions below, as well.
Special Thanks
Special thanks to the TranSenz supporters on Patreon, especially Daimyo Supporter Kenzo who pledges $10 per month to show his support! You can show your support for TranSenz on Patreon for as little as $1 (0.08% of a MEXT monthly stipend) per month. If TranSenz has helped you in your application process and you want to “pay it forward” to keep this site running to help future applicants, every contribution helps!
If you want to show your support but Patreon is out of reach, I’d appreciate it if you say hi on social media or in the comments below to let me know if you appreciate these posts. You can find me on facebook at @TranSenz or on Twitter at @tagsenzaki. I look forward to saying hi!
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hello sir
I applied for the university recommendation MEXT scholarship program 2020 and I did not get shortlisted for the scholarship from the university itself (Hokkaido University). I want to try again through the embassy selection procedure. However, I have few concerns before applying. Please help me through it.
As I applied earlier, I found that field of study and research program is the most important selection criteria for university recommendation , as far as I remember, my proposal was thoroughly prepared in a detailed manner after having a proper discussion with the professor for this, I can say that because my prospective supervisor in Japan sincerely helped me while preparing it. Apart, from that my prospective supervisor after going through my profile was hopeful and wrote to me I have a good chance to get this scholarship. however, I did not get it. One of the things lacking on my profile was I was not having any english and japanese proficiency test score on my profile. Though, I have been studying and taking exams in English only throughout my school and university education (graduation+postgraduation) and I got a certificate of english stating my proficiency in English from the head of department in hokkaido university for the purpose of making application at that time.
This makes me think that due to the lack of a certified IELTS/TOEFL score my application got rejected. Even now if I plan to apply for Embassy recommendation , I still do not have this one basic thing on my profile and due to covid-19 nationwide lockdown in India, I might not be able to take it atleast in the next 4-5 months.
I wanted to ask you given such a situation , if lack of certified language score card would make my application get rejected again? Or should I not make an application for Embassy recommendation procedure?
Also, I wanted to know if for research students, not having a publication reduces my chances for the selection (I completed my masters in July, 2019).
Hi V,
I am sorry to hear that you weren’t successful with the University Recommended MEXT Scholarship. One thing to keep in mind is that the application is a zero-sum game. It’s not just a matter of being better than a certain level, you are competing directly with every other applicant and have to be better than them to get one of the few slots.
For English language proficiency requirements, in my experience that is not so much a competitive point. As long as you meet the criteria, that’s all that matters. For the University Recommended MEXT Scholarship, if English was the primary language of your previous degree, that should be considered meeting the criteria. But if all other things were equal, perhaps someone with a high score would have been favored, but I have never seen a case where language proficiency scores were the deciding factor. GPA could certainly be, and perhaps one research topic may be preferred over another, even if the quality of both proposals is equal.
For the Embassy-recommended MEXT Scholarship, English Language Proficiency Scores aren’t even required. During the primary screening, you will have a language proficiency test at the Embassy and that will be the language score used for your evaluation, so you should not face the same problems. But for either the embassy or university, I do not think that a lack of language proficiency score alone is going to make a significant difference.
Similarly, I do not think that a lack of publications is going to hurt you at all, unless you are a career academic who would be expected to have publications, which doesn’t seem to be the case for you. If you had a publication, it could be a minor benefit in your application, but in general most applicants do not have one.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you sir for your help. I shall think about applying again. Please
Hello Everybody!
How are you going through these hard days when coronavirus is everywhere? Let me wish condolence to those who were terribly affected by this disease! Travis and guys, I want to know your opinion whether this year will Mext be or not!? Any info will be good! Best regards
Hi Mike,
It’s good to hear from you again and I’m glad to hear that you’re planning to apply again this year.
I share your sentiment about condolences to those affected by the disease.
As far as I know, the plan is still for the MEXT scholarship to open for applications this year, though I haven’t heard anything official from MEXT one way another about their plans, or about the delay and when to expect an answer. So far, I saw a post from one Japanese Embassy (Tonga) saying that they expected the guidelines to be delayed to mid-May, and another commenter here posted that the embassy in Indonesia has said to expect a delay to June.
As soon as I hear anything, I’ll be sure to share it!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you Travis! For your fast and kind response! I am looking forward hearing any news!
Hello Travis, thank you so much for your articles.
I read that to get admitted into a school, you have to take an entrance exam. I have few questions to ask?
1) For a research student, do you know what this exam entail i.e questions and all.
2) How serious is this exam?
3) If you’re entering through MEXT scholarship, are you expected to take this exam?
I am applying for MEXT this year and I want to know as much as I can.
I hope you take these questions into consideration, thank you.
Hi Oreoluwa,
The entrance exam is going to be different for every graduate school and every university. Depending on your field, the entrance “exam” might not even be an exam, at all. Japan calls all application processes “entrance exams” even when they are only a review of submitted documents.
I would recommend that you check the website for the specific university or universities that you are interested in and try to find information about their entrance exam process.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you very much Travis.
