Important: I have posted an update to this article for the 2018 Embassy-Recommended MEXT Scholarship, including revised advice on how to contact universities and professors. Check it out here!
Passing the Primary Screening for the Embassy MEXT scholarship is the most important step, but now you need to find a university to accept you in order to ensure you receive the scholarship. And, of course, you want to find the best university for your studies.
Despite all the work you’ve done so far, you’re basically starting over on a whole new application, but I will walk you through the process in simple steps to help you avoid common problems and get your letter of acceptance fast.
What This Guide Covers:
- Guidelines for choosing your three universities and professors
- What the different student types are and how that affects your studies
- Mistakes that will guarantee rejection
- How to approach and communicate with universities
- Getting the Letter of Acceptance
Why I Can Help with your MEXT Scholarship Application
My primary job for three years at a large, private Japanese university was processing MEXT scholarship applications. I was the first point of contact for all applicants and personally examined every application that came through. On average, I handled about 40 Embassy MEXT scholarship applications per year and nearly 200 University MEXT applications. I want to use that experience to help you get your scholarship.
I learned two important things about the Embassy MEXT, in particular:
1. The University wants to accept MEXT scholars.
It makes sense for the university to accept Embassy MEXT scholars. MEXT pays for everything, so it’s guaranteed money for them, and more MEXT scholars means more clout for the university. So long as you clear all of the minimum requirements, they want you in. But most applicants did not get letters of acceptance at my university because:
2. Applicants get themselves rejected by making lazy, avoidable mistakes.
Let’s be clear. The university wants MEXT scholars and MEXT money. That doesn’t mean that they want you enough to put up with mistakes or laziness. Most applicants that I saw get rejected basically killed their own chances because they made it hard for the university to accept them, or they made themselves more trouble than they were worth. If you’re a pain during a month-long application process, the university really doesn’t want you on campus for 2-6 years causing problems.
How can you avoid doing that? That’s what I’m here to explain.
Choosing a University for your Embassy MEXT Scholarship
This article refers to the Embassy-recommended MEXT scholarship. I also have a series of guides for the University-recommended MEXT Scholarship, including an article on selecting a university.
When choosing where to apply for your MEXT scholarship studies, you need to evaluate three things: The university, the graduate school, and the specific professor. You only have three chances to get this right. If you don’t get into one of the three universities on your “Application for Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho:MEXT) Application (Attachment)” then you lose the scholarship. Here’s how to make each one count.
National, Public, or Private
It’s right there in the application guidelines:
“If a candidate wants to enter a public or private university other than a national university, the grantee’s preference specified in the Placement Preference Form may not be met due to budgetary reasons concerning the school fees, etc.”
This means you should target at least one, preferably two to three national universities in your list.
You can certainly still apply to public and private universities, but have at least one national in your list, and preferably one that is not “formerly xxxxxx Imperial University” on the page above and is not in Tokyo, for reasons that I will explain below.
Location: Competition and “Safety Schools”
As much as universities want MEXT scholars, each professor can only accept a certain number of graduate advisees at a time and they want to have space for Japanese applicants as well (who are less work to advise, anyway). This means that you’ll have a harder time getting that letter of acceptance at universities with high competition.I wrote above that you should have at least one non-“Imperial University” and at least one not-in-Tokyo university on your list. That’s because those have the highest level of competition. The former Imperial Universities are the heart of Japan’s university network. They are the largest and most well-known, which makes them the most popular. Tokyo, obviously, is the most well-known city and universities there attract more applications, especially from international students who might find living in smaller cities or rural areas to be intimidating. (It’s not. In fact, Japan’s small cities and rural areas are the best parts of the country!)
I’m not saying don’t apply to the University of Tokyo, if your heart is set on it. By all means, shoot for the best, but have a backup. It’s only prudent.
Pro Tip: Do not send multiple applications to the same university, even if it’s to separate professors or graduate schools. You’re not impressing them with your passion for the school, you’re proving that you’re unfocused and lazy.
Degree Program Language
You’re reading this page in English, so I’m going to make the assumption that you are not an N2- or N1-level Japanese speaker. That means you need a university that offers degree programs in English. Regardless of how well you did on that Japanese proficiency test during the Embassy interview, you are not going to get in to a Japanese-language program unless you have an N1 or N2 certificate from the JLPT. Even with an N2, you’re going to be a long shot for a lot of programs.
Stick to universities that offer graduate degrees in your field in English. At the very least, they’re going to be the places that are more open to international students and have better international services. You can find lists of programs below:
- Global 30: These 13 universities set up English-language graduate degree programs with MEXT sponsorship, so they are solid bets, but they’re not the only English-language programs. They’re also going to be among the best known and therefore most competitive.
- JASSO’s list of universities with English-language programs: Current as of March 2016 (thanks to commenter “Indojin” for the update!), this document lists non-Global 30 programs available in English. These are universities that established English-language programs on their own, not just to get a government grant, so you may find more openness to international students here.
- JPSS Information for Foreign Students: This site lists the graduate programs in English under each university name, helping you drill down further to find a program.
- Check University Homepages: The lists above are not comprehensive or up-to-date. If you’ve come across research by Japanese professors during your studies, check their university homepages directly to see if they offer degree programs in English. Having an English homepage is a huge hint!
But what about that language program mentioned in the MEXT scholarship guidelines?
That program is designed to teach you enough Japanese to navigate the local buses, hold a basic conversation with your classmates, and deal with your landlord or cell phone carrier. It is not designed to teach you academic Japanese. If you aren’t already at the JLPT N1 level, then no 6-month program will get you there.
If you want to take a Japanese-language degree program and you haven’t been studying intensely on your own for several years, you’re out of luck.
Once you’ve found a few potential universities (more than three for now), it’s time to drill down further:
Choosing a Graduate School
Identifying a university that offers degree programs in English is not the end. You need to make sure that your specific degree is offered in English. If you find a university that offers Computer Engineering in English, but you’re interested in Sports Science, that isn’t going to help you very much. The JASSO pdf linked above drills down to exactly which fields of study are offered in English.
Pro tip: Find the name of the specific graduate school and department at your first-choice university and write that for the “Field of Study in Japan” in your Application for Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho:MEXT) Application (Attachment).
The most Important Step: Identify a Specific Professor who can Supervise your Research.
Next, you’ll want to review that graduate school’s professors to find the one whose research is most similar to your own. This is the single-most important point of getting acceptance. The most common reason by far I saw for Embassy MEXT scholarship applicants to get rejected at my university was that there was no professor who could supervise that research topic.
Most universities will have a database or at least a list of their professors and their research topics online. Read this carefully and look for similarities. If you cannot find a researcher database on the university’s site, google the name of the the university and keywords from your “Field of Study and Research Program Plan” document and see if any names come up in scholarly articles. If you can find articles in English, that’s even better, because it indicates the professor might be able and willing to supervise you even if you speak no Japanese.
Pro Tip: Write your “Field of Study” on your application form to sound as similar to this professor as possible and write the name of the professor in the chart.
Do not worry about being rude or forward by listing a professor’s name in the chart without talking to them first. It is far more rude (and hurtful to your chances of acceptance) to leave the professor section blank. That shows that you haven’t done the research and just don’t care. You don’t need to contact the professor now or later, as we’ll get to later.
Student Categories and How They Affect Your Studies
The MEXT scholarship paperwork uses some confusing terms, because they were originally written in Japanese and inconsistently translated into English. For example, the term “Research Student” refers both to “graduate student” in the overall name of the scholarship program and to “non-degree-seeking student” when you’re filling out the Application (Attachment). Here’s what the terms mean on that form, and how they will affect your studies:
Research Student
Research Student means that you are not enrolled in the actual degree program, but you take courses in the graduate school and receive guidance. It is possible to move up from research student status into the degree program, so this status usually serves as “conditional admission,” if the graduate school thinks you need a little more work before you enroll, or as a holding pattern if you arrive in Japan at the wrong time of year. For instance, if the degree program only takes in new students in April, and you arrive in September, then you’ll be a Research Student for your first semester.
Some students will stay research students for their whole time in Japan. For example, if you’re enrolled in a degree-seeking graduate program in your home country and just want to come to Japan for, well, research.
You can stay a research student for up to three semesters. After that, you have to move into the degree program or go home.
Even if you select “Research Student” the university, at its discretion, may place you directly into the degree program if you indicate that you want to progress to the degree eventually.
Master’s Degree Course/Doctoral Course
Select this option for direct admission into the degree program. Once you’re in the degree program, you have 2 years to complete your master’s or 3 years to complete your doctoral program. If you bust that time limit, your scholarship goes away. Moreover, as soon as it becomes apparent that you will not complete your program on time, the university is obligated to revoke your scholarship immediately.
If you are concerned that you won’t be able to adjust to the degree program quickly enough, go for the Research Student status to start.
As with the research student status, this is a preference only. The university may place you in a research student status first. This is most common if you arrive in a semester when they don’t take in new students.
Professional Graduate Course
This refers to non-academic degrees, such as MBA, JD, medical degrees, etc.
About the Language Training Program
Typically, you have no control over whether or not you are assigned to the semester of Japanese language training. Assignments are at the discretion of the graduate school you apply to. Typically, if you haven’t studied Japanese, you’ll be sent to the program, even if your degree program is all in English. As I mentioned above, the purpose of this language training is day-to-day functional Japanese, so it’ll be helpful even if you don’t need it for class and research.
If you are assigned to the language program, you will be a “Research Student” for that semester, so it will not count against your degree time. You may even be at a different university for that semester.
OK, now that we’ve covered how to select a university and the student types, let’s review your application so far:
Review: Have You Committed an Instant-Rejection Mistake?
Once you’ve thoroughly researched three target universities for your MEXT scholarship, double-check the list below to make sure you’re not committing one of the common instant-rejection mistakes.
- Applying for a Japanese program when you don’t have the language ability
I cannot stress this enough: I never once saw an applicant accepted who did not meet the minimum language requirement. In most cases, the professors wouldn’t even bother reviewing the application, even if the applicant had “alternate” credentials. - There’s no professor with your research field
You might meet all the requirements, but if there’s nobody that can advise you, you’re not getting the letter of acceptance. This is especially true in the hard sciences. I got dozens of applications sent back from faculty review committees with the simple note: “No advisor.”
Of course finding an appropriate professor in the researcher’s database doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get in. The professor might not be able to take on more advisees that year or might even be retiring. That’s why you have three schools on your list. - Being Late: Hard Deadlines and De Facto Deadlines
Your application papers have to reach the university by August 31 — that’s the hard deadline established by MEXT. Universities are required to reject any applications that arrive after that. But the de facto deadline may be much earlier. I’ll cover deadlines more below, but try to get your complete application to your universities by the first week of August, at the latest. - Sending an Incomplete Application
If you do not send everything the university asks for (we’ll cover contacting the university below), they your application will be stuck in the administrative office until the rest of the materials arrive and may never make it to the professors for review. Even if the missing document is something relatively inconsequential, universities will insist on the minimum requirement for completeness. Get used to this.
Got all that? Good. Now we’re going to talk about how to approach the universities for the best chance of success.
How to Approach the University
Step 1: Don’t approach them yet. Do a little research, first to find out how to submit your application. You’re applying for graduate studies, after all, if you open up your communication with the university by contacting the wrong person (for example contacting professors directly), you’re immediately showing them that you’re too lazy or incompetent to do basic research.
To find the right office to send your application, go to the university’s website and search for “MEXT” or “Monbukagakusho.” Look for the result that shows application guidelines or the word “Embassy.” If the website doesn’t have English guidelines, you can search for:
国費外国人留学生 or 大使館推薦
Copy/paste either of those terms into the university’s search bar and then use google translate to look at the resulting page.
Note: Google translate is horrible for Japanese to English translation, but all you need is the email address for the office. Even Google can’t screw up the translation of an email address, I think.
If the university search doesn’t work, then go to big Google and search for the university’s name as well as the terms listed above.
Who to Contact
The Embassy is going to tell you that you need a Letter of Acceptance from a professor, but that’s not accurate. You need a Letter of Acceptance from the university that is signed by the professor. That means that you need to go through the administrative office that handles applications.
If you’ve done the search above, the chances are good that you’ve found the administrative office responsible for MEXT applications. If not, then you need to find the contact information for the university’s International Office or the Administrative Office of the graduate school where your professor teaches. Do not contact the professor directly at this point.
Let me say that again, because it can mean the difference between success and failure: Do NOT send your MEXT scholarship application directly to the professor.
Professors do not handle applications. Most don’t know what to do with them, so they bounce around in email for a while until, maybe, they find their way to the right office. Sadly, I saw a few cases where it took over a month for an application sent to a professor to reach my office, and by then the deadline had passed.
If the University has MEXT Scholarship Application Guidelines
Follow them to the letter. Remember what I said above about incomplete applications? Make sure you have everything together and send it the way the university wants. For bonus points, stack the documents in the right order in the envelope and use dividers labeled with the form name. (If you’re emailing the application, scan each file as a separate pdf and name if according to the university’s terms).
