You’ve passed through several gates and challenges to get this far – the Letter of Acceptance is the last real test on your way to the MEXT Scholarship
Update: See the New Version for the 2020 Scholarship Application!
This article is based on the application process from 2018 (for the scholarship beginning in 2019). I have updated it based on the Embassy Recommended MEXT Scholarship Application Guidelines for 2020 and you can find that new article here!
Congratulations on Passing the Embassy’s Primary Screening!
If you are reading this article, I assume you have passed the primary screening (or are preparing to pass in the near future). That’s a tremendous step!
Once you have passed the Primary Screening, all you need is one Letter of Acceptance from one university in Japan and you will be practically guaranteed to receive the MEXT Scholarship!
(If you are not yet at that stage, you can find my guides to applying for the Embassy Recommended MEXT Scholarship, the Embassy Interview, and identifying professors and universities in Japan on the MEXT Scholarship Information Page!)
So, what do you need to know about getting that letter of acceptance? Let’s get started.
Choosing Your Universities
By this point, you should already have selected up to three universities and professors that you want to apply to. If not, I have another guide to help you locate universities and professors in your field of study.
If you have already been in contact with the professors for networking, that is to your advantage, but even if you have tried to contact the professors and gotten no response, do not let that hold you back. Many universities will not give you the time of day until after you have passed the Primary Screening.
If you have a list of universities and professors but want to change it from the information you entered on the Placement Preference Form, that should still be possible. You should contact the Japanese embassy or consulate in Japan for more details on their policies.
How Many Universities to Contact
According to the application guidelines, you may contact a maximum of four universities at one time to request a Letter of Acceptance.
Even though there are only three places on the Placement Preference Form that you may have already submitted to the embassy, ultimately, you are only able to write the names of universities that have not refused your request for a Letter of Acceptance on that form, so there is a good chance that you will need to contact more than three universities in order to obtain three letters of acceptance.
If one of the four universities that you have contacted rejects your request for a Letter of Acceptance, you may open contact with another university in its place, as long as it is before the contact deadline of August 24.
Deadlines
After you have passed the primary screening and received your documents back, as well as the Passing Certificate of the Primary Screening from the Japanese Embassy or Consulate, you should contact the universities in Japan that you want to apply to immediately!
The deadline to contact universities to request a Letter of Acceptance for the 2019 scholarship application cycle is August 24, 2018 Japan Time. MEXT has instructed all universities in Japan that they are to refuse any applicant that contacts them on or after August 25. Keep in mind that Japan is ahead of most countries in terms of time zones. Do not wait until the last day!
MEXT has instructed universities to reply to applicants with the final results within approximately one month of receiving the request. In general, the deadline for universities to give you a final answer is September 25, 2018. If you are getting close to that deadline and have not heard back from the university, then it is OK to contact them and politely ask if there will be a delay.
Keep in mind that August is summer vacation week and many universities close completely for a week in the middle of August for the O-Bon holidays. Universities may be slower to respond during this time, so contacting them as early as possible will be to your benefit. As with any other application, the universities will be very busy around the time of the deadline, so the earlier you contact them, the more time they will have to answer your questions in a timely fashion.
Each embassy or consulate will set the deadline for you to submit your Letters of Acceptance and final Placement Preference Form, so please refer to the embassy or consulate where you have applied for their submission deadlines.
Applying for a Letter of Acceptance: Who To Contact
Your embassy or consulate should have a list of staff members responsible for accepting MEXT scholarship applications at various Japanese universities. If you already know which universities you want to contact (see my article on how to identify the best Japanese universities and professors for your field of study, then the embassy staff may be able to help you.
If you cannot get the information from the embassy or consulate, you will need to find it on the universities’ websites. The best way I have found to do this is to search Google for your university name and the words “embassy mext”. For example “University of Tokyo Embassy MEXT.”
I tried this with 7 different universities and in every case, the top result was the page with the instructions on how to apply for a letter of acceptance.
I also tried to go to each university’s website and use the search functions there. That worked too, in all but one case (Keio). Google is still king of searches.
Four of the seven universities said to contact their international office, one said to contact the administrative office of the graduate school, and only two instructed applicants to contact professors directly.
Just for reference, the universities I tried and their results were as follows:
- University of Tokyo: Contact the administrative office of the graduate school where the professor works
- Tohoku University: Contact the professor directly
- Kyoto University: Contact the professor directly
- Osaka University: Contact the professor to get their approval, but apply to the international office
- Waseda University: Contact the international office
- Keio University: Contact the international office for most graduate schools
- Ritsumeikan University: Contact the international office
Applying for a Letter of Acceptance: What to Send
If you found the website with the Letter of Acceptance application procedures for your university, you should have seen a list of required documents there. Follow those guidelines over the instructions below, as they may contain additional requirements that you do not want to miss. The information I have provided below is from the MEXT guidelines, so it is more general.
You will be sending all of your application documents by email attachment to the university.
I recommend that you do not attach them all in your first email. Your application document scans may have a very large file size and many university email accounts in Japan have size limits. If your attachments exceed the limit, your mail will not be delivered. So, you want to contact the university first to let them know to expect your application. A text-only email should not have any problems with size limit filters!
Before sending your documents, you should reach out to the office or professor you have identified, let them know that you plan to apply and that you will send your application documents in a subsequent email. If you got the name and contact information from one of the sources I mentioned above, then there is nothing rude about sending your application documents to that person without waiting for their reply.