Hi sir Travis
I would like to ask if is it possible for me to apply for the mext scholarship while I was still working as trainee visa here in japan .my contract will end this June. Thanks
Hi Sonny,
Yes, you are able to apply for the MEXT Scholarship while living in Japan, as long as you will be leaving Japan and returning to your home country before the scholarship starts. Your situation is a perfect example.
The next scholarship application will starting next month for scholarships beginning in April or September/October 2021. Since your contract ends in June 2020, you will have met the requirement of going home in the meantime.
However, in order to apply for the upcoming Embassy Recommended MEXT Scholarship process, you may need to appear in person at the Japanese embassy or consulate in your home country for parts of the application, including the language tests and interview. In that case, you would need to make sure that you can travel to your home country to complete those requirements.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you so much sir Travis. I will work hard to pursue my career here. May God bless you always:-)
Hello Travis,
This is Alemu,
I have applied to University Recommendation scholarship, and my University told me that I have passed the Entrancement examination . they also told me they will recommend me for MEXT scholarship. The University also told me that they are not sure about the final result, the result would be made by MEXT.
Please help me how is the probability of getting a chance winning MEXT scholarship.
Thank you.
Hi Alemu,
Once the university has decided to recommend you to MEXT, you have passed the last competitive hurdle. You will not be compared against nominees from other universities because each university has it’s own set number of applicants that it can nominate for the scholarship (with the assumption that all will receive the scholarship).
At this point, the only concern left is MEXT’s budget. Up until last year, every applicant I ever knew that was recommended for the MEXT scholarship ended up getting it. But last year, MEXT cut its budget for scholarships suddenly and all universities had to reduce their number of nominees. That is the only risk to you right now, and unfortunately, it is not something that I can predict with any effectiveness. Between the coronavirus situation, the 2020 Olympics, and free tertiary education coming into effect in Japan this year, it’s very hard to predict what the ministry’s budget situation will be like.
I can say that this year, MEXT started all universities out with a much lower number of nominees to begin with, so there really isn’t any more room for significant cuts to the scholarship. That should offer some hope.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
hello sir,
can we change the names of professors in application form after clearing preliminary test?
Hi Hironmoy,
Yes, you can change them. In many cases you’ll have to change the names and university names when you submit the Placement Preference Form for the second time after acquiring the Letters of Provisional Acceptance, since at that point, you will only be allowed to list universities and professors that have given you a Letter of Provisional Acceptance.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
I just received the final acceptance letter from Embassy yesterday for College of Technology Studies. Thanks a lot!
Hi Saurabh Sharma,
Congratulations! Thank you very much for sharing your results, as well.
Good Luck with your studies in Japan!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis.
As 5th February 2020, and after many weeks of paranoia and anxiety, I finally got the email from the Embassy notifying me that I am officially a MEXT Scholarship awardee. This good news has been a little hard to process, or I just can’t describe how happy I feel right now, since I can now make this dream come true in my very last chance. Also, the lady from the Embassy told me that none of the applicants from Colombia who passed the Primary Screening was turned down.
In the name of all the members of this community, I would like to thank you for all the time and patience you have put in this blog, for guiding us to a successful application and for providing to us a space to share our experiences and feelings. Count on me so this community and this service can grow, and for the ones who couldn’t get the scholarship on this attempt, please don’t lose your heart and try as many times as necessary, in the end you have the chance to do it better next time.
Cheers.
Hi Georgi,
Congratulations! I am very happy for you.
It must have been difficult to wait while others were sharing their successes, but I’m glad you got a positive result in the end.
Thank you also for sharing that nobody in Columbia was turned down at the Secondary Screening. I am still trying to refine my theories on what happened this year, so every bit of information helps.
Finally, thank you for your kind words about this site and community. I am thrilled to hear that it has been helpful for you. Hearing back that it has been helpful is why I keep it up!
Good luck with your studies in Japan!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
I am great full to God Almighty and to you for the success in the 2020 MEXT. I received the official confirmation. I am from Cameroon, the country have a problem with the production of passports. The Japanese embassy here is awear of it. The embassy asked for a photocopy of my passport. But I don’t have a passport yet since I applied for it July 2019. I may a request to the director in charge of passport for an urgent passport production and my requestwas granted but I don’t know when( exact date) I will have the passport. My question is, can my departure date be shifted due to this problem? Thank you.
Hi Nathacha,
Congratulations on earning the scholarship! I am glad that I was able to help in some small way.
I don’t have any direct experience with a passport situation like the one that you described, but I would recommend that you contact the Japanese Embassy and let them know as soon as possible what your current status. They might be able to put some diplomatic pressure on your passport authority there to encourage them to process it faster (or just put in a call to ask when it will be ready – that could be more effective than you asking).