Some universities will accept emailed applications, but others will only accept them by post. Sometimes it will depend on whether or not your embassy stamped each page of your application (like they are supposed to) or just the top page. If it’s not clear, email the university to ask.
Send all of the items in the university’s guidelines and only the items listed in the guidelines. Extras will be disposed of. When I processed applications, we left out everything that was not in our list of mandatory documents.
How to Contact the University
Open with a short, professional message, formatted like an email ,not an SMS, and including proper greetings and your name at the end. Tell them what program you’d like to apply for and which professor, indicate that you’ve read the guidelines, and ask if they accept applications by email (if it was not specified online).
Even if you know that the university accepts applications by email, you do not want to attach your application to the first email. If the attachment is too large or if the destination mailbox is full (a high possibility with so many other students emailing in their applications at the same time), your message won’t get through and you won’t know it, so you’ll be sitting there waiting for a reply to an email that never reached the university! So, email them first to tell them that you will follow up with your attached application in the next message.
Never, never, send your university a one-line email with no signature that says “sent from my iphone.”
Pro Tip: Does your email address sound professional? If your address is borderline inappropriate, overly cute, or easily mistaken (e.g. uses the number 0 in place of letter O), consider getting a new one like firstname.lastname@gmail.com.
If the university accepts applications by email, scan each document into a single pdf file and send it. If you send each page as separate jpeg files (or worse, tif) or even as individual pdf files, you 1) Risk that the email will be so large that the university’s server will reject it and 2) show the university that you’re too lazy, incompetent, or self-centered to learn to use a scanner correctly.
If your scanner does not scan to pdf or does not scan multiple pages into a single file, use software to combine the individual scans and convert the final product to a pdf.
What to Expect from the University
I wrote above that universities want to accept Embassy MEXT scholars, but that doesn’t mean that they are going to roll out the red carpet for you. At this point in the application process, there’s a low possibility that you’re going to end up at the university you’re talking to, and they know it. For example, where I worked, out of the 40 or so annual Embassy MEXT scholarship applications I handled, only 4-5 ended up at my university each year. At this point, the university knows that 80-90% of the applicants won’t end up going there, so they are not that enthusiastic.
In many cases, Japanese universities will only contact you when something is wrong. They won’t go out of their way to acknowledge receipt if everything is complete or to send you status updates. If something is missing, though, you will hear from them. So, no news is typically good news, but it’s also a good idea to follow up with an email asking if everything was complete.
If you send your application by post, most universities will not email you to let you know it has arrived. They assume you will check the tracking information yourself.
Once your application reaches the university, here’s what happens:
- The administrative office responsible for your application will make sure everything is complete, log it in to their processing system, and forward the necessary parts on to the graduate school administrative office.
- The graduate school administrative office will include your application in the next regular faculty meeting.
- The faculty council will review your application and make a decision during the meeting. Your acceptance or rejection often depends on the result of about a 2-minute review.
- The professor that accepts you will complete the letter of acceptance and send it to the graduate school office.
- The graduate school office will pass the letter to the original administrative office, who will log the result and send it to you.
The important thing to note is that waiting for item 3, above, takes the most time. Your application will spend a lot of time “waiting for review,” especially if you send it in August, school vacation. Your application will sit and wait for the next faculty meeting for approval. That can be over a month if the timing is bad and during that time the university won’t have any status update for you, as frustrating as that will be.
Getting the Letter of Acceptance (Naidakusho)
Where I worked, we emailed a copy of the letter of acceptance to the applicants then send the original by regular airmail. Not express, not registered, just regular mail.
It happened several times that the Letter of Acceptance was late, thanks to the time it took to make the decision and the time for the airmail to arrive. In those cases, almost every applicant we talked to was able to take a printout of the emailed Letter of Acceptance to their embassy and use that to move forward with their application process while waiting for the original to arrive. If your Letter has not reached you and the deadline is approaching, check with your embassy/consulate to see if that’s an option.
And that’s it! Once you have the Letter of Acceptance turned in to the Embassy/Consulate, the rest of the scholarship process is in MEXT’s hands. You should have your final decision and placement by December/January, if the old timeline still holds up.
What are my chances of getting the MEXT Scholarship at this point?
Well, in the world of government budgets, nothing is certain, but from my understanding, your chances are good. The number of Embassy MEXT scholarship nominations should be equal to the number of total scholarships available. So, everyone that passes the primary screening and gets a Letter of Acceptance from one of their top three universities should get the scholarship.MEXT conducts a final screening of all applicants, but the purpose of this screening is not competitive, it is to make sure that you meet all of their eligibility requirements. Yes, the embassy and university should have checked these during your application, but MEXT won’t let a scholarship grant go through without double-checking.
Your final university placement, though? A lot of that is going to be related to internal budgeting and politics (e.g. preference for national universities, etc.) and balancing the number of applicants among universities as much as possible. There is no way to predict where you might end up.
But at the end of the day, you’re getting the MEXT scholarship, which can mean up to 6 years of paid graduate education, so it’s a great place to be, no matter what. Congratulations!
FAQ
I will update this with your questions from the comments below, so please send them in!
- My Embassy/Consulate says I need to submit my Letters of Acceptance by mid August, but the university says they can’t send them until September, at the earliest. What should I do?
This is often a misunderstanding, so double-check with the embassy/consulate to see exactly what they need. In most cases that I saw, students only needed to submit the list of universities and professors they were applying to by mid-August. You can do that without waiting for the university’s reply, so long as you’ve done your research above. If your embassy/consulate really needs the Letter of Acceptance that early, talk to the university and ask if there is any way to accelerate it. Also, check to see if the embassy will accept emailed letters of acceptance, since the post takes a while.
Questions?
Before asking any questions in the comments below, please read through the MEXT Scholarship Application FAQ top page and specific FAQ pages to see what I’ve answered already and to find tips about how to get your questions answered faster.
You can ask your questions in the comments here, on the FAQ page, or by email and I will answer them by updating the FAQ and letting you know when the answers are available.
I’d also recommend signing up for my mailing list to get notified whenever I have updates to any of the FAQs or new articles about the MEXT scholarship!
hello sir.
i just want to thank you very much for such a blog !!
i was extremely lost until i read this !!
so we all appreciate your efforts !!
keep it up…
best regards and respect ..
Hi Travis,
(I’ve just found your website, sorry if I ask questions that you have already answered. As I am really worried about the time for my application, I’ll ask all the questions I have here.)
Your blog is really helpful. I’ve wanted to apply for this scholarship as I really want to study in Japan, I didn’t last year as I wasn’t in my home country so I would not have been able to conduct an interview. However this year it seems I have left it really late, I waited to the application window was open as I had no idea what to do, also it says the details change with each embassy so I wasn’t sure what information to read. Should I start my application now but wait until next year to apply?
I want to apply for a program in Japanese, I took the JLPT N1 last year but I failed by 5 points, I did not retake it because I didn’t have enough money but will take it this December and I’m sure I’ll pass next time. You’ve said to not apply for programs in Japanese unless you are N1/N2, I think I’m N1 level but I don’t have any certificates (even for N2) so will that be a negative point. I will write my application in Japanese as well.
What I want to study is not related to Japan but I have a few reason why I want to do it in Japan. I have found a few professors who have similar research. How similar does the research have to be, for example I want to study Gender in the Middle-East in relation to Iran. Is a professor who studies gender close enough. I have seen three professors, one for gender studies, one for Middle-Eastern studies with emphasis in Iran and one with gender in the middle-East, but not Iran as a speciality.
I did my Bachelor’s but I never wrote a dissertation, my professor will look over my application but I feel really doubtful of my application getting accepted, so any advice would be much appreciated.
Hi Roxanne,
For your Japanese language proficiency, I would recommend submitting the failing score from the N1 with the added comment that you have been studying to retake the test. That should show them that you could be reasonably expected to pass and should have high enough ability for the N2. Not having a passing certificate may hurt your chances a little if you run into someone who is more bureaucratic than practical, but it should still give you enough credibility that you can make up the difference in an interview.
If your studies are not related to Japan, though, there’s no particular reason that you would have to apply in Japanese, so the university could recommend that you apply for an English program (if available) and then take some of your courses in Japanese once you pass the proficiency test.
In your case, I would target professors who have done research related to gender studies, especially if they have done research related to gender and religion. Based on what you said, someone who focused on gender in the Middle East, but not necessarily Iran, would be a good target professor. That way, your research into a different country could augment or serve as a point of comparison to what the professor is resaerching.
If you didn’t have a graduation thesis for your bachelors, they will probably ask you to submit an abstract from a significant major paper, such as a term paper, along a similar topic. Many of the applicants I saw had not written a graduation thesis, and I never saw it hurt their chances, so don’t be too concerned about that!
Good Luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
I would also like to thank you for your extremely helpful website! It’s really helped me better understand the process, however I do have a couple of additional queries I wonder if you could help with!
Firstly I am interested in understanding the Research Student option a little more.
As I will have just completed a Masters (in Cultural and Critical Studies) one month before the scholarship will begin, I am not sure if it is best to do another Masters in Japan. I am more interested in doing 18 months of research, so I presume I should apply as a research student. However, I am a bit unclear as to how to seek out suitable universities in the first instance for the Primary screening, and then seek LoA for the second round. Do I need to already have a clear research proposal in place? Does it need to be for a PhD or can it just be research I am interested in undertaking about Japanese culture? If you remain a Research Student for the entire scholarship, what exactly is your mode of study? Is it just independent research? Do you still need to submit papers or do exams? And what would be my first step? Do I just need to research university courses in Cultural Studies in Japan and try and locate a professor that could advise on my area of interest? Would it be possible to have a few options of research interests in case your first choice is not something there is someone to advise on? Is it required that you have something to show at the end of your stay there that the research has led to? Is it possible to undertake this level of independent research in English?
I am also curious about the living arrangements. As I am in my 30s, I would prefer not to live in student accommodation, but seek private accommodation away from the university. Is this possible? Ideally I would hope my partner would be able to obtain a separate visa and find work in the same city. Would we be able to live together under this scholarship?
Lastly- for me to be able to undertake this scholarship, I would need to know exactly how long I would be away for, as I need to apply for a sabbatical from work in order to do it. Is the minimum amount of time for a research position 18 months? If I needed to do 6 months language training as well, does this need to be on top of this, meaning that the minimum amount of time away would need to be 2 years?
Apologies for all of the questions! Thank you very much in advance for your time,
Zoe
Hi Zoe,
There’s a lot in there, but really, it sounds like the first thing you need to do is figure out exactly what you want to do – that’s your first step.
If you’ll have completed a Master’s Degree by the time you start, then you’ll want to be shooting for a PhD program or PhD level research. “Doing cultural research about Japan” isn’t going to be enough. You should definitely have a defined research problem, something significant enough that it could lead to a PhD in the future. In almost all cases, a research student is someone who is preparing to join the degree program. You’d be doing research under your supervisor and also taking some classes to get ready to take the entrance exam. I have only ever seen people stay a Research Student for their whole duration when they were actually enrolled in a PhD program in another country and came to Japan just to do research for that degree.
Also, for most subjects related to Japan (literature, history, culture, etc.), MEXT will require you to do that in Japanese, so you would need the language proficiency as well.
Living accommodations depend on the university, but most large universities would let you (or make you) live off campus in an apartment, etc.
The time question depends very much on what you want to do and why, and it doesn’t sound like you’re sure yet, so I can’t really answer that at this point.
Good Luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
A great read with full of helpful information about MEXT Scholarship. I am currently a MEXT Scholar, pursuing my 3 year of PhD program. But it won’t be possible to complete my graduate degree in 3 years within the stipulated fellowship period of 3 years. I am wondering if it is possible to get an extension of 1 year fellowship from MEXT to complete by graduate program? Is there any such provision?
Hi Gouranga,
Unfortunately, no, it is not possible to extend your scholarship if you’re not going to graduate on time. In fact, depending on the reason why you cannot finish on time, MEXT might cancel your scholarship immediately if it finds out. Students who cannot graduate on time because of poor grades or suspension will have their scholarships revoked immediately and may be required to pay back the amount of scholarship already received.
I assume that’s not the case in your situation, but unfortunately, it still is not possible to extend because you cannot graduate on time. You can, of course, stay on for your final year as a fee-paying student without the scholarship (and possibly apply for other scholarships to help you out).
Good Luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Sir I have one more doubt in the study program form there are 3 sections 1st one is present field of study
2nd is your research topic in japan
3rd is study program in japan
I cant find the difference between 2nd and 3rd
Thank You
Hi Kartayva,
Please read the explanation of the Field of Study (2nd) and Study Progarm in Japan (3rd) in this post:
http://www.transenzjapan.com/blog/mext-field-of-study/
Good luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Sir,
I have a problem filling the placement form that we can submit name of only 3 university but after primary screening we have to get LoA from the professors , can we only request LoA from the professors name submitted on the form or from any other professor?