I recommend that you scan all of your documents together in a single pdf file. This is easy enough to do if you have a scanner available and you can even scan documents as a pdf from a smartphone using the free Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Scan apps. (Download Adobe Acrobat Reader and it will guide you through setting up the Adobe Scan app). There is no excuse for sending your documents as individual jpeg files for each page. Don’t do it!
In order to request a Letter of Acceptance from a university, you are required to send the university the following documents. These should be the documents that you submitted to the embassy and had returned to you after the primary screening
- Application Form
- Field of Study and Research Program Plan
- Certified grade transcript for each academic year
- Graduation certificate or degree certificate of the last university attended
- Recommendation letter from the president/dean or the advisor of the last university attended or the university currently attending
- Abstracts of theses (only if submitted to the diplomatic mission)
- Certificate of language proficiency (only if submitted to the diplomatic mission)
- Recommendation letter from the present employer (only if submitted to the diplomatic mission)
- Photograph(s) showing applicant’s own works of art or a digitally recorded media of musical performance (only if submitted to the diplomatic mission)
- Copy of a passing Certificate of the First Screening issued by the diplomatic mission
Notice that the Placement Preference Form and Medical Certificate are not on that list! Per the application guidelines, you are not to send those documents to the universities. Furthermore, universities have been instructed that they cannot request those documents from you.
If a university requests that you send either of those documents, politely tell them that your instructions from MEXT were that you are not allowed to submit them to universities. You can send them a link to the application guidelines in Japanese saying so as well. Here is that link:
The university may also ask you to submit additional documentation. As long as it is not the Placement Preference Form or Medical Certificate, then you are required to submit it. That includes submitting language proficiency certificates, other test scores, etc., regardless of whether you had previously submitted them to the embassy or consulate.
Caution: Arrival Date in Japan and Status in the Letter of Acceptance
There are a few things you will want to pay particular attention to in your Letter of Acceptance. The first is your arrival date in Japan. Regardless of what you wrote in your application form for your desired arrival date in Japan, the date specified in your Letter of Acceptance is going to be final. In general, it cannot be changed once you have been placed at that university.
Another thing to check is your status. In your application form, you had the opportunity to fill in whether you wanted to arrive as a research student or a degree-seeking student (in the master’s doctoral, or professional program).
In order for the university to issue you a letter of acceptance as a degree-seeking student, you would have had to have passed their entrance examination prior to them issuing the letter. Unless the university considers a screening of your application documents to be a sufficient entrance exam, the chances are high that you would not have passed it yet. In that case, the university would issue you a letter of an acceptance as a research student.
This can change!
The university will have 2 opportunities later to “upgrade” you to a degree-seeking student before your arrival:
- During the placement phase: After you submit your letters of acceptance and final placement preference form to the Embassy, MEXT will conduct a secondary screening of your application. Essentially, it is just a double-check, not a competitive screening. After that secondary screening, MEXT will contact the universities on your Placement Preference Form one-by-one to ask them to accept you. If you have passed the university’s entrance exam in the meantime, then when the university replies to MEXT to confirm that they will accept you, they can change your category at that time to degree-seeking student.
- Upon arrival in Japan: If the university agrees to accept your placement as a research student, but you then pass their entrance exam prior to arriving in Japan, then the university can send a notice of change of status and change of scholarship payment period to MEXT and you would be able to start as a degree-seeking student immediately on arrival in Japan.
If you do end up arriving in Japan and starting as a research student, there is no problem with that course of action, either. You will have the opportunity to take the entrance exam while in Japan and apply for an extension of your scholarship to cover the full degree program.
Submitting Your Letters of Acceptance and Placement Preference Form to the Embassy
Each embassy or consulate controls its own deadline for when you should submit Letters of Acceptance, so be sure to consult with them. MEXT has given universities the deadline of September 25 to issue Letters of Acceptance, so the embassies’ deadlines should not be earlier than that, but there are always miscommunications between the two. There is no substitute for checking directly on your own!
At this point the Embassy has already selected you as its candidate from the Primary Screening. They are not going to revoke that selection because you “annoy” them with too many questions.
When you submit your Letters of Acceptance, you will also likely have to submit an updated Placement Preference Form. You are not allowed to list universities on your final Placement Preference Form that refused to issue you a Letter of Acceptance. You are, however, allowed to list universities that have not yet replied to you as well as those that have issued you a Letter of Acceptance (even if the hardcopy of that document has not yet arrived). You should also be able to re-order your university preferences at this point, but that is also something you should confirm with the embassy.
Secondary Screening and University Placement
Once you have submitted the Letters of Acceptance and the final Placement Preference Form, the application process is essentially over for you. All you have left to do is wait for your placement assignment, sometime between November to February.
At this point, the competitive screening is over. As long as you have passed the Primary Screening and obtained at least one Letter of Acceptance, your scholarship award is practically guaranteed. I have never heard of an applicant getting rejected after this stage of the application!
It will take a long time to the embassies to confirm that you have passed the Secondary Screening and to announce your university placement, but do not let that bother you. That is just normal, slow bureaucracy, not a reflection on your application.
In some cases, you may end up hearing from the universities even before the embassy gives you the final approval. If you hear from your professor or housing office at one of the universities on your list, you can consider that an unofficial confirmation.
Once you have your final confirmation, you should reach out to the other universities that issued you letters of acceptance to let them know that you were placed in another university and thank them for their support. You never know when you might end up interacting with them after arriving in Japan!
Questions?
Let me know in the comments below!
Special Thanks
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Hello again Travis.
I hope you are doing well.