Only the Japanese embassy can tell you if it will be possible to change your travel date, so the earlier you consult with them, the better.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
I cannot thank you enough for your wonderful work. I am from Cambodia and still waiting for my final result. Having heard of rejected applicants makes me worried. I would like to ask you a question? From your experience working with this scholarship, have you heard of any applicants being finally rejected at this stage just because their university choices are all private?
Thank you very much.
Hi Koemhong Sol,
Up until this year, I had not heard of applicants being rejected at the Secondary Screening stage at all. It may have happened, but the cases were very rare.
Certainly, I had not heard of applicants being rejected because their university choices were private.
So far this year, the best guess I have seen as to why applicants were rejected was because the did not attempt or did very poorly on the Japanese language test during the Primary Screening.
I hope that you have heard good news since your original post!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you for your reply. I got accepted. I am going to International Christian University (ICU) for a PhD programme in Education.
Many thanks.
Hi Koemhong Sol,
Congratulations!
Good luck with your studies in Japan!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis!
I would like to thank you so much for every tip and advice you have given on your blog. Without your help I could’t Have had this scholarship. Yesterday I was informed that I had passed the second screening, and was placed at my first choice university ( Reside in Central Asia).
I was very anxious and stressed During the whole process that it took so long for them to announce the results. Every morning I would read your and others comments and would feel supported.
I feel very sorry for the three applicants that were rejected. I really feel them. But everything happens for a reason. Maybe they will have better options in the future. I’m sure they will overcome everything together with their families and friends ( and with us))!
Again thank you a lot for your precious help and support! Please keep doing your good work!
Thank you!
Ozi
Hi Ozi,
Thank you very much for your feedback and for sharing your results. Congratulations on earning the scholarship!
Good Luck with your studies in Japan!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
I want to thank you for your effort in maintaining this blog (post) especially after it has gone 2 years and people still asks about their concern on this page yet you still keep responding their problem. Thank you.
I’ve just been notified that I passed the secondary screening and been placed to my first choice university. However I’ve been told to contact the other university that I’m not getting to inform them about the condition that I have been placed in other univ. I’ve done that. However, the professor in the first university I contact seems like he’s aggrieved and mad at me just realizing that I also applied to other university. I tried to respond by explaining the concern that the decision is enclosed by MEXT and that applying to more than one univ is encouraged by my embassy and he left my email unreplied. I’m just worrying that the prof. really offended by this and I want to fix this. I got a friend whose doing her doctoral in the same department and I’m afraid this will concern her as I’ve been told she recommended me to the professor in the LoA phase.
Is there anything I can do to patch it up? Or is it something that I shouldn’t worry about?
Sorry if it has been too long but it keep making me concerned. Thank you for your time Travis.
P.s.: the other email to other professor went real smooth.
– I’m afraid that the professor mixed about me applying for a U to U scenario instead of G to G scenario although I’ve explained that I apply for G to G (embassy scenario) in the mail when I applied for the LoA.
Hi Vlan,
Congratulations on earning the scholarship and on your placement!
I think at two years old, the article is due for an update soon, especially after all the chaos this year. . .
I am sorry to hear about the problems with that professor. I hope you didn’t tell him that you were placed in your “first choice” university instead. That might be seen as an insult. But as long as you just told him that MEXT decided to place you somewhere else, I do not think it is particularly reasonable for him to get upset, unless you had previously promised that you would not apply anywhere else. Frankly, he should be used to this happening!
I think in this situation, you probably cannot expect a reply from the professor, and I would recommend that you consider the issue closed. I know that it can be tough to leave on a somewhat negative note like that, but I don’t think there is anything further that you can do to make the situation any better. If your friend indicates that the professor has complained to her about you, then perhaps it would be time to take more action (for instance, bringing a small token gift, like some souvenir sweets from your home country as a thank you for the professor’s consideration during your application), but for now, I think that if you leave the situation alone, the professor will forget soon enough.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi,
Does MEXT release results for all countries at once? It’s been a week since people start getting their results in other countries and I am still waiting in India.
Hi Rahul Modi,
No, the release of results is not always simultaneous, at least it hasn’t been in the past. From what I have seen, once all of the applicants for a particular country have been confirmed, the results are released for that country. But if only one applicant’s results are still undetermined, there can be a delay. (For example, if all applicants are placed in the first university that MEXT contacts, the process ends sooner. But if one applicant or more cannot be placed in the first or second university that MEXT contacts to ask them to accept, then it would take longer to contact the third university and get the final results.)
That said, since it has been a week since results started coming out, I think it would be worthwhile for you to contact the embassy and ask for an update.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi!
I just wanted to say that I can relate – I have been really really nervous during the last few days, because all the other candidates from my country received the YES answer last week except for myself. It was horrible. But fortunately I have received an e-mail today that I’m in!
So now I know that late answer does not imply rejection or anything. I didn’t get any explanation why it came so late. Everything is a secret, which is very annoying.
Keep your head up Rahul! Fingers crossed.
Hi Anna,
Congratulations and thank you very much for sharing your experience!
Good luck with your studies in Japan!
– Travis from TranSenz