Thank You
Hi Kartavya,
According to MEXT’s rules, you can only submit LoA from the universities listed in the placement preference form. If you ask for a specific professor but the university assigns you to a different professor, that should be OK. To avoid problems, do your research in advance to make sure the professor you choose is the closest to your field of research!
If you can, it may be a good idea to get in touch with the professor in advance to discuss your research plans, too. You don’t need to talk about the LoA yet, just your research and supervising possibility.
Good Luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Hi there, thanks for all the information. I always recommend your site to the applicants of my country.
Well, my question is not related to the application procedure because I’m MEXT student already (Embassy-recommendation), but I’m curious about one thing…
Is it true that the lab/advisor also receive money for having a MEXT scholarship student? Is that money part of the advisor salary, or should be used to cover research expenses born by the student??
Dear Bashir Poiulk,
Thank you for your kind words and recommendation.
I have not heard of labs or advisors receiving additional funds from MEXT for having a MEXT scholarship recipient in their lab. As far as official scholarship descriptions go, that is not part of the MEXT scholarship.
However, if a lab hosts one or more MEXT scholars then that might theoretically help the professor apply for and receive government grants for their research. The university might also give professors a bonus if they supervise MEXT scholars, but that is all going to be on a case-by-case basis.
Good Luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Hey! So… I’ve got several doubts regarding MEXT at the moment. I’m in 12th right now, I’ll be done with high school in a year from now, am I eligible for MEXT 2017?
Also where and how can I obtain the “Certificate of Expected Graduation”. Should all the forms in : http://prntscr.com/b1na55 be submitted? Because the guidelines don’t mention the “Research field” form. Also by “medical certificate” , do they mean the one in the given list? I lack general knowledge -_-.
Ty in advance! 😀
Hi Helios,
This post is about the scholarship for graduate students. The process for the undergraduate scholarship is different and is run entirely by the embassy, so please check with the nearest Japanese embassy/consulate for more info. I was a university employee, not an embassy employee, so I was never involved in that process and don’t have any firsthand knowledge.
Good Luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis!
Thank you so much for this blog,it helped me a lot! I’m applying for MEXT Scholarship this year,but i can’t decide if i should go for research student or master degree; I’m currently enrolled in a Master program in my country and i’ll graduate by June 2017. Which choice has better chances of being accepted?
Hi Ammy,
This is only my personal opinion, but I would only apply for a research student position under the following situations:
1) You think your previous studies were not up to par and you need extra catch-up work before starting your degree program.
2) You think you can’t complete your Master’s program within the 2-year limit, so you want a head start on your research.
3) You want to start your studies in a semester when your university does not accept new students. (e.g. if you want to start in April, but your desired university only accepts new students to the Master’s program in October).
4) You’re currently enrolled in a degree program and you want to come to Japan just to do research for that degree, then return to your home country and graduate there (particularly relevant to in-progress PhDs).
In your particular case, if you’re going to complete a Master’s program before coming to Japan and want to master’s level work in Japan, the university might not be willing to accept you as a Master’s level research student (since it’s a lower level than your last degree). They might accept you as a Doctoral-level research student, but why not apply for a PhD directly?
Good Luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Dear Transenz,
This is an amazing descriptive blog by you. I have been so confused while reading the guidelines and few other info from other blogs but finally I landed up to this and you have described each and every step in the easiest possible way. Even though i do have few more queries regarding the placement preference form and contacting the universities. I am applying for scholarship this year and soon will be submitting my application for the scholarship to the Japanese embassy in India.
1. I will be applying this scholarship for PhD course so do I have to contact the university professors before applying for the scholarship or does this go simultaneously? Would i have to wait for the first screening to be cleared and than apply to the universities or the specific profs in the departments??
2. Do I have to apply to the universities mentioned in the placement preference form or can I apply to others too??
3. As mentioned a person requires a good GPA score but if someone has been an average student, so does this reduce their chances in not getting the scholarship?
It would be helpful if you can respond urgently on the same.
Regards,
Ruchita Bansal
Hi Ruchita,
Thank you again for your kind words!
By the way, when I answered your last question, it was on the “University-recommended scholarship” page, so I assumed you were asking about that process and the answers were based on that.
1. If you are applying for the Embassy Recommended Scholarship, then you need to pass the Primary Screening at the Embassy before you can apply to the universities. However, you can start networking with them now, if you have connections or want to reach out to them about interest in their research. Just talk research, though, wait on the paperwork and scholarship until you are ready yo apply
2. Only the universities mentioned in the placement preference form are allowed. Those are the only ones MEXT will place you in. They will not consider others.
3. I can say that for the University-recommended scholarship, a high GPA is very important. For the Embassy-recommended scholarship, they may consider other factors more strongly, such as your test and interview scores. If your GPA is low, then you should make sure you have a very well-written and clear Field of Study plan, that you score well on the testing, and that you prepare for the interview. Be prepared to explain not only your research itself, but how you will apply it after graduation and how that will help your country and Japan.
Good Luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Hi
thanks for the great guide i have some doubts 1. if selected as a research student in university A and then after entrance examination i scored well then can i switch the university to other
2. can you tell something about the entrance examination and how to get scholarship for them
3.what documents are required for applying for the letter of acceptance
(sorry i put this question in next blog too by mistake)
Hi Kart,
I deleted the same question on the University-recommended scholarship post, because it seemed like it belonged here.
1. No, unless there is some reason completely beyond your control (e.g. if your advisor suddenly quits and nobody else can advise your research topic), then you would be expected to continue to the degree-seeking program at the same university.
2. Typically, if the university has accepted you as a research student under the MEXT scholarship, then the entrance exam is merely a formality. You just have to complete a few forms – there’s no “exam” involved, at least in every case I have heard of (someone else, please correct me if you have other experience). At the same time, you will apply to extend your MEXT scholarship in order to continue to the degree program. That too, is generally a formality. The university should help you with all of that paperwork.
3. You should send the university a copy of all of the documents that you submitted to (and received back from) the Embassy, which should have the embassy’s seal on them, plus the Passing Certificate of the Primary Screening.
Good Luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
hi,
i want to know that if one does not have any published work then there is no chance of acceptance
Hi Aya,
You don’t need any publications. Most of the applicants I saw (and most of the applicants who earned the scholarship at my school) had no publications!
Good Luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Hi Transenz ,
I would like to ask that which has better chances for acceptance research or master student
Hi Kanak,
It depends on the university and your academic background. If your background is a little weak and you need some extra coursework to catch up, then Research Student would be good.
At my university, we only accepted students to their degrees in certain semesters. So, for example, all Engineering students studying in English had to start in October. And they would all spend one semester studying Japanese, first. So, if a student applied and said they wanted to come to Japan in October, we would accept them as a research student (October semester: Japanese language studies, April semester: Research student; Next October: Start degree program). If they wanted to come in April, then we would accept them directly to the degree program (April: Language studies; October: Degree program).
In any case, that would be the university’s decision regardless of the student’s preference, at least where I worked.
Good Luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Sir,
Thank You for kind reply
I have one more question , if i filled as research student and get accepted then is it possible to extend to masters program and get scholarship by MEXT
Hi Kanak,
Yes, it is possible, but it’s not guaranteed that you’ll be able to do so. It depends on your performance as a research student. When you apply for admission to the Master’s program, your university should also help you apply to extend your scholarship to cover that Master’s degree.
Good Luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
This is the most informative blog i have came across with . I just needed some information if you can provide any guidelines/sample to write research paper proposal for ms in communication engineering so i can compare with mine and see if its up to the mark? and secondly if i haven’t yet contacted the professors for the approval how much chance i have for acceptance after my application is approved and then i start that process for loa?
Hi Zak,
I don’t have any sample Research Proposals, sorry. Maybe someone else can comment if they have some.
The normal application process is to apply for the LoA only after you’ve passed the Primary Screening, so you certainly have a chance, but you will have to act quickly, as some embassies won’t give you much time to get the LoA.
Good Luck
-Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis, I like to thank you for the good job you are doing here. It’s the most informative blog I have found as far as MEXT scholarship is concerned.
I have done some research on some universities in Japan and realized that they do demand for an application fee, for example Tokyo Institute of Technology demand as much as $300. Is that fee applicable to MEXT scholarship applicants too?
Hi Halem,
Thank you for your kind comments.
It sounds like you are looking at the “standard” application process. Typically, there is a different application process for MEXT applicants (specifically, one for Embassy-recommended MEXT applicants and one for university-recommended MEXT applicants). The application instructions for MEXT applicants should not ask for an application fee.
If you are only finding application processes that require an application fee, you need to look for the page with instructions for MEXT scholarship applicants. For TITECH, you can find that here: http://www.titech.ac.jp/english/graduate_school/international/scholarships/mext_scholarship.html.
Good Luck
– Travis from TranSenz
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Transenz
I am currently confused about the order of when we have to apply for LoA to the university after sending application to embassy or after primary screening
Hi Kanak,
You can’t start the application to the university for the LoA until after you’ve passed the primary screening (The “Passing Certificate of the Primary Screening” is one of the required documents).
Good Luck
-Travis from TranSenz
Hey! The info was very beneficial.
I want to ask that If I’m applying for embassy recommendation then how much time prior should I contact the universities.
Thank you.
Hi PRITI,
You can start networking with professors at the universities as early as you like, but you can’t start the process of applying for a Letter of Acceptance until after you’ve passed the Primary Screening at the Embassy.
Good Luck,
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you. I will applying this May. I have one more query. Is there any specific format of medical certificate? Also, I’m applying this May for 2017 MEXT. There is a column in the application form which asks “when do you want to go to japan”?
April or October? What should I do? I am going for English taught degree.
Hi PRITI,
Yes, there is a specific format. You should be able to download it from your embassy’s website. You can also find it on MEXT’s webpage at:
http://www.mext.go.jp/component/a_menu/education/detail/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2016/04/22/1369740_07.docx (Direct download link, MS Word format)
For your start date, look up when the program starts on your desired university’s homepage. At many universities, English-taught programs will begin in October only and Japanese-taught programs will begin in April only (this is just a general rule, so be sure to check on your own). If you want to do an English-taught program that begins in October, then you should arrive in Japan in April because you will spend your first semester in an introductory Japanese language program and start your degree in October. (If you say that you want to arrive in October, you would spend your first semester in the Japanese language course, your second semester as a research student, then start the degree program in your third semester – October of the following year).
Good Luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
I am interested in Japanese Traditional Ceramics, I wish I could apply this year but with no knowledge of Japanese I think I wouldn’t make it. I am a Ceramics lecturer but I would love to learn Japanese traditional ceramics now my question is though I think my profile is well enough, I am finding it really hard to find a university specifically dedicated to traditional art can you please suggest universities dedicated to traditional Art. And what are my chances if I start learning Japanese now? and hope that by the time embassy contacts I am able to do something about it. I would appreciate an online course suggestion as well.
Thanks
Hi Annie,
Universities that focus on art and design are all taught in Japanese, as far as I know. To be a bit blunt, if you don’t have the Japanese language ability to be able to read their websites, you’re not going to be able to get accepted. After all, you’d be expected to write term papers and your eventual thesis in Japanese.
If you start learning Japanese now and are willing/able to spend at least one (and in all likelihood more) years of intensive study in a Japanese language school in Japan, then depending on your language aptitude, you could meet the requirements in the future.
If anyone else knows of art universities in Japan that do offer instruction in English, hopefully they can comment here and help!
Good Luck,
-Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Thank you for your precious help! Your advices are so important and crucial as we are trying to enter into the “labyrinth” of the MEXT scholarship. Once again congratualations for you your excellent and important work.
I am going to apply for the embassy MEXT scholarship and I want to ask you:
Considering that I am going to apply only in english-language graduate programs through the Global 30 program, my options are limited to 3 graduate programs, because I am in the humanities area. The 2 of them are related with my related with my research thesis (Nagoya Unoversity and Sophia, -I saw that two professors are are close to my interests) and the third program which I inted to apply is not related to my research thesis but is related to my work-experience (. It is obvious that I can fit to different reasearch programs in the application so I have to choose? It is better you think to adjust to the two graduate programs and professors that are closely to my research thesis and put the third program just as an option or may I contact them first and see who is moe willing to elp me with my potentially research in Japan?
But you wrote above that is not necessery or won’t help to contact the professors as early as the application is not screened by the embassy. Can you please advise me?
Hi Ntinos,
I’m glad I could be helpful!
What I meant to say is that contacting the professors will not help you get your application for the scholarship approved. There is certainly no harm in networking on an academic basis.
If you contact the professors and say that you want to study under them and describe your research topic, how it relates to the professor’s, etc., that can be helpful. You don’t need to mention at this point that you’re applying for the MEXT scholarship, stick to the academic conversation at first. Ideally, you should be interest in your research for its own sake, not just as a way to get scholarship funding anyway, right? 🙂
Then, when you’re about to submit your application for the Letter of Acceptance, you can mention that and ask for the professor’s positive review when he/she receives it.