Today I called the embassy and asked them whether we can name 3 universities in our placement form even though I only have got one LOA. They said that NO it is not allowed and I should only write the name of the university from which I gained an LOA.
This got me highly concerned. At this moment I am very nervous and I tell myself what if MEXT rejects me because of not having an agreement with the University?
Although my professor is highly supportive and the university is among top best national universities (apparently everything EST matters, Not sure) I can’t be sure whether my scholarship is guaranteed or not.
I asked what happens if MEXT doesn’t end up with an agreement with the university, the embassy told me that the jury members may reject you!
Hi Aida,
Thank you for sharing that!
Actually, what your embassy told you does not match with MEXT’s instructions or what has been done in the past, so I found it quite surprising. But ultimately, you to have to follow the directions of the embassy, even if I think they’ve gotten MEXT’s instructions confused 🙂
However, I do not think that you have anything to worry about. You referred to an “agreement” between MEXT and the University, but there is nothing that formal or difficult to arrange. During the placement process, MEXT contacts the universities to ask them to confirm that they will accept you (and they have already given you a letter of acceptance, so there is no reason that they shouldn’t!) and asks them to complete the formal details, including whether they will accept you as a research student or degree student and whether or not you need to attend the Japanese language program.
It’s just a bit of paperwork the university has to fill out, not some negotiation or complex agreement.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Aida and Travis
sorry to interrupt but I was in a similar situation as Aida and when I asked my embassy they pretty much said exactly what Travis is saying here, in fact, they encouraged me to list a third university even though I only had two LOAs and I did.
Sincerely,
Khalid
Hi Khalid,
Thank you for adding your feedback. I’m not sure that it helps Aida since you always have to follow the embassy’s instructions even if they’re not quite right, but it is helpful to confirm that this is an embassy-by-embassy issue and that there could be some different interpretations out there.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi, I just want To know if it’s possible To move To Japan if your advisor says learning japanese is not necessary. He wrote that the arrival date may be April, or September or October.
I mean is it possible to move in April because that’s my willing
Hi SOUBEIGA Abdoul-karim,
The semester you arrive in is something your university and MEXT will determined. In your application form, you have the chance to say which one you prefer. The university will also state when they want you to arrive in the Letter of Acceptance that they issue you. Typically, MEXT will follow what the university says in that letter and when they fill out your final acceptance paperwork during the secondary screening and placement.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi SOUBEIGA Abdoul-karim,
Yes, it’s still possible to come. If your program is taught in English, you would not necessarily need to know Japanese (though it always helps).
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hey Travis,
I’m going to the interview in a couple weeks, but I’ve already got an acceptance from the University of Tokyo. I told my supervisor about my situation and he said it should be okay for me to delay enrollment to next year if I should pass the interview. So I think I’m gauranteed at least one LoA (and placement at the University). If I don’t pass, I will just attend the University on my own and look for other scholarships/funds/jobs/etc.
My question is, do you think I need to get a 2nd or 3rd LoA? I have another professor that I’ve been talking to, but if it’s not necessary, I plan to let them know that I won’t be applying. What do you think?
Also, should I mention that I already have an acceptance during my interview or should I just keep it at “I’ve been in touch with professors in Japan”?
Thanks for all the info on this site, it’s been helpful!
Hi Space,
In your situation, it is probably safe to rely on only the one LoA. Did you only write the University of Tokyo in your Placement Preference Form?
I think it is fine in your interview to mention that you have already been in touch with a professor at the University of Tokyo and that the professor has agreed to accept you if you pass the primary screening. That should be a mark in your favor. Perhaps you could phrase it as the professor being willing to accept you for next year, if you pass the Primary Screening, or even earlier, if you do not.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis!
First, great blog! Deeply appreciate it.
My question is regarding my research plan. Unfortunately, my desired field of study is quite limited to a few universities. I was wondering if I could go to a university that is not completely tailor-fit with my research, but I mention in my email that I’m willing to take up a research topic of the professor that is related to my proposed one. Would you recommend this (especially if I really like the school)? Or is this a red flag for the adviser that I’m not sticking with my research plan?
Super thanks! You’re great!
Hi Greg,
It depends to some extent on your field of study. For example, in STEM fields, it can be more or less expected that you would take on a research project assigned by the professor, to contribute to ongoing research in the lab. If you are in the social sciences, though, then you do not need to be quite so closely connected to your professor’s field of study in the first place.
In any case, I think it is always fine to say that you are willing to modify your research goals based on consultation with your adviser. That’s what the adviser-advisee relationship is for!
I’m not sure what your basis is for “really liking the school” if it doesn’t offer a program in the field of study that you want to pursue. Since the research should be your primary factor in determining the university, if you like the school for other reasons (location, ranking, name recognition, etc.) that could be a red flag.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi!
1. Am I correct in thinking that for the 1st screening of the embassy, the embassy will not grade your Field of Study and Research Plan based on the schools of your choice? I understand the importance of aligning your Research Plan with your chosen schools. But to get past the 1st screening, the embassy will only judge based on its feasibility, potential, etc? And they will not check whether your Research Plan fits well with your chosen adviser/school?
2. Once you pass the 1st screening: does it happen that the adviser you contacted will take a liking into you, but not specifically your submitted Research Plan (like maybe they want you to work on something else instead)? Or is it usually the case that they immediately look into your Research Plan and judge you largely on its specific content? (In other words, is it likely that you won’t work on your actual submitted Research Plan in Japan? If so, does this happen often?)
Thanks so much for your help! Indebted to you!