I hope that helps! Good luck with your application,
-Travis from TranSenz
thank you so much it was really so benifit for me
i’ve been accepted in kyushu university and i still need to pass the english test and the interview to ensure getting the scholarship
i hope you can help me in filling necessary papers for the embassy.
concerning the thesis abstract how should it be? a paragraph or or more than page ( please if you can tell me how many lines approximatly)
in Placement Prefrence : question 5-2) ” detailed field of study” , should i explain what i am studying now or what i will study in japan?
thank you
Hi Khadidja,
For the thesis abstract, it should be about 1 page.
The “Field of Study” should be your major (I recommend making it match the major/course you want to take at your first-choice university) and the “detailed field of study” is the specific research question you want to study in Japan.
Good Luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Thank you,
due to your explanation and everything else I made it through the primary screening. Thumbs up best blog ever
Hi, TranSenz!
Thank you very much for such clead descriprion of any step.
I have a question about language abilities.
But firstly some additional information:
I’ve got master’s degree in Japanese philosophy last year and want to be enrolled as a research student for the beginning.
I have N3 level and my topic is about Tokugawa Japan political thought in its analysis. I will apply for the scholarship this year and of course will be studying japanese untill arrive to Japan (in case of succes). So maybe N3 is not enough?
But on the other hand, I have already talked with potential Professor at Rikkyo University and he was impressed by my plan and abstracts, very interested in my topic, and wants to see me in Japan (he teaches both in English and in Japanes). Also he is ready to help in communication with university in case of need.
What is more valuable for MEXT in such case? Japanese skills or Proferssor’s personal interest and primary agreement?
Thanks in advance!
Dear Valentin,
In general, knowledge of Japanese is not required, but for fields that study Japan, such as your case, it would be. The guidelines specifically say:
“In particular, if an applicant with limited proficiency in Japanese desires to pursue studies in fields such as Japanese linguistics, Japanese literature, Japanese history, or Japanese law ―fields that require sufficient knowledge of the Japanese language ― he/she will not be selected as a grantee unless there are exceptional circumstances”
N3 level Japanese would probably not be considered high enough. I have seen some science fields accept students at N2 or higher, but most humanities/social sciences will probably want N1-level.
I recommend asking your professor what Rikkyo’s requirement would be to apply for the same program as a fee-paying student to be taught in Japanese. If you do not meet that criteria, then the university will have a difficult time recommending you.
I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I hope you and your professor can work something out!
Good Luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Good day, dear Travis.
Thanks for your reply.
May I ask you to clarify the meaning of “apply for the same program as a fee-paying student to be taught in Japanese”?
What kind of student it is? Is it still MEXP programm or something else?
Or you reccomend me to aplly to univ as self-financed student?
Thanks
Hi Valentin,
A “Fee-paying student” is a non-MEXT student.
What I mean is that you should find the regular, Japanese application instructions for the program just to look up the language ability requirements. You don’t need to submit an application that way, you just need to know if you meet the minimums or not.
This is only for your reference. If you meet the minimum requirements to apply in Japanese as a fee-paying student then you should be able to apply in Japanese for the MEXT scholarship, too. If not, then you will have a harder time.
Good Luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Hi TranSenz,
Thanks for the information and for answering all the questions. You are awesome!
I have some doubts about how to enroll in a Master’s Degree program if I get this scholarship.
My plan is the following:
-Apply during 2017 for embassy recommendation.
-Get the scholarship (hopefully) and arrive to Japan in April 2018.
-The degree program I’m aiming for would start in October 2018. It is a G30 program.
The problem is: the normal application procedure for that program is in January 2018 according to the official website.
So, how should I go about enrolling to that degree program?
(1) Apply during January 2018, when I’m still in my country, as something completely separated from the scholarship, even though I will have already been granted the scholarship by then. If I do this I will have the normal Skype interview, etc.
(2) Say that I want to enroll in that degree program when I email the University asking for the LoA, in 2017, and take the exams for the degree program when I get to Japan, after April 2018.
Probably it depends on the University but before asking them maybe you could help me to figure this. Maybe my question is dumb.
According to the embassy of my country I will go as a “research student”, and they don’t have any information regarding enrolling to the degree programs.
Hi Agustin,
Thank you for your kind words!
The short answer is that if you apply for the Embassy-recommended MEXT scholarship and get an LoA from the university, you do not need to apply for the degree program separately. You will make it clear which degree program you want to enroll in when you apply for the LoA, and they will evaluate you at that time.
For the Embassy-recommended application process, you can apply to up to three universities for LoAs and it is ultimately up to MEXT to choose where to place you, so keep that in mind. I know some people try to game the system by only getting one LoA, but that can be risky if the university decides not to give you an LoA.
One thing you could do to possibly increase your chances would be to start networking with the university/the professor you want to study under in advance. If he/she knows who you are and has an idea about your research when your application arrives, that could help your chances of getting the LoA, too.
Good Luck,
-Travis from TranSenz
Travis
Thank for the answer!
Also, yes, I will apply to 3 universities and do networking to increase my chances.
My main doubt was when to state the intention of enrolling to a master degree program, as it seems like the “default” is going as a research student.
But I understand now, I will make it clear when asking for the LoA.
Just one more question. The main university I want to apply (Tohoku University – Faculty of Engineering) does not have MEXT Scholarship application guidelines online.
Do you think is a good idea to write to the university asking for those guidelines before even passing the embassy primary screening?
I’m thinking of this because I heard that the embassy gives you very little time to get the LoA, so I could make some exchange of emails in advance to gain some time.
But maybe is not a good idea to bother the university staff so soon.
Hi Augustin,
I understand where you’re coming from.
In one of the Embassy-recommended MEXT application forms (I think it’s in the Placement Preference Form), you’ll have a chance to say whether you want to start as a “research student” or “master’s student.” It’s going to be up to the university to choose whether they’ll accept you directly into the degree program, though.
At my university, we did not talk to Embassy MEXT applicants until after they passed the primary screening. We would tell them to wait and contact us again after they passed the primary screening. (The Primary Screening is when most applicants are eliminated.)
But don’t worry, basically all you have to do is send the university a copy of all the documents that you sent to the Embassy. Some might accept it by email if the Embassy doesn’t give you much time (or they’ll tell you to send them by email first and then send the originals so they can get started in the mean time).
Good Luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Hello, and sorry to intrude.
I am applying for the MEXT scholarship as a master student, but my coutry’s embassy does not offer a placement preference form for this category. How is this possible? I mean, I keep seing in comments “placement preference form” ans “master” in the same sentence. is there something I am missing?
Thank you in advance
Hi Georgia,
Actually, it sounds like your university is doing it right.
The way the instructions for the scholarship are written by MEXT, you shouldn’t have to turn in the placement preference form until after the Primary Screening and after you have acquired the Letters of Accetance from the universities. Most embassies (and universities) ask for the Placement Preference Form in advance, which strikes me as wrong.
I wouldn’t be worried – they’ll certainly ask you for it later!
Good Luck,
-Travis from TranSenz
Thank you very much for the information. I solved many questions.
I have passed the second screening and still didn’t receive final results. I am worried over that and some of the applicants in my country has already received the confirmation.I am very upset I only applied and got LOA from a private university, please let me know is there any chance to reject at this stage?
Is this is normal situation or I am confused. How long should I wait to see the final result as your experience.
Please help me over my question.
Hi Isl,
Have you heard anything since posting?
Unfortunately, I never worked at an Embassy, so I don’t know what their process is for releasing results. At the university, when we released results we made sure to contact everyone on the same day. Some of our emails got sent to our applicants spam mail boxes though, so if you haven’t checked there yet, give it a look.
I have never heard of an applicant getting rejected at this stage – I know that none of the applicants that we accepted at my (private) university were ever rejected for the scholarship, but that’s all I can say for sure.
If the other applicants from your country have been contacted by the embassy and you have not, then you could try contacting the embassy to follow up on your status.
Please let me know how it goes!
Good Luck,
– Travis from TranSenz
I have applied for MEXT research scholarship after passing written test and 3 round of interviews conducted by Professor. Professor agreed to be my adviser and shared a letter of acceptance.
Later, Professor has emailed me saying that university has shortlisted my name for MEXT scholarship after evaluating my application, however this year number of MEXT scholarship is reduced and my name is mentioned/ranked almost in middle.
So he said it is difficult to get this year mentioning that it is not an official email.
The final result will be declared in May 2016 by MEXT.
I want to know, what are my chances of getting selected as we all know MEXT funding is variable and Japanese economy is not doing well.
Your answers and experience are highly appreciated.
Thank you!
Hi B. Rohan,
It sounds like you applied for the University-recommended scholarship, general category, right?
You’re absolutely right, MEXT reduced the number of slots that universities could recommend, and raised the threshold for each number after I published the chart in the University-recommended scholarship article.
Additionally they have slashed the number of extra recommendations that universities could submit if they were willing to cover flight tickets from 15 to 2. I will have to update that article in the very near future.
Without knowing exactly how many recommendees your university had, I don’t know what that means for your chances. If you were #3 out of 5, then you would still be in good shape, but if you were #9 out of 17 and your university was going to recommend you as one of the univesity-sponsored travel nominees, then the slot cut would be more likely to affect you.
I wish I had some better news for you.
Good Luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
I don’t think I can thank you enough for this wonderful and informative post. Thanks to your help, I’ve been accepted as a research student to Todai and am leaving in April! I am so excited, and don’t think I would have gotten here without your guide!
There are a couple of things that I’m curious about, that I can’t seem to find any guidelines about, and was just wondering if you’d have any insights. Are research students required to enroll in the masters course they listed on their research proposal, or is there room to enter a different program in your department if your research interests develop and change during your period as a research student? Also wondering if it’s possible to transfer universities between masters and Phd, and what the rules concerning changing supervisor would be?
Hi Rebecca,
Congratulations on getting the scholarship! I’m glad I could help in some small way 🙂
Excellent questions. I should probably put up another article on the topic of what happens after your initial grant period.
In terms of the scholarship, you should be OK changing the master’s program you will enroll in. Acceptance as a research student does not guarantee that you will be able to extend for your Master’s degree program or a subsequent PhD (although I think you would only be denied if you really didn’t try). When you apply to extend your scholarship, you can indicate the program you want to move into.
However, you should check to make sure it’s OK with your university, too!
It is possible to change universities from Master’s to PhD (and even from Research to Master’s). I dealt with several of those applications in the past. In that case, you would apply to the new university as a “fee paying” student through the normal application process and to MEXT for a scholarship extension separately. (You would not apply for a new MEXT scholarship at the new school).
Again, for the scholarship, as long as there is a reason, you should be able to change supervisors or schools with no problem, but you’ll need to check with the school as well. The most common reasons I have seen is when a Master’s supervisor didn’t have the credentials to supervise a PhD, or when the student’s desired program wasn’t available at the current university.
Good Luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Hi TranSenz,
Believe me, this blog was helpful in more than just a “small way”.
Thank you very-much for your reply – it’s really great to be able to get an ‘inside perspective’ on this kind of thing, because the information on MEXT’s website really isn’t that clear. Obviously, I know most things are case-by-case and it will depend on your supervisor/university, but it’s great just to hear about other cases before I approach my university, just to get a feel for what is and is not possible.
If you don’t mind, I would like to ask a little more about transferring university from research student to masters. I’m not sure if I would be allowed, because it is more to do with personal preference than circumstances. Basically, the direction of my research has changed a lot since I submitted my application. My proposal was to do with a topic in social science (entrepreneurship in Japanese society), but I have developed a strong research interest in machine translation and would really like to pursue this topic. However, since that’s not what I originally applied to do, I am worried a change like this won’t be supported. Do you think it would be possible to change universities to do this, if I had the support of my current supervisor and new supervisor at a different university?
Hi Rebecca,
Where are you in the application process? Have you started your research in Japan yet, or have you not arrived yet?
For Embassy-recommended scholars, officially, when you apply to extend your scholarship to progress from Research Student to Master’s Degree, you can list up to two choices for which university to go to. If you wish to change universities, you will need the support of your current supervisor as well as a letter of admission from the target university. Specifically, your current supervisor would have to write his/her opinion of your decision to change schools in the application paperwork. I would think that there would have to be a very strong reason for that change to be approved.
Since you can write in two universities, I would consider listing your desired target university as your first choice and your current university as second choice, to give you a back-up plan. Worst case scenario, you could try to focus your research on how the availability/accuracy of machine translation, combined with low foreign language ability in general, impacts entrepreneurship in Japan. (I would personally be very interested in that subject!)
I have never seen a change in universities attempted for personal preference, so I can’t tell you how likely it would be to be accepted or not.
In any case, please let me know how the change and your research goes. I’m interested in the topics, so if you have any publications later, please let me know!
Good Luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Many thanks for your advice! Will keep you updated on my progress!
Hi, well… I will apply for the MEXT Scholarship for Undergraduate Students, I want to study Architecture and I read that there is going to be tests for English, Japanese, Math, Physics and Chemistry so I wanted to ask… How high is the difficulty o the tests? Can you give some advices about the tests?
Dear Adriana,
I’m sorry, but I never dealt with the undergraduate scholarship at all. The entire process for undergraduates is run through the embassy, so there is no contact between applicants and universities during the application process.
I would suggest asking at the forums on jref instead. It looks like there’s already a thread going for the MEXT undergraduate scholarship for 2016:
http://www.jref.com/forum/threads/monbukagakusho-undergraduate-2016.55868/
Good luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Hello Sir,
I hope this will find you in good health. I am Mirza Muhammad Waqar from Pakistan. I got recommendation for MEXT 2016 by Embassy and I have successfully submitted my 03 LOA from the following three universities for PhD in Remote Sensing:
1. Chiba University (1st Preference)
2. Tokyo University (2nd Preference)
3. Ibaraki University (3rd Preference)
I am little confuse about my chances of success for MEXT 2016 because I read many confusing comments on different blogs. Kindly guide me about my chances according to your past experience.
Many Thanks in Advance.
Kind Regards
Hi Mirza,
Congratulations on passing the primary screening and receiving 3 LOAs.
If you’ve gotten this far, then as far as I know, you’re almost certain to get the scholarship!
I hope the rest of the process goes smoothly for you and that you hear good news soon,
-Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Thank you for all the information that you have put together. I have a question regarding the scholarship process and the research student status. I was recently informed that I have passed MEXT’s second screening. One of the univ. from which I received a LOA contacted me to let me know that I have been scheduled for April 2016 language training and October 2016 research study, they asked me if I had any comments and I mentioned that I wanted some info regarding the entrance exam and open lectures in the department. They were surprised to hear that I wanted to attend a degree course because they were told that I wasn’t going to move up to a degree. I was even more surprised because I have written in my study plan that having a degree is one of my future objectives. I addressed my situation to the embassy and they assured me that I have all the opportunities to undergo the entrance exam. Meanwhile the university is saying to me to contact the embassy if I wish to move up to a degree program. I replied to the university saying that I look forward to completing the research study as they planned and to disregard my previous inquiries that were far to advanced at the time being. Can you please help me? I am in a very complex situation. Have I made a mistake? Many thanks, Doina
Dear Doina,
Congratulations on earning the scholarship!
For the research student / degree student question, on the “Placement Preference Form” question 7i, you probably filled in the program level that you wanted to start in and in 7iii you filled in your final goal, right? For your initial placement, the university is probably only going to consider the first program. So, if you entered that you want to start as a Research Student and your eventual goal is to complete a doctoral course, the university has only accepted you as a research student for now.
You will have the opportunity to apply to enter the degree program and to apply to extend your scholarship to cover that degree later – at the same university or even at another one, in some cases – but none of that is guaranteed for now.
The university was probably trying to tell you that if you want to start directly as a degree-seeking student, you would need to contact the embassy and make a change. But if you’re content to start as a research student and move up later, then you’re on the right track already. You haven’t made any mistake 🙂
Good luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Do you have a facebook account .. I have questions to ask plz 🙁
Hi Travis,
I have received some application forms for applying for spring semester from a private university which sent me LoA. They said that I have to submit these forms by late November to apply for spring semester. It is confused because I haven’t got the final result from MEXT and I don’t know if I will be assigned to this university or not. In fact, this university is not my priority and I don’t really like it.
Is it a normal situation? Because I find no information like this from other university. What will happend if I am assigned to other university by MEXT after submitting application forms to this private university? It’s awkward because staffs in this private university don’t know that this university is not my priority. What should I do now?
Thank you in advance
Hi Aki,
That’s not a situation I’ve heard of before, but I’d recommend that you go ahead and fill in the forms. If MEXT ends up assigning you to that university, then you’ll need to have them done if you want to enter into the degree program. If MEXT assigns you to another university, then it’s a little wasted effort, but it won’t hurt you.
Regardless of whether it’s your priority or not, private university staff understand that MEXT has the final decision in where to place you, so they won’t be upset (or even surprised) if you’re assigned somewhere else.
MEXT will contact the university to ask them to accept you before they contact you, so by the time you find out where you’ve been placed the university will already know if you are going there or not. You shouldn’t even have to contact them to let them know that you’ll be going to another university (although you may, if you want to).
Good luck with your placement!
-Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
I have got the result of MEXT scholarship. I was assigned to a public University which I interested in.
It is a little bit awkwardness that the private university have sent me back all documents I submitted and they seem to be unhappy about the result. I feel really regret about it.
Anyway, I won the scholarship. Thank you very much for your useful advices.
Best regards
Aki
Hi Aki,
Congratulations!
Don’t worry about the Private University sending your documents back. Based on my experience, I can tell you that private universities expect that most students won’t get placed there. They know that MEXT favors the National universities.
If the university seemed abrupt or unhappy in their communication with you, it’s probably just because they had to send the same message to several applicants and just created a short, simple template. We used to do that all the time!
Congratulations again and I hope you have a wonderful study experience in Japan!
-Travis from TranSenz
The embassy required us to submit the preference form latest June 30. This Made me pick schools that I couldn’t get an LoA from. However, I got accepted by two other national universities not on my preference form, in which the embassy gladly accepted. I hope this won’t affect me in the second screening. Many thanks.
Hi Olamikunle
MEXT’s explanation of when to turn in the Placement Preference Form is unclear, which is why we see so many problems. Have you tried to contact the Embassy to see if you can change the schools on the list? After all, you are supposed to list on that form whether you have been in contact with the university and gotten an LoA, so some changes would seem to be necessary.
At least, if your embassy does this the same way every year, and students are getting the scholarship, then I would assume there will be no problem. Please let me know how it goes!
Good Luck
-Travis from TranSenz
Hello Olamikunle Ogunleye,
I submitted the Placement Preference Form in my country on September 11th, then the embassy asked us to make our final decision whether we want to change the choices’ orders before September 18th. As they “Embassy” will sent the form to Tokyo and we wont be able to make changes afterwards.
My point is, try to ask the embassy if there is still time to make whatever modifications as per your request.
All the luck 🙂
Hi,
I also got a call from the embassy, to make one of two schools I got accepted into as first choice. Can’t wait to study in Japan.
Best wishes.
Hi! Your post is helpful and made me understand more about the scholarship. Thanks!
I’d received LOA from Waseda and waiting for LOA from a national university. When I updated the Embassy about it, they said I should send in just one LOA to them despite receiving more than one… That makes me worried what if I can’t get in to that one university I chose in the end and MEXT doesn’t know I do have another LOA? What do you think? ^^;
Hi O.neko.san,
Congratulations on getting an LoA from Waseda!
That is curious. Maybe the university only wants one as “proof” that you received it and they will take your word for the other two?
Remember, even if you’re not turning in all of your LoAs, you should still write on your Placement Preference Form that you have received them!
I think at the end of the process, MEXT is not going to look at the LoAs, themselves, they will look at the list of universities on your Placement Preference Form. Even if the one university that you submitted and LoA for decides that they cannot accept you, MEXT still has two other universities that they can contact, so you should be fine.
I’d be curious to learn whether you get in to the one university that you send the LoA for or whether they place you somewhere else. Please let me know how it goes!
Good luck,
-Travis from TranSenz
I had to submit placement form to the Embassy of Japan in my country for primary screening. After I passed my primary screening I applied for LOA to the schools in the forms. It seems like in some other countries it’s different.
I guess I should resubmit the placement form, stating which schools I’d received LOA…although I’m still waiting for one more school’s reply >.<
I'll share with you about the results when I get it ^^
Hi O.neko.san,
Yes, I saw many different patterns when I was handling the applications, too. Some students had already turned in the Placement Preference Form and couldn’t change it. Others would not submit it until later . . . the instructions from MEXT are sadly unclear.
Since they changed the placement preference form and wrote that you can not list schools that have turned you down for an LoA, then I think the Embassy must allow you to change your form, but maybe the Embassy staff didn’t realize the change yet.
Good luck with your last LoA and the placement process!
-Travis from TranSenz
I didn’t manage to get the other LOA (which is a national university), so I will be submitting the only LOA I got..haha..
But I wonder if I should request to change the sequence on my placement form to put Waseda first, since I got the LOA??
Hi O.neko.san,
I’m sorry to hear about that last LoA. Did they turn you down, or just never get back to you?
The Placement Preference Forms says that you can only list universities there where you have received acceptance or have applied but received no reply. So, if the national university turned you down, then you would have to remove it from the list at that point, I think.
In any case, yes, I would recommend listing Waseda first, since that’s where you got the LoA!
I hope the Secondary Screening and placement go well for you!
-Travis from TranSenz
Hello! I passed the secondary screening and got into Waseda 🙂
Congratulations! That’s awesome to hear.
Hello!
Thank you very much for a great article.
I have passed the Primary screening and got Embassy recommendation. In my country, we do not need to submit the Placement Preference Form before the Primary screening, so I had a chance to apply to wherever I want. To be honest, I was in panic that I do not get any LoA. So, as a result I’ve got lots of LoA! There are LoAs from Waseda, Keio, Kyoto, Osaka, Tsukuba and Hiroshima. I am also waiting an answer from Tokyo University.
And I would like to ask what should I add to my Placement preference form? To be honest, I want to study in Tokyo or near Tokyo.
I would write in my ideal Placement Preference:
1. Waseda
2. Keio
3. Tsukuba
But as you wrote it’s better to add some non-Tokyo-based university too. Can you please help me what should I do?
Thank you.
Yukari
Hi Yukari,
Wow, congratulations on that collection of LoAs. Practically a “who’s who” of Japanese universities.
I suggested that you apply to a few universities outside Tokyo, to make sure that you are able get an LoA if the competition at the capital schools was too high.
Clearly, that wasn’t a problem for you. You must have had an outstanding research plan!
At this point, I’d recommend listing only the schools that you really want to attend, even if they are all in Tokyo.
Good luck on your placement!
-Travis from TranSenz
TranSenz,
Thank you very much for your answer!
Now I’m confident to write my ideal Placement Preference form!
Best regards,
Yukari
Hi Yukari,
Glad to hear it. Please let me know how it goes!
-Travis from TranSenz
I got placed in Kyoto University!
First I felt upset that it’s not Tokyo. Kyoto was my 3rd choice university and I felt crashed at first. But now, I am OK. I am excited to study at one of the best universities in Japan. My friends told me that Kyoto even became number 1 in the newest ranking.
And I won’t be there alone. 2 more girls from my country are also in Kyoto.
So excited!! I never expected I would be a given a chance to live and study in Kyoto! I’ve never been there! I hope everything will be OK.
Thank you very much for support!!
Hi Yukari,
That’s great news! Even if it was your third choice, Kyoto is an outstanding university and the city is a great place to live, as well. It’s very foreigner friendly and has a lot to offer for activities and culture, too.
Congratulations!
-Travis from TranSenz
TranSenz,
First of all, thank you very much for all your input and information. It’s very kind of you.
I have a little query:
I have received two LoAs so far. The first is from Osaka University (my 1st choice in the documents), but not from the professor I’ve mentioned in the documents. The administration told me he’s busy and they quickly found another professor willing to take me (same Graduate School, same University of course).
I had to also switch my arrival date from October to April because they told me they would accommodate me only if I did that (I spoke with the Embassy and my documents were revised without a problem). Would that make a bad impression (the another professor present) on MEXT during the second screening?
My second LoA is from Kyoto (3rd choice), but it comes with ‘October’ as a date which might contradict with the other one. I’m thinking whether I should present it all, as not to cause any commotion.
Also, I guess if they see that I’ve got a LoA from my 1st choice, they will choose this one, I hope? To be honest, I much prefer to be situated in Osaka.
I hope the second screening goes well for all this year’s scholarship guys and girls. I’m a bit nervous myself but what I’ve been able to do, I’ve done so far.
Thank you again!
Hi Apple,
Congrats on getting Letters of Acceptance from two of Japan’s top 3 universities! I should think that with those in hand, the secondary screening should be no concern for you.
From what I understand, you wrote the name of one professor on your placement preference form, but the LoA came back with another prof’s name? That kind of thing is not uncommon. Professors have a limited number of advisees they can take on at one time, or they might be scheduled for a sabbatical, etc. It should not reflect badly on you at all. If it’s possible to change your placement preference form so it shows the name of the professor on the LoA, I’d do that, but otherwise, I don’t think it should be a problem at MEXT’s level.
Presenting the Kyoto LoA shouldn’t be a problem easier. If your paperwork says you prefer an April arrival and the 1st choice Osaka LoA says April while Kyoto says October, then it would make a lot more sense for MEXT to place you a your first choice!