Best regards
Hi Marc,
1. Yes, that is correct. The embassy is not going to research whether or not your plan matches the professors’ research at each university. Once you pass the primary screening, you will have to contact universities to ask them for letters of acceptance, so that is when your plan would be compared to the professors’ research then. The embassy may ask if you have researched universities or gotten in touch with professors about your plan, but to the best of my knowledge, they are not going to double-check.
2. If you contact professors only after passing the Primary Screening, then in general, you will be judged almost exclusively on your Field of Study and Research Program Plan and its relevance to that professor’s research. You may not end up working on that exact research plan in the end, after you arrive in Japan, but the professor at least wants to see that your research is close to what they are looking for. I do not know how often it happens that applicants end up working on their exact research plan (perhaps others can comment on their experience), but I would assume that it is field-dependent and that the chances increase dramatically if you are in contact with your professor before submitting your application to the embassy and get his or her feedback in advance!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello, Travis.
I have been contacted by the advisor at Nagoya U, who said I would be joining him April next year. So, I have that unofficial confirmation of where I’m going. A couple of friends who live in Kasugai, near Nagoya were telling how this would be a good time to find housing and buy some house things, since a lot of foreign students the uni has bazaar around this time.
Do you think it would be okay to contact the consulate to get information on my situation? I’d like to get ahead of the whole housing situation, since apparently it gets quite hard to get a place closer to the start of the semester.
Hi Necuno,
Congratulations on your placement! I am actually working on an article right now that covers the kind of situation you described.
If you have unofficial confirmation from the university/your advisor there, you can treat that is being accurate. That means that MEXT has contacted the university to ask them to accept you and they have agreed. Now, there is just going to be a delay in paperwork before you get the official notification.
However, the consulate probably will not confirm anything officially until later, once all of the paperwork for all of the applicants there is complete, so I do not think you will be able to get any information by contacting them.
If you have friends there who can buy things on your behalf to help you get ready, go for it! I think it is still much too early to actually find housing though. Most private housing won’t hold a room open for you for that long. If the university contacts you about housing options, you can follow up through them, though.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi! First of all, thank you very much for making this website,
I’ve applied for the MEXT Scholarship for 2019 through embassy recommendation and passed the first screening. However, due to our country’s education system, I only completed 15 years of education(6 years primary school, 5 years of secondary school and 4 years of college).
Another thing is I listed 3 universities in my placement preference form, but finally I managed to get only one Loa from my first choice and I forgot to update the placement preference form with the embassy. However, i just heard from my first choice university’s student support office that my name was on their final list last week.
I’d like to ask you that my possibility to receive the scholarship, thank you!
Hi Tim,
Once you have passed the primary screening and received at least one letter of acceptance, there is practically zero chance of not getting the scholarship in the end.
Especially now, since you have heard back from the university saying that you were on their list, that means that you have passed the secondary screening as well. The only thing remaining is to determine your placement, and it sounds like that is well underway.
I would say that it is a sure thing that you will receive the scholarship and be placed at your first choice university at this point!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Thank you for your reply. I felt way more relieved right now.
I just wanted to thank you again for making this site and helping so many applicants. I hope things are going well for you.
Sincerely,
Tim
Hi Travis,
Thank you so much for these guides! I was able to secure two Letters of Acceptances and submit them with the final Placement Preference form to my local Consulate-General! However, I noticed that one of my choices (Nagoya University) has posted information about their application process onto their website.
My question is a little late, but I’m under the impression that all I can do now is wait. Since I’m applying through the Embassy Recommended MEXT scholarship, do I ignore the “normal” application process?
Thank you again! Your help is very appreciated!
Hi Benjamin,
Yes, you would typically not need to pay any attention to the normal application process, or even the application process for the University Recommended MEXT Scholarship, so ignoring that should not be a problem.
At this point, you have not officially been selected for the scholarship or placed at Nagoya. Once both of those things are final, then Nagoya should contact you with more, specific directions.
Are you planning to start as a research student or directly as a degree student? It should have been written on your LoA which one you were selected for. If you are starting as a research student, you do not need to worry about the application procedures at all until after you arrive in Japan.
I hope that helps.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you for clearing that up! I’ll just wait patiently until I hear back with the final results.
My LoA’s both say I’ll be starting as a research student, but the professor at Nagoya was telling me I would take an entrance exam in January. I’m thinking if I pass that, maybe they can change my status to a degree student before I arrive?
Thanks again!
-Ben
Hi Ben,
Yes, if you were to pass the January entrance exam, then you could start immediately as a degree-seeking student, even if all of your paperwork before that point says that you would be a research student.
For the ongoing application process, it might be worth contacting the professor that you have been in contact to ask if this is when you have to apply to take that January exam or if you should wait until later. (My guess would be later – usually there is not such a long gap between the document submission phase and exam phase, but it’s not a bad idea to check.)
You could also check the application guidelines that are online now, those should give the deadline for the application documents and also tell you when the exam would be for that process. If that exam is before January, it should be safe to say that it is a different process from what you will have to go through.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
How are you doing?
I want to know whether MEXT shares the Placement Preference Form with the Universities during/after Secondary Screening? Will the university know which preference number I gave them?
Considering the case as –
1) Uni X – Private
2) Uni Y – National
3) Nil
As per your previous replies to other applicants, there is a chance that MEXT will contact Uni Y because it is National and not Uni X because it is Private. From what I have read on your blog, if MEXT contacts Uni Y first and tells them, I gave them 2nd Rank, will they reject me? (Since this university is ranked highest in almost all rankings) In second round, then they will contact Uni X, but Uni X will think I ranked them 2nd, because MEXT is contacting them late or in second round. So they too will get sad and…
I am fearing for the worst.