Good luck with the Secondary Screening and placement,
-Travis from TranSenz
Thank you so much for your input, Travis. I realize how much effort it should be for you to answer to all of us ‘freshman’ research students!
I can’t change the placement form, but indeed the guys from the organizing institution here told me that there’s not a problem with that change at all. After all, MEXT will talk with the university too so and so.
I hope so too. The good thing is that I’m not Tokyo-focused (and both universities are public), so the schedule there might be a bit lighter compared with Today, Waseda and whatnot. Tomorrow I’ll present the Kyoto letter to the embassy too.
Again, thank you so much for delivering some piece of mind to me and all other people here. I really appreciate that. You’re a wonderful person.
Best regards!
Hi Apple,
It’s my pleasure. It’s been really amazing for me to read about how so many people have been getting LoAs from their first choices and top universities in Japan!
I wish you the best of luck in the placement phase.
-Travis from TranSenz
Hello Sir,
I am presently applying for letter of acceptance at different Japanese universities. I have cleared the primary screening of MEXT for research student’16. My question is can we get two Letter of Acceptance from the same university from two different departments? I applied for MEXT in Aerospace Engineering, can I also mail Mechanical professors working in my research area ,i.e.,fluid? Please give any information on this –urgent.
Waiting for your reply.
Thank You,
Siddhartha Kumar
Hi Siddhartha,
I can’t speak for all universities, but when I processed applications, we definitely frowned on the practice of asking for multiple LoAs from the same university and we refused to do so. The university will assume that you should have researched both departments/professors/research labs thoroughly and decided which one is best for your personal research plans.
When an applicants asked us for multiple LoAs, we would submit his/her application to the first choice graduate school for review, only. If that school refused, then we would submit the application to the second graduate school (with the caveat that the first department rejected it).
It sounds like you’re trying to submit your application to two departments within the same graduate school. That does not sound like it would go over very well at all, so I cannot recommend it. If you do pursue that option, make sure both professors are clear about what you are doing. You do not want them both to show up to the faculty council meeting with your name on their list and learn only then that you’ve double-applied.
Good Luck
-Travis from TranSenz
Thank You Sir.
I have one more question to which I need urgent answer .
Which is better for masters :- Aeronautics at University of Tokyo or Mechanical and Aerospace engineering at Tokyo tech? I want to do job after masters. At University of Tokyo, I’ll have to wait for one year to give masters exam as the department takes it only once while at Tokyo Tech I can take it in 6 months only. I am confused what one to choose.
Regards,
Siddhartha Kumar
Hi Siddhartha,
It all depends on what you which university has a lab/advisor more closely aligned to your specific research topic. I don’t know anything about either of those programs, personally, though perhaps someone else can chime in.
As far as getting a job afterwards goes, that depends on how well you do in your program and the connections you make. (And if you want to work in Japan, studying the language will also be key, of course!)
I hope someone else here can give you some better advice.
-Travis from TranSenz
Hello friends … its really appreciated if someone share with me his experience or could advise me …. I got LoAs from Osaka University and Nagoya Institute of Technology (NITECH),, i am little bit confused which to put as a 1st choice … I am going to enroll as a PhD student (Electrical Engineering) … both prospective advisers seems nice and cooperative … I just want to know the life in both universities as well as the cities … Any info or advice would mean a lot for me 🙂 .
Congratulations on getting two LoAs!
I’ve never been to either, so hopefully someone else on here can comment in more details. But in terms of university rankings, Osaka University is one of the best known universities in Japan (#3 in Japan, after Todai and Kyodai) and #55 in the world, according to QS. Unless the NITECH professor’s research interests and lab focus were a lot closer to your personal research goals, I’d suggest putting Handai (Osaka University) first.
-Travis from TranSenz
Thank you TranzSenz for always replying to my questions even though not related … I really thanking you friend 🙂 … I wish if someone else reads this will share with me about the life in both cities, the campus life, cost of living etc … Whatever info you have even if you thought it seems silly be sure its valuable for me 🙂 … Thank you all .
Thank you for this great, rich with information article …. I have passed the first screening and i got my 3 LoAs which i am thankful … please if you could clear my doubt : i have totally no idea nor i cannot imagine what will the MEXT SECOND SCREENING be about ? (What MEXT meant by: “they will conduct a second screening based on the first one’s result” !) … So please f you can enlighten me with what info you got … your help is well appreciated.
Hi Mjk,
As far as I understand, the Second Screening is just double-checking that the embassy and universities did everything right. Since MEXT are the ones awarding the scholarship, they have to make sure again that you meet all the eligibility requirements, such as GPA, residence, non-military status, etc. Based on the similar Second Screening that occurs in the University-Recommended MEXT application, it should not be a competitive screening like the Primary Screening.
I have never heard of an applicant who had passed the Primary Screening and gotten LoAs not passing the Second Screening. It is technically possible, but I imagine it’s very rare.
If anyone else reading this has heard of an applicant failing the second screening, please let me know and also the reason, if you know it!
Good luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Thank you Travis for clearing this doubt,, Really you are a great help 🙂 … All the best for you and all applicants 🙂
Dear TranSenz,
I have read your article and this very helpful for MEXT Research candidate. However, now the date of asking LoA finished and I got only one LoA now from Kyushu University. I don’t expect I would get 2 more LoAs from other universities which I have sent my application form. So I would like to know exactly that if I submit my only one LoA to the embassy what are the possibility of failing for final decision from MEXT since I can earn only one LoA?
Hi Tola,
Congratulations on passing the primary screening and getting an LoA!
According to the scholarship guidelines, as long as you have at least one LoA, then you can continue on to the next stage of the application, so you won’t fail because you got “only one.”
You can still list other universities in your placement preference form if they have not yet gotten back to you with their decision. In that case, you just need to list in the form “Applied, waiting for decision,” or something similar, under their name.
You cannot list universities that already turned you down.
Good luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis and Tola.
Thankyou Travis for a useful article.
I have asked some applicants in my country who have already got the MEXT scholarship years before. All of them contacted only one professor, wrote the research plan following this professor’s topic and submited only one LoA. They concerned applying for more than one university is something like “betrayal” and it will be problem when you are assigned to the professor whose work is different from your research plan.
I’m hesitating now. Are you sure that applicants need to try to get LoA from more than one university? If I will be assigned to a university which is not my priority, is there any problem with my research plan?
Hi Aki,
Thank you for sharing the experience of previous applicants! I’m sure that is very useful for the rest of the readers here.
I think that if you are able to get in touch with a professor in advance and that professor is both willing to accept you and can guarantee that you will get an LoA from his/her graduate school, then that is an ideal situation. This is not the first time I’ve heard about applicants submitting only one Letter of Acceptance and being successful in getting the scholarship and getting in to the university of their choice. If you can do that, then that is clearly the best situation for you!
However, I wrote this guide primarily for applicants who did not have that kind of connection and did not know how to proceed (which was the vast majority of applicants that I encountered). In that case, when there is no guarantee of an LoA or a particular advisor, I highly recommend applying to multiple universities. In that situation, where there is no personal relationship, then I don’t think it would be a betrayal in any way. Universities understand that final placement is up to MEXT and most applicants, even those that receive LoAs, will end up somewhere else.
Good luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Thanks Travis,
I had contacted a professor in advance and he was willing to accept me. But after I read your article, I was worry because this university is a private one in Tokyo. So I requested for 2 more LoAs from 2 other national universities. I wonder if I have done the right thing? I hope professor and officers in this private university will understand the situation if I am assigned to other university.
Hi Aki,
I wouldn’t worry too much. Most of these universities and professors have been dealing with Embassy MEXT scholarship applications for years and they know how the system works.
In fact, when I processed these applications at a private university, we would only send LoAs by airmail because at that point in the application process, we considered it still very unlikely that the applicant would end up at our university anyway.
I hope you end up in the best possible university for your research goals!
-Travis from TranSenz
Hi,
This has been the most informative blog after all the searching. I have cleared the preliminary screening and I just received the passing certificate from the embassy yesterday that is 21st August. Without which I could not approach any universities and professors. I am so nervous whether I will be able to send my documents o time or not. 31st August is just too soon. In Tokyo University of Foreign Studies we have to contact the professor and the concerned professor only sends the LoA. I have no idea how is it going to be on time. I can only hope for a miracle now. If only the embassy here was not that slow.. Feeling anxious.
Hi Afi,
Thank you for your kind words and congratulations on passing the Primary Screening!
The August 31st deadline is the date by which you have to contact the university- it doesn’t meant that the university/professor has to issue the Letter of Acceptance that fast. (The deadline to receive the letter of acceptance is set by your embassy, and it’s different for each country, as far as I know).
I would recommend contacting each university by email first and explaining your situation- that the Embassy only issued the Passing Certificate of the Primary Screening on August 21st and you know that you need to contact universities to apply no later than August 31st. Ask politely if they will accept your application documents by email. If they say that they need the originals, then ask if they can consider your application if the documents arrive by email before August 31st but the originals are late (promise to post the originals by EMS, DHL, etc., immediately after getting their response).
When I handled applications, we usually accepted them that way, especially if the applicant had a good reason, was polite, and replied immediately to our emails to speed the process along.
Also, even if TUFS is your top choice, I’d recommend approaching a few other schools as well. Especially with the deadline approaching, the more safety backups you have, the better.
Good luck! Please let me know how it goes.
-Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
Thank you so much for your reply. Yeah, you are right. Since the deadline for submission of LoA differs for each country TUFS is flexible with the deadline for the documents submission, I have got time till Sept 8th so I am busy contacting the professors there. For the rest of the 2 universities I have to submit my documents by email. So, I think I am safe with regards to deadlines. I will definitely let you know how it works out in the end. Thanks a lot, you are doing a great job for people like me who are so nervous throughout the procedure.
Warm Regarsd,
Afi
Hi Ali,
That’s great news! I wish you the best of luck in finding the best supervisor possible and getting your LoAs!
I look forward to hearing how it turns out for you.
-Travis from TranSenz
Hey Travis,
I managed to get all the 3 LoAs from 3 different Universities. Now, I am confused about filling the Placement Preference Form. I have received LoA from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Chiba University and Osaka University. I am pretty sure that I want TUFS on number 1 but I have been confused about which one should I put on number 2. The thing is that I have studied in Chiba for 1 year before, they provide good accommodation (kitchen in the room) and it is close to Tokyo. I am not sure if I should go to Osaka. But, Osaka is supposed to be one of the best Universities. If I think about it in the long term there are more job opportunities in Kanto region. I am so confused! What do you think I should do.. I really think I will consider your advice in this, requesting you to reply asap as I just have 2 days to submit this form. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu..
Warm Regards,
Afi
Hi Afi,
Congratulations on receiving three LoAs!
In terms of ordering your choices, I would recommend that you prioritize them based on your prospective advisor at the university and the similarity of his or her research field to your own. Relationships are everything in Japan, so having a strong connection with your advisor is a lot more likely to affect your job opportunities than the city where your university is located. (Japanese graduates shuttle all over the country applying for jobs, anyway, so it’s not really related to geography.)
Both Osaka and Chiba are excellent universities, so you won’t have to worry about quality with either one. If you had a good study experience at Chiba, not just accommodations, then that would seem like a good reason to go back!
Good luck with your placement!
-Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
Thank you so much for your quick response. So, after all the thinking I have come up to a decision. I have had an amazing study program at Chiba University and moreover the research field of my advisor at Chiba University is more relevant to my research so I think I will stick to Chiba as my 2nd priority. Thanks a lot for your help, I was very confused on this. Your help(at the right time) and guidance really means a lot to me, Can I have your personal email ID, if at all I ever need your help again (if you don’t mind). Thank you Travis, for clearing out a big confusion. God bless! 🙂
Warm Regards,
Afrin
Hi Afrin,
I’m glad that you found the advice helpful and that you sorted out your placement preferences!
Please understand that my goal is to help as many people as possible, so I want any questions and answers shared for others’ reference.
For that reason, I do not do personal, private consultations at this time. Leaving a comment on here is the best way to reach me!
I wish you the best of luck in your Secondary Screening and Placement.
-Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
This is to inform you that my candidature has been successful and I will be studying at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies from April 2016. This would not have been possible without your guidance and suggestions. Thank you so much Travis. I am forever grateful to you. May god bless you! 🙂
Hi Afi,
That’s great news! TUFS is very highly regarded and I’ve heard only good things about it. Good luck with your studies!
I’m happy that I was able to help in some small way!
Best,
Travis from TranSenz
Hello,
thank you for your blog, its been hard to find information about what to do after the preliminary screening and you’ve really helped.
i recently managed to get through the primary screening by my embassy. I was asked to get letters of acceptance.
for 2 of the schools I applied to, they had detailed procedures on how to send in my application for a LoA. which I did.
I also contacted the professors at those schools via email to introduce myself and suggest ways I could help with research (i just read from your blog that I shouldn’t contact them?)