Although I can change the preference, I can’t do that because Uni X put condition that I have to give them rank 1 in order to be eligible to receive LOA from them. And later, then issued me one.
Thank you.
Hi X&Y,
No, MEXT should not tell universities what ranking you gave them. MEXT is eager to place you in a university and would not do anything deliberate to jeopardize your chances.
I remember once when MEXT contacted us late in the Placement Round with an “additional” applicant. In that case, it was clear to us that they had contacted another university (or two) first. But at that point MEXT was almost desperate to place the applicant and pushed us to accept him.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
I would like to thank you for the hard work you have done to help us.
I am among the Embassy Recommendation MEXT Scholarship (Research Student)applicants who have passed the first screening
Additionally, I have more than 3 LoA from Japanese National Universities.
Now I am presenting my (three)questions to you as following:
1. I filled the application form like this:
*The first course you plan to take in Japan —> Master’s Course instead of Non-regular (Non-degree) course
**Term you wish to study in Japan —> Up to the completion of Masters Program instead of Up to the completion of Doctoral Program
I need you to give an answer for the following:
A) Is there any means to correct it now?
B) If not, can this affect my chance of getting the scholarship if it is considered as an error in filling the app. form?
C) Also, Does it have a problem if I want to move up to PhD later??
2. Recommendation_Letter:
The last university I attended and my working place is the same, so I submitted only one letter.
Can MEXT understand this??
3. What do you think regarding the chances of getting the complete scholarship?
Thank you very much!
I look forward to hearing from you.
Respectfully,
Hi Danay Tasew,
Thank you for your kind words!
Congratulations on passing the primary screening and getting your Letters of Acceptance.
1.
A) It does not matter what you filled in on your application at this point. The most important thing is what the universities have written in your LoAs. You would be accepted for the program and level that they specified. (Unless they upgrade your status, as I explained above).
B) No, it would not affect your chances. When you filled out that section of the application form, you were expressing a preference. MEXT and the universities are not obliged to follow your preference, but it is not considered an error or deliberate omission in the application if your status changes.
C) Not at all. That question is just for universities’ reference. It would not guarantee your ability to move up to a PhD not does it deny the possibility.
2. At this point, you have already cleared the document screening at the Embassy level, so whatever you submitted must have been good enough! As long as you work for the same faculty where you studied and the letter covers both your academic and employment performance, there should be no problem.
3. Since you have passed the Primary Screening and obtained 3 LoAs, I would say your chances of being selected for the scholarship are about 99.9%. I have never heard of an applicant making it this far in the application process and not getting the scholarship in the end.
You should have nothing to worry about!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
I cannot thank you enough for helping me.
I must apologize for my late reply.
Thank you again! You assured me everything is OK.
Respectfully yours,
Dear Travis,
First, I would to say thank you very much for your candid and honest support and guidance. It is very much appreciated.
Today, I am asking you about the Placement Preference Form.
In the App. Form, it says “5. 1) Field of Study in Japan 2)Detailed field of Study”. In my case, I got LoA from three different but related fields of studies (Information Science, Information Engineering, and Computer Science). Could you please suggest me anything to handle this?
I am terribly sorry if I disturbed you from your busy schedule.
Respectfully yours,
Hi Danay Tasew,
Thank you for your kind words!
For 5) Field of Study in Japan, I recommend putting the name of the Graduate School at your first choice university. As you mentioned, the three fields have quite a bit of overlap. The nae difference is really more administrative than anything.
For 6) Detailed Field of Study, I recommend filling in your specific research question.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Good day and thank you so much for all your informations!
Regarding the Letter of Acceptance, is there any possibility that we could submit LOAs from the same university to the Embassy? Example:-
(1) University A – Faculty X
(2) University B – Faculty Y
(3) University B – Faculty Z
This is because I’ve got 2 offers from University B, and both the professors agreed to take me in as student. They are from different faculties / department though.
Regards,
Donny
Hi Donny,
Yes, it is possible to turn in two LoAs from the same university and list it twice on your placement preference form, if you have letters from different faculties.
There’s no rule against it, if the university issued you the LoAs.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
This is Mike, I asked you a couple questions regarding the LOA from two schools last week, but I couldn’t reply (maybe because the thread got too long?). I figured this would be a more appropriate place to ask about LoA’s too!
Anyways, I was fortunate enough to get a LoA from Tokyo this past week, still waiting on Keio. I have Keio ranked as #1, Tokyo ranked as #2. Professor at Keio told me he’s already submitted the paperwork, but in the worst case scenario that I don’t get a LoA back from Keio because the graduate school committee doesn’t want me, what are the chances that I could still get the scholarship at Tokyo? I was looking at the number of students they take for my specific field (40), it doesn’t sound like that would be a limiting factor, right…? I really don’t have too much insight into the process aside from “I want LoAs from these two schools please!”.
Thanks for all your help so far, I couldn’t have gotten this far + would be freaking out 100x more if you and your blog weren’t here every step of the way.
Mike
Hi Mike,
I don’t think you have anything to worry about, even if you do not get the LoA from Keio.
If Tokyo gave you an LoA, then there is very little chance they would go back on that when MEXT contacts them to formally ask them to accept you. Even if they were tempted to do so, MEXT negotiates to place every applicant who passes the secondary screening, so they might ask Tokyo to think again.
I have never heard of an applicant who passed the primary screening and got at least one LoA who did not eventually get the scholarship and placement in a university.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
After 4 months of scrambling to get this application together, I finally got the last LoA (Keio) I was looking for! Now time to turn those two in and hope for the best.