I haven’t heard back from any of the professors and I was worried that I wouldn’t get the LoA on time (my embassy gave me a deadline) so I called each graduate school to ask if each professor was in office and that I had been trying to contact them. They told me they would pass on the information. (was this the wrong thing to do? will t hurt my chances?)
but I still haven”t herd from the professors. Should I be worried? Should I keep trying to contact the professors or just wait for the people processing the MEXT applications to get back to me? I don”t want them to think I am pushy but I really need to get a LoA soon.
For my 3rd school, I contacted the professor (again I did not know I shouldn’t do that and he didn’t get back to me) and also contacted the International office. The Office got back to me and seemed positive. they asked who I wanted to supervise me and said they would get back to me with a response.
Hi Charles,
Congratulations on passing the primary screening!
I didn’t mean to say that contacting professors would lower your chances. If you do succeed in contacting them about research and building a relationship, that will help, but I think that approach is better tried well in advance.
My point was that if you send your application only to a professor, you run the risk of the professor never replying so your application goes nowhere. It sounds like that’s what was happening to you, until you got in touch with the administrative office. In my experience, contacting the administrative office was the right thing to do. They are usually the place to go for paperwork! It certainly won’t hurt your chances to contact them.
If you haven’t heard back from the office that you sent your LoA application to, it might not hurt to contact them and double-check, too. Many times, Japanese offices will only reply to you if there’s a problem or a final decision, so “no news is good news,” but if it was me, I’d want to make sure that they got the paperwork in the first place.
Don’t worry if the professors don’t get back to you directly. Most professors I encountered wouldn’t ever bother replying to emails from applicants until after they were accepted. The office that handles the applications is the best place to keep in touch with if you have any questions.
Based on what you wrote, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. You haven’t done anything negative by contacting professors, even if they didn’t reply.
The important thing is that you found the office to send the applications to and contacted them!
I hope you hear good news soon.
-Travis from TranSenz
Hi TranSenz,
Thanks for the invaluable information. I have two inquiries if you would be so nice to help me:
1) What is the difference between a national and public university? The MEXT have preference towards national universities?
2) What happens if you don’t get any letter of provisional acceptance?
Thanks!
Hi Diego,
1) As far as I know, Japan is the only country that distinguishes between “National” and “Public” universities. (I’m sure someone’s going to correct me on that later).
Both are “public” in the sense that they are government-funded, but National universities (generally large, research universities) are funded by the national government and “Public” universities are funded by a prefectural or city government. They are usually a lot smaller with a narrower set of majors.
For example: University of Tokyo is a National University, Tokyo Metropolitan University is a Public University (funded by Tokyo, so it’s one of the biggest Publics).
The MEXT scholarship guidelines say that National Universities are preferred (presumably because MEXT is a national agency and has more control over national universities).
2) If you don’t get a Letter of Acceptance, then you’re out. You do not move on to the next stage of the application. So make sure to keep applying until you get one! Remember you can only submit applications to universities until August 31.
Good luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Thanks for the reply!
Unfortunately, today I had a negative answer from TMU. I don’t have any LoA yet and that is worrying me.
One more question, I have N3, and currently I’m preparing myself for N2 in december, will the language training be enough to enroll at a japanese program? I heard of a case where the language training for a mext student last 1,5 year before starting the master course, this student had 0 japanese.
Thanks for your help!
Hi Diego,
I’m sorry to hear that. But at least they got the answer to you early. If you move fast, you can still try to contact another few universities before the August 31 deadline. Check the links in the article for the directories of universities with English-language programs.
Typically, the language training I saw was only enough to teach you how to survive day-to-day life, talk to your landlord, buy groceries- that kind of thing. Students who already had strong Japanese background (or were going into a Japanese-language program) weren’t sent to the language program.
The 1.5 year case that you mentioned sounds like it wasn’t the language program. You can apply as a “research student” (non-degree student), which is kind of like conditional admission. You can stay in that status for up to 1.5 years. What probably happened was that the university accepted the student as a research student so that he/she could work on getting his/her language ability up to the right level to enroll in the actual degree. I’ve never heard of any other cases like that, so I think it would be pretty rare, but there’s no reason why you can’t ask a university if it would be possible!
I have heard of students getting into Japanese-language programs with N2, so you may have a shot there, too. Good luck with that test!
-Travis from TranSenz
Thanks like always TranSenz.
One more question, since the beginning the embassy told me to apply to no more than 3 universities, due that the TMU rejected me, if I apply to two more universities now, It wouldn’t that be a problem for me with the MEXT?
Hi Deigo,
I double-checked the MEXT-issued guidelines in English and Japanese and there is no place in there that says that you’re only allowed to apply to three universities. You can only list three universities in your Placement Preference Form and those should all be universities where you have been accepted or are still awaiting an answer. The way I read it, that means that you can keep applying until you get three letters of acceptance.
It was different in past years, when the placement preference form was different, but it seems to be more free now.
If your embassy has established a separate set of rules on their own, for instance limiting you to only apply to three universities that you name in advance, then you should double-check with them, too.
Good luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Hello Transenz!
Finally got my LoA! I’m very happy about that!
One question, the advisor was asigned by the graduated school, so I want to know, based in your experience, is normal to write a gratitude mail to the advisor who accepted you?
Thanks like always!
Diego.
Dear Diego,
Congratulations on the LoA!
I certainly don’t think it would hurt to write a thank you note, especially if the university gave you his contact information (if not, then you can send the message to the grad school’s admin office). I’d recommend looking up the professor’s research background first, and mentioning briefly how you’re looking forward to working with him/her.
Even when we sent a student an LoA, we still considered it to be unlikely that the student would end up at our university, so some professors weren’t willing to start communicating with the student until after the placement was finalized. Others will want to start exchanging messages about your research plans early on.
If your professor is the latter type, great! If not, don’t be too disappointed if the professor doesn’t seem eager to talk yet- it’s nothing against you or your scholarship chances.
Good luck in the next step and the placement process!
-Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
Sorry for the late answer! Thanks for the advice! I did as you recommended.
Sorry to bother you again, I have one more question, I just want to know your opinion or if you know something about it. I read something about Monbusho ordered to close all social sciences programs at public universities. Could this affect to the monbusho scholarship recipients?
Best regards!
Hi Diego,
I could (and eventually will) write a very long post on my opinions on that particular order from Monbukagakusho (summary: really bad idea), but the short version is that, no, it should not affect you. Monbukagakusho has been back-tracking on the order since the general outcry. The order, as I understand it, only covers Law (which few foreign students study), Economics, and Teacher Training programs that do not require acquiring a teacher’s license as a graduation requirement (also not relevant to international students).
Of these, only Economics would be a concern to most international students, and very few universities have agreed to eliminate the program. Even the universities that have agreed, will not start to do so for at least another year, as we’re already into the recruiting and testing period for university admissions, so you will be safe for 2016 admissions, at least! When they do eliminate the programs, they will not cut them with students still enrolled. Rather, they will stop recruiting students and cut the program only after everyone has graduated.
I hope that helps!
-Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis!
Thanks for the answer! You have been very helpful!
So now the only thing I can do is wait until second screening results. I got 2 LoA’s so i suppose that my chances are good.
Wish me luck!
Thanks for everything.
Diego.
Good luck!
Please let me know how the screening and placement goes.
-Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis!
I got the scholarship! I was placed at a national university. Thanks for all your help.
I have one more question, my supervisor was assigned by the university, so I didn’t made any contact with him before the confirmation. Once I was placed, I tried to contact him through the graduate school administrative office (the professor contact mail wasn’t available at the web page), I sent him a mail (in english), and he hasn’t replied yet. That was like a month ago.
Is this normal? I understand how important is the relationship with your supervisor, so this situation is kind of worrying me.
Like always, thanks for your time and attention.
Diego.
Hi Diego,
Congratulations on getting the scholarship! I’m thrilled for you.
About your supervisor, I have found that there is no “normal” for professors and email. Some respond right away, others never do. It’s nothing particular about you- he might just hate email in general.
For a lot of Japanese universities, this is the end of the semester season, so your professor might be involved in final exams, grading, or course planning for next year, too. It’s possible your email just got lost in the shuffle.
I’d recommend sending a non-confrontational follow-up email since so much time has passed. But don’t worry about it. I know plenty of students who never contacted their supervisor before arrival. You’ll have plenty of time to build that relationship in person after you reach Japan!
Congratulations again!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis!
Thanks for your reply! It’s a relief to read that. I wish not to be inconvenient sending another mail, as you said, he must have a reason. So I will wait until my arrival to Japan to forge a good relationship with my supervisor.
Thanks again for your advices and for writing this blog. I am recommending to any prospective mext scholarship recipient in my country to read your blog as it is the most useful blog in the internet.
Best regards.
Diego.
Hi Deigo,
Thank you very much for your kind words. I hope this post continues to be a helpful resource for applicants in the future!
I wish you the best of luck with your studies in Japan!
-Travis from TranSenz
As you mention above , is that the same for all category of scholarship that they don’t need other documents ( like achievement …) beside the requirement documents ?
Sorry Reachsak, I’m not familiar with the other categories or how applications are reviewed at the embassy level or at MEXT, so I can’t say for certain.
You could try asking your embassy point of contact for more details.
Good luck
-Travis from TranSenz
Have you know how many candidate will be accepted in CoT every year ?
Hello again!
The number of scholarship (in any category) changes year-to-year, based on the budget. My understanding is based mostly on the University-Recommended scholarship (which is a whole different category), but as far as I know, the number of scholarships is known in advance and each Embassy or University should know how many awards it will have before it starts the application process. (They won’t ever tell you, though.)
If you have passed all the application rounds and there is no problem with your Grade 12 certificate or grades, then I think there’s a very good chance you will get the scholarship. Please let me know if you get it!
-Travis from TranSenz
I have one question related to the examination.
I’ve apply for Education for Collegr of technology earlier this Mays. I’ve taken the exam and I Passed to in the interview round. And I also passed the interview round, ( 56 candidates in CoT alone pass the interview round and get recommend to MEXT)
now I am preparing the requirement document for them .
As being a grade 12 student , the local embassy of Csmbodia tell me to summit my Grade 12 certificate later in September which mean all my required docs will not be at the MEXT by 31 August.
Does this effect the chance of gaining the scholarship ?
In my examination ( the fist round ) , I expected myself to get 65% on Maths 95 on physics and 90 on English.Japanese test is optional , I didn’t take it .
If possible I want to know how the Embassy or MEXT classify the student through their score , by overall score or individual subject ?
And does the overall score include English score too ?
Thanks for your answer
Hi Reachsak,
I should have been more clear in the title of this article. I meant this for applicants for Embassy Recommended Research Student (i.e. Graduate Student) scholars.
The application process for College of Technology scholarships is different, so this article probably isn’t useful for you. You don’t need to contact universities at all. As long as you’re following the deadlines that your Embassy gives you, then you should be OK! (Deadlines in this article do not apply to you.)
Unfortunately, I only know how universities look at applications. I never worked for an embassy or for MEXT, so I can’t say what their practice is.
Sorry I can’t help more, but I wish you good luck.
-Travis from TranSenz
Thank you very much TranSenz,
I have submitted my documents to the university which is my priority but after I read your article, I realized that this university doesn’t provide English course. What should I do now? Should I contact with other university in the Placement preference form? My research plan was not really good and I am afraid that they will reject my request.
Hi Mai,
You should absolutely contact all the universities in your Placement preference form right away- you don’t need to wait for a reply from each one. Unless you’ve already had to submit your Placement preference form to your embassy (and can’t change it anymore), you could contact other universities, as well.
Even if you’re concerned that your Research Plan wasn’t the best, don’t give up. If you’re able to apply to more universities, consider applying to a few private ones- they are generally eager to bring in more MEXT scholars to raise their profile. I know, I said to target national universities outside of Tokyo, but the most important thing is to get at least one Letter of Acceptance so that you can keep going with the application, so I would recommend approaching both, if you can.
Good luck,
-Travis from TranSenz
Hi Transenz,
I have contacted this university which is my priority and the professor there also. Luckily, they have an English course for me. They will send me the LoA next week.
And I have few more questions for you.
1. If I have got more than one LoA. Do I need to submit all of them to the Embassy?
2. If I just got one LoA from a private university, what will happen if the tuition in this university is too expensive for MEXT? They will reject my application or they will automatically assignment me to another university in my Placement preference form?
Thank you very much!
Dear Mai,
Congratulations on getting the Letter of Acceptance!
1. Yes, you do. When you submit the Placement Preference Form, you should have three universities listed where you have gained admission (or are in the process of applying), so you also need to submit the LoA for each of those universities if you have it.
Note: It looks like the placement preference form has changed this year. It used to tell you to list 3 universities and circle whether you had gotten admission or not. Now it says that if you list a university where you have not gained Admission, you have to explain the reasons in full. You are also not allowed to list universities that have rejected you.
2. If you have at least one LoA, then your scholarship application will continue, even if it’s a private university. I handled MEXT applications for a relatively expensive private university, and we got a few scholars each year, so price is not necessarily going to disqualify you!