I just wanted to thank you again for making this site and helping so many people. I hope things are going well for you 🙂
Sincerely,
Mike
Hi Mike,
Congratulations on securing the LoA from Keio! They can be a tough one to crack.
Thank you for your kind words, as well! I am glad I was able to help in some small way.
Good Luck with your placement and studies in Japan!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
I hope you’re doing well. I had 2 questions, if that’s alright
[1] If I applied to start at a university next spring, would I still be able to travel to Japan for vacation in December or January? I feel like I remember reading something saying that, but I can’t remember where I read it from. Everything that I’ve been reading otherwise just emphasizes that i need to get my student visa in the states before I head over (I’ll be in the states during Feb/Mar).
[2] Regarding how they get plane tickets to the applicants in the spring: Do they send the tickets straight to the applicant or do they get it to the applicant through the embassy? I’m only asking because I might be moving before then, so I’d just like to get this cleared up.
Many thanks
Mike
Hi Mike,
I am well, thank you – I hope you are, too!
1) Yes, there is no problem with traveling to Japan on a tourist or Temporary Visitor visa (or visa-free stay) during the application program or after you are accepted. The only rules are that you have to apply for your student visa in your home country, as you said, and that you should not hold a mid-to-long term residence status in Japan in the meantime (i.e. you should not apply for a student visa on your own for any other program).
2) My understanding is that a travel agency affiliated with MEXT will contact you to arrange the tickets. I had assumed that contact would be by email and that you would get e-tickets, but I do not know for sure. (Hopefully another reader can chime in with more info – I will put out a call on my TranSenz facebook page to see if I can find out, too). In any case, I would certainly recommend that you keep the Embassy up to date with your address and moving schedule.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hey Travis,
Thanks a lot for the precious information that you’ve provided us, I would like to ask you a question if possible;
– I have passed the first screening of the embassy and got my 3 LOAs that I will submit soon, there is something that is frustrating me; since I will have my master’s degree in July 2019, I have decided to apply for Master course in Japan because I thought the embassy or the Universities won’t accept me without grades of the final year and graduation certificate. So when I was asking LOAs, I specified that it will be to get accepted as a research student and then master course student (after passing entrance examination of course), so I got 2 LOAs with master course specified on them. However, the professor from the University of my first choice proposed to go for doctoral course instead and he has issued an LOA with doctoral course specified on it (after research student statut again). Taking directly Phd instead of doing again my master is a huge advantage but I am afraid that the MEXT will find it weird that my first LOA is doctoral course but the 2 others are master course, is there a risk that I get rejected? I have contacted the embassy, they said that this won’t be a problem, what do you think? (Also, I will be 23 years old next year and I cannot provide my final year transcripts, abstracts of thesis and certificate until after the results announcement )
I am sorry if it is too long, thanks in advance.
Hi Rachid Ghh,
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of an applicant having that situation before. I do not think it will be a problem – there is nothing in the guidelines to suggest that you could be rejected for having two different levels in your documentation. Ultimately, it is up to the university to determine at which level to accept you, and they will finalize that when MEXT contacts them directly to request your placement after the Secondary Screening.
Is your first choice a national university? If it is, it is highly likely that you would be placed there and that your other universities wouldn’t matter.
At the worst, the Embassy or MEXT might contact you to follow up on the different levels. If you tell them that you applied at the Master’s level, but the university decided to accept you at the Doctoral level instead, that should satisfy them. You have done nothing wrong!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you so much Travis ! You have released me lol
Hi Travis!
It is me again, I think it will never be enough to say just “thank you” for running such an amazing site, I have been reading the comments of many who just as me found your blog and advise incredibly helpfult to prepare their applications and advance into the final stages to obtain the MEXT scholarship, I am so greatful for all your posts and detailed replies on comments.
I am so happy that I got the LoAs from 2 of the 3 Universities I listed in my preference form (from my 1st and 2nd choice, both National Unis) and a 3rd LoA from a back-up University that is just as great only that is Private, my question is, I am now so confused on which of my 2 prefered universities should I put as my first choice, the one I had selected first has a great program, offered in english, with great features, and I was totally convinced that it was where I wanted to go, it is also ranked among the 10 top universities in Japan but then the professor I selected from, let’s call it “B” university, contacted me and we had a conversation over skype in which I totally clicked with him research-wise and academic focus-wise, B university is ranked lower in the THE ranking scale by 7 points below A university, B university also has a great program with good features and is also offered in english so now I don’t know which one should I pick, the other thing is that after reading some more, the focus I want for my research has slightly changed from the one of the professor I choose from A university, but she has already agreed on taking me as her advisee, I guess it is possible to change advisors later on once I enter as a graduate student but I am really confused now. I don’t know if I should choose based on professors, university ranking or even universities’ location, one is in Nagoya and the other one is in Kobe, I have read that for student life, Kobe is slightly better than Nagoya since there are more activities to do and places to visit and is somehow more “foreign-friendly” but I cannot base my impression only on internet comments, I think living in any city in Japan is already a great opportunity and an amazing experience, I also wonder if it will be weird for the Embassy in my country if I suddenly change my priority order even if I got an LoA from my first choice uni but I guess I could explain them my situation. If you could give me even some small advise on this matter I will be forever grateful.
Thank you so much in advance Travis!
Best,
G.
Hi G.,
My suggestion would be to choose based on the professor and your relationship with them, particularly regarding your research interest. I have heard from a number of MEXT scholars in the past that your relationship with your advisor is the single-most important consideration in your success in your graduate program as well as the quality of your experience.
It should not be a problem to change the order with your embassy. If you tell them that interacting with the universities and professors changed your mind, that should be more than acceptable.
Don’t worry about the rankings. University rankings are often very suspect and based on things like how many citations professors have or research funding. The Japanese THE rankings use a different methodology, but it is still based on how well the university serves the needs of Japanese society. I would not let a few points of difference on that scale be your deciding factor in choosing a graduate program. (It is more relevant for undergrad, IMO).
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you so much Travis! You have given me great advise on this, I too believe that it will be best to focus on what I want to do for my research and the professor who can better help me to get that research done.
I wish you all the best!
Hello Travis,
I have applied at few universities and labs for requesting Letter of Acceptance after passing the Primary screening. I can’t approach professors after 24th of August. And I have around two more weeks of time remaining to submit LOAs to the Embassy. I am afraid if I won’t get any LOA before deadline, then what will happen. Also, since I can’t request professors and unis after 24th of August, I am thinking of requesting to few more labs and professors, and then I will be at a stage where I have applied to 3-4 Unis and 5 professors (from other unis) separately, so let’s say around 8-10 places, but not received anything in return. And then if I submit 4 names on the preference form (since they have not rejected me), and later I receive a LOA offer from a place which I haven’t mentioned in Placement preference form, then what?
(I have contacted the department too about not getting any reply from professor after 3 weeks and reminder, but no help at few unis)
Thanks you.
Hi Someone,
I’m a little confused about where you have applied/planned to apply. Typically, you should send one application per university, whether it is directly to a professor or to the office that manages applications for the university. But you mentioned 3-4 universities plus 5 professors from other universities. Does that mean you are considering sending 8-9 applications?
When you say you have received nothing in return, does that include receiving no acknowledgement from the university of having received your application? That would be a problem.
Ultimately, my understanding is that you are allowed to submit your Placement Preference Form with the names of universities that have not issued you a Letter of Acceptance as long as you contacted them before the deadline and they did not reject your application. MEXT will reach out to them after your secondary screening to ask if they will accept you.
If you do that, then you would not be able to follow up with any university not on your list, even if they do send you an LoA too late. MEXT would not place you there.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you so much for your reply. Sorry, I was travelling for few days and hence couldn’t reply you.
Sorry for not making my doubt clear. I meant, I sent request to 5 Universities. In universities, where I need to contact Professors directly, I contacted two/three professors because of one or other reasons. In other, where I had to approach department, I gave them one name or two-three names according to options available. It will be counted as one application only, But universities like TITech and Kyoto wants us to contact and request professors for LOA. So, there was a time, when I contacted three professors from both the universities. So, I counted that as 6 applications which is wrong. Sorry for that.
I need to submit Placement Preference form in a week’s time. I want to know if I can change the names in the form after I submit it. Because I might not hear back from the universities where I applied.
Also, thanks to you and your blog, I got confirmation from one university that they will send me LOA. But, this one is a Private University. MEXT Scholarship clearly states that the preference given by us cannot be met due to budgetary reasons. Can you give me some idea that what are the chances and reasons for this to happen. I have not heard from other two universities. For example, Keio’s and Waseda’s fees are twice of University of Tokyo’s.
I also have read somewhere on your blog that you suggested to one applicant like me that he can give only one name in the preference form. So, if I do that and give only one Private university in the placement preference form, won’t that be a risk?
Thank you.
Hi Someone,
Thank you for the clarification. Your way of counting was not wrong, I just had not anticipated the possibility that you had sent complete LoA applications to multiple professors at the same university, so the misunderstanding was on my end.
Your local Japanese Embassy should not be submitting the final Placement Preference Form to MEXT right away, so you should have the chance to change the order on there later, but that would be up to the individual embassy’s discretion. They all set their own policies and deadlines at this stage of the application. I would recommend that you ask them directly. They should be used to getting that question!
Regarding private universities and preference order, there is a chance that if your first choice university is a private and your second or third choice is a national university, MEXT may contact the national university first to ask them to accept you, skipping over the private. Anecdotally, I have heard that about 2/3 of MEXT winners get placed in national universities, but I do not think it’s a set figure. It all depends on annual budgets.
It is a risk to list only one university in the placement preference form, but now that you have an LoA from there, it is significantly less of a risk. (Doing so before you have an LoA would be a huge risk!) I have never heard of an applicant being turned down for the scholarship in that situation, but there are no guarantees so I would not want to encourage you to do that. I remember in the past recommending to an applicant to consider if they were so intent on the first choice university that they would rather take the chance of no scholarship than the chance of being placed in another university. It is not an easy choice.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
First of all, thanks. Without your help I probably wouldn’t even have been able to get all of the documents ready for the first screening, as I had very little time to get everything done.
Now I need the Letters of Acceptance, but I want to know what are the chances of actually getting them from each university contacted. Most of the professors I’ve emailed never even replied, while the universities just say that they’ll send the results around one month after receiving the request, but that’s already past the August 24th deadline (the first screening results were up by the end of July). So in the case all 4 of the universities reject me, I’m done for because I don’t have any more time to contact other universities. How worried should I be? Is it that unlikely to get rejected that MEXT asks us not to contact more than 4 universities at a time?
Hi Rodrigo,
Typically, most universities in Japan are happy to accept MEXT scholars and the LoA screening is certainly less of a barrier than the Primary Screening at the Embassy was. As long as you have done your research in selecting professors whose fields of study are similar to your own, and those professors are able to supervise you, then you should have nothing to worry about.