I also saw it happen once where MEXT contacted us and asked us to accept an applicant that we had previously rejected during the LoA phase. But that was back when the form asked applicants to list 3 universities regardless of whether or not that had gained Admission already. In the new version of the form, you can fill in the names of universities that have either granted you an LoA or have not yet made a decision. It’s theoretically possible that you could be placed in one of the latter, even if they decided not to grant you an LoA after you had turned in the Placement Preference Form, but I don’t know for sure. (Anyone who has experience with this, please comment here or contact me!)
Congratulations again and good luck with the rest of your application process!
-Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Following your advice, I have contacted one national university in my Placement preference form. They have replied positively. May be I will receive the LoA from them in mid-Sept (after my first LoA). Now I have one more question.
After sometime researching on this national university, I find it is much better for me than the private university which is priority in the form. So, if I submit 2 LoA from these 2 university, is it possible for MEXT to chose the national university for me instead of the private one, even it is priority? Or should I submit only one LoA from the national university (I think it is more risky because this LoA may come too late, and fewer LoA means fewer chance)?
It’s awkwardness and I really want to hear your advice.
Thank you very much, I am really appriciate your time and look forward to hear from you soon.
Hi Mai,
Are you still able to change your Placement Preference Form at this point? Some embassies (correctly) don’t make you fill it in until you have all your LoAs, others force you to fill it in beforehand. If you can change it, then go ahead and put that national university on top!
MEXT prefers to assign scholars to National Universities, anyway.
As for trying to influence your placement by not submitting an LoA that you received, that falls into the area of trying to game the system, and I’m not comfortable giving advice in that area. I don’t know how it will affect MEXT’s final decision for the scholarship award or for placement. My opinion is that you should always try to submit three LoAs from the three universities on your placement form.
If anyone else reading this comment has experience in submitting fewer than three LoAs or in trying to influence their placement by only submitting their favorite LoA, please feel free to add a comment here and let us know how it went.
I wish you the best of luck in getting into the best university for you!
-Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
I have asked the Embassy and luckily they said that I could change the order of university in Placement Preference Form (although they had forced me to fill it beforehand).
I will put that national university on top and submit all LoA I receive.
Thank you for your advice,
Hi Mai,
I’ve glad to hear that they let you change it. I hope you end up placed in your first-choice university!
-Travis
good. thanx very much. very effective and helpful.
Thank you, Readul Islam. I wish you the best of luck with your application.
Thank you for your excellent guides.
I’ve passed the preliminary screening last month and now, I’m applying for Todai, Kyodai and TMU, respectively. I have already gotten an LoA from Kyodai, while the other two universities in Tokyo asked me to wait for the decision made by graduate school/faculty council in September. Among the three universities, TMU was the only one who asked for University Preference Form. And since I placed it in the third place, I’m getting worry that they will reject me, hence I’m starting to find other universities as ‘back up’.
Anyway, based on your experience, is it possible for not passing the secondary screening even if the applicant has LoA ? I’m still worried about my chance for secondary screening.
Thanks.
Hi Ardhi,
First, congratulations on getting the Letter of Acceptance from Kyodai! Thank you for your kind words, as well.
Personally, I never heard of an applicant with at least one LoA not getting the scholarship in the end. I used to get emails from students that we’d sent LoAs to who said “Sorry, MEXT assignment me to another university instead,” but I never heard “I didn’t get the scholarship.” Caveat: we didn’t reach out to contact everyone, so I can’t be 100% certain.
Reading through the application procedures, it looks like the only reason an applicant with an LoA would get rejected would be if they had falsified their application or if they were actually ineligible (and somehow both the embassy and university had missed that – not likely!)
I wouldn’t worry about Todai and TMU telling you to wait until September. When I worked the application side, some applicants thought that being told to wait meant that we were putting them off or “wait-listing” them, but the truth is that was the earliest we could get the faculty council together to make a decision.
I’m not in a position to make any promises but if you’ve passed the Embassy screening and gotten a Letter of Acceptance from the second-highest ranked university in Japan, I think you’re in a pretty good position!
Please do comment again when you get your final results!
Good luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Hi, Travis.
I’ve gotten my second LoA from TMU. Therefore, only Todai’s remaining 🙂
Thanks for your guide.
-ardhi-
Congratulations! Good luck on the last one, as well!
Hi TranSenz,
The result of Todai has been announced today, and they informed me that I’ve been accepted. Now, the LoA is currently being sent to my address.
On the other hand, I also got an LoA from my ‘backup’, Nagoya University, hence I will finally collect 4 LoAs, and should drop one of them. 🙂
Congrats Ardhi!
That’s a very impressive collection of LoAs! I wish you the best of luck in the placement process 🙂
Please let me know how that goes.
-Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
It’s been a long time since our last conversation. I just got email from embassy that I’ve passed the secondary screening with other 34 applicants in my country. We all make it through 🙂
Now we have to wait again until January for university placement. Thank you for your guide. I will inform you again after the final result 😀
Hi Ardhi,
That’s great news! Thank you for sharing it with me! I hope you end up with your first-choice placement!
Good luck,
-Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis!
It’s been a long time. I’ve finally got into my first choice, University of Tokyo and I’m currently preparing for my departure on April 1st.
Thank you very much for all your guide. I hope we could meet sometime in Tokyo soon.
Arigatou gozaimashita !!
Hi Ardhi,
Congratulations! That is excellent news!
I’m a little far from Tokyo, but perhaps I’ll have a reason to visit soon.
I wish you the best of luck in your studies.
-Travis from TranSenz
Hi TranSenz,
these are really helpful. I have a couple question to ask. How about the university priority on the placement preference form? is it affected that much? because you know, its kinda awkward when the university see the form and they know that they are not in priority.
Hi Bhaskara,
That’s an excellent question. I have heard rumors that some professors may look at your application and grumble that they’re not on the top of the list, but if you have an excellent research proposal (Field of Study and Study Program), they’re generally not going to turn you away because they weren’t number 1. Universities know that with Embassy MEXT scholarship applications, MEXT chooses the final school so, frankly, your priority list is not as important as Monbukagakusho’s final decision.
Remember too, you’re not just prioritizing universities, you’re prioritizing the specific professor that you want to work with at that university. If your three universities are all major schools, then the chances are good that the professors know one another or at least know each other’s work. Hopefully, they have professional respect for their colleagues in the field. If you’ve done your research on your prospective advisors and prioritized them by research similarity, nobody should hold that against you.
That said, I would recommend that you don’t list universities like Tokyo or Kyoto as your third choice! If in doubt, you can prioritize your universities based on their international ranking, when available.
Hi Transenz,
Thank you for your reply. All of my university options are in tokyo and kyoto. All of them are private university. My research is about managing waste material through design and the expected result are range products of fashion accessory like bag, shoes. And i found out that its kinda difficult to find design department in national university that i could work with for my research theme. Any advice about this? Im affraid i failed the secondary screening because private university are expensive and out from mext budget. (and most of them only send the LOAs arround September.)
Hi Bhaskara,
That is a tough one. Fashion design usually isn’t a field of study at most universities, as far as I know. It’s generally covered in “senmon gakko” which are professional schools.
Depending on your angle, you might be able to fit that research into a different field. For example, if you were interested in developing a new kind of material that could used for both clothing and the accessories you mentioned, you could go for materials science. If you were interested in developing policy that would reform the garment industry in your home country on a national level to enforce that sort of reuse and management, than Policy Science could be a fit. Both of those fields are fairly common at national and private universities. Sorry, I don’t know enough about your field to be helpful.
Don’t sweat the Secondary Screening. Just get the Letter of Acceptance (Sept is not too late, for most embassies). I worked at one of the more expensive private universities and we saw more students get Embassy MEXT scholarships for our most expensive graduate school, in the science and engineering fields, than anywhere else. As long as you get at least one LoA, you’re still in the running!
-Travis from TranSenz
Hi TranSenz
Thank you for your reply. Its kinda frustating that my first choice rejected me while there are still no LOA in my hand. And all of the professor in national-public universities that i have emailed to didnt reply my message at all haha. Now im still waiting the screening result from 3 private universities which will come out on this september.. If the worst case happened, is there any possibilities to get the scholarship?
Hi Bhaskara,
The application guidelines say that applicants who are not accepted by any of the universities listed #1-#3 on their placement preference form will not receive the scholarship. It does not specifically say that you have to get the Letter of Acceptance, though.
It’s curious- the English version of the guidelines says that if you were not able to obtain acceptance “due to poor communications” then MEXT can contact the universities that didn’t get back to you and ask if they will accept you. However, this phrase does not exist in the Japanese guidelines, which are the original, so I don’t know what to make of that.
In any case, you cannot list universities that have turned you down in the Placement Preference Form, but you can list universities that haven’t gotten back to you yet, so there is still a chance, even if it’s not a great one.
Here’s hoping you get an LoA from one of the private universities!
-Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you for your relieving reply 🙂 It turns out that 2 national universities, Chiba and Kyushu are willing to accept me. (Chiba already ask the LoA form, while kyushu still not reply my last mail about the procedure of getting the LoA inquiry). But, they are my last option. My first option are the Bijutsu daigakus: Musabi and Tamabi, and i am still waiting their decision. (both of the are private uni). So, i am wondering, how MEXT will place our University? Since i heard from jref forum that Mext did not contact one of forum member’s 1st and 3rd option. if i am able to get all the LoA, i will place Musabi and Tamabi in ichiban-niban option, while Chiba or Kyushu in the third place. I am curious how they will choose the university, since my priority are private university..
Hi Bhaskara
I don’t know how exactly MEXT chooses which university to contact first. When budget is a concern, then they may favor national universities, but I think they also make an effort to distribute slots around, as well. I’d be curious to find out what the jref poster’s three universities were.
When MEXT contacts universities, typically it will contact only one of the three in your list, at least at first. If that one agrees to accept you, then MEXT will not contact any of the others. If the first university declines to accept you, then MEXT would contact a second or third, as necessary.
I admit that MEXT’s decision-making processes are a bit of a mystery to me. I would appreciate it very much if you could post again here when you have your assignment to let me know where you were placed! I can use that to help improved this article for next time.
Good luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
I’m curious about MEXT placement process. Are they only contacting the university that they gonna place the candidate or all of the university that the candidate submitte on preference list? Ive got an info from my friend in japan, one of the professor in the lab that I applied (3rd choices) was asking about me. But he still not sure whether mext already confirm/ correspondening with the university or not. Frankly, I don’t really like this 3rd option. (That’s why I put it on the last option lol). Have you (or your university) ever experienced about “MEXT contact your university in second screening process but the student ended up enrolls in another university”?
Hi Bhaskara,
In my experience, MEXT only contacted us with the names of the students they wanted to place with us.
I hope you end up in one of your top choices!
-Travis from TranSenz
Regarding the Placement Preference form, there are some countries (like mine) that don’t require it to be filled until after we get the Letters of acceptance (end of September). Regardless, some universities tell you to fill it and send it to them. Don’t you feel like that should be prohibited? My embassy was a bit enraged when I told them I was asked for my placement form, since technically it shouldn’t be a criteria for accepting you to the University. I may change it up for every university I apply, since it is not sealed by the University yet 😛
I was also informally rejected by a professor, who told me to not bother unless he was my first choice… Which I think is a bit unfair, I can’t know for certain if I’ll get in my first choice, so why shouldn’t I be allowed to get into my 2nd-3rd? /rant
Hi Luquier,
I agree it’s not fair to have to show your priority list to the universities, but when I used to process MEXT applications, we required it, too. That form is the only one that shows your “Field of Study in Japan” and “Detailed Field of Study” in a brief summary, so we needed it to figure out which graduate school and department students wanted to apply to. We also needed to know what level students wanted to start at and what their final goal was. Of course, there’s no reason that couldn’t have been included on another form- just bad design!
My old boss used to insist that we were required to collect the from by MEXT, too. If you read the instructions to the letter, they do seem to say that, but I’m pretty sure that’s a mistake. It just doesn’t make sense to make you fill out the priority list before getting Letters of Acceptance.
For what it’s worth, with the professor- you sound like you’re going about this the right way, but remember that not everyone does. Every year, we saw a half dozen or more applicants who just sent a one-line email saying “Here are my application documents, please send me a Letter of Acceptance.” Some of them went as far as to send the email to 20+ universities at once (all in the “To” line, too). After two or three of those kind of emails, people tend to get pretty cynical, so they want to make sure you’re serious before they spend time on you. Don’t take it personally and don’t let them put you off with the first try. Convince them that you’re seriously interested and not just browsing.
Good luck!
-Travis from TranSenz
This is very helpful! Thanks for doing this.
Hi Liz,
It was my pleasure! I hope it helps, but feel free to leave any questions if there is anything I left out 🙂
Thank you very much for the information 🙂
Hi Rin! I hope it helps with your application. Good luck!