In general, the usual reasons I saw applicants get rejected for an LoA were 1) There was no professor able to supervise their research (in other words, they hadn’t done the work to properly choose universities and professors), 2) They weren’t qualified for the program (e.g. programs taught only in Japanese), or occasionally 3) The professor they had chosen was retiring or going on sabbatical so could not supervise them.
Of those three, only #3 is out of your control, but if you have applied to 4 universities, it would be inconceivable for that problem to occur at all 4!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear TranSenz
What will happen if a student send applications to 8 universities due to missing the point of maximum 4 unis at the same time? And what should be done if such a mistake has already been made?
Hi Fiona,
I don’t know if there is any particular penalty – or even any tracking of how many universities you contacted. My suspicion is that it is just a guideline.
In the end, you will only be able to select three of the universities that sent you LoAs to list on your Placement Preference Form. For the others, once you find out your placement, I would recommend that you contact them, thank them for their assistance, and inform them that MEXT has placed you at another university.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Thank you so much for your answer! I was afraid it is a terrible-terrible mistake. I know I should have been more careful, but I have read about applying to more than 3 universities so many times that somehow assumed it is a must to apply to more than 3 and completely overlooked the point about 4. Sure, in the end there will be only 3 of the universities on the Placement Form and I will be more careful in the future.
Thank you!
Best regards,
Fiona
Hi Fiona,
The rule saying that you could only apply to 4 universities was new this year, so if you were reading old advice, including on this website or universities’ websites, you may not have seen that during your preparation.
In the end, you should have nothing to worry about!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Yes, I have been reading your blog since I first decided to apply for the scholarship. And I have read the last year’s instruction as well! Your blog is extremely useful! Thank you so much for helping us!
I hope everything will be fine!
Thank you for your support!
Best regards,
Fiona
Hallo Travis
Its a great pleasure to thank your for guiding through the process of getting through the process of mext scholarships. I have for a specialisation training in obstestrics and gynacology. I never had any reply and i would like to know whether you offer specialisations training programme in field o medicine.if yes how i go about the process of getting through.
Hi Rombe Jackson,
The MEXT scholarship is for pursuing a graduate degree at a Japanese university (in most cases, an academic degree), not for specialized medical training programs.
To undertake any sort of medical training in Japan, you would also need to be fluent in Japanese.
You could consider applying for a degree in life sciences to pursue particular research in that area, but it would not be practical training.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
I’m working towards getting selected for the undergraduate studies in mechanical engineering 2019, In one of your previous articles, I read about an initial grading on a 3 point scale for research students, I was wondering what should be my ideal grades for undergraduate studies. Also can you explain more about the selection process for the undergraduate scholarship?
I really appreciate you taking your time to put up such helpful posts and replies ^^
Hi Allen,
Unfortunately, I haven’t done any specific research on the undergraduate scholarship and its specific requirements or procedures. My focus has been on the graduate scholarship (more scholarship slots, more eligible countries, more people who could benefit from learning about it) up to this point, but I plan to research the undergraduate scholarship once I have completed my book series for the graduate school scholarship. Unfortunately, I don’t think that would be in time to help you, so in the meantime, I would suggest that you might want to find another resource for undergraduate.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
I cannot thank you enough for creating this platform to help aspiring MEXT scholars like me! Because of your helpful advice I have passed the primary screening! 😀 Now I have a few questions I would like to ask for your help.
Two weeks ago I contacted a potential research supervisor from my first university preference but unfortunately have not received any reply (I emailed him July 16 and July 23 to follow up). I clearly mentioned that I have passed the primary screening so I thought this would make it easier to get a reply. He has opened my email so I am not sure why he has not yet replied. In this case, is it ok to ask supervision from another professor from the same graduate school and the same Master’s program (they are colleagues)? In a few days it is already August so I am worried that I may not get an LOA in time.
Also, I have been asked in the interview to confirm if I was planning to come as a non-degree research student then take up Masters then PhD (I said yes). I already have a Master’s degree in Business but plan to take Master’s in Sport Management that is why I wanted to take up Master’s in Japan first because it is a different field. I received a call from the embassy yesterday to confirm this again, if I plan to take up Master’s first then PhD. Now it got me thinking, do you think it lessens my chances of passing the second screening if I plan on taking up both Masters and PhD because of the costs involved? Is it better to tell them that it is ok if I study only up until the Master’s degree?
Thanks for your time and hope to hear from you soon!
Hi Yani,
Regarding contacting the professor, I would suggest that you first check your email spam box, just in case.
Also, please keep in mind that this is final exam season at most Japanese universities, so the professors might be particularly busy giving the exam, grading it, and submitting those grades. So that could be the reason for the delay. Because of that, I would recommend waiting a few more days. Under normal circumstances, not replying for 2 weeks would be a bad sign and a good indication to move on, but given the business of the season and that the professor would have to give a substantial amount of time to reviewing your application, you don’t want to seem too pushy.
If you do end up deciding to contact another professor, I recommend that you contact the original one first, thank them for their review, and mention that since you have received no response, you are under the impression that the professor is not interested, so you will be searching for an alternative supervisor, but that you hope you can work together in the future.
Regarding your degree progress, right now, you are only applying for the Master’s Level scholarship, so your plan to continue on to the PhD or not is not going to be a factor. In the secondary screening. (You would have to apply separately for an extension, later). What they are probably trying to do is establish whether you really want to apply at the Master’s level rather than the PhD.
My understanding, however, is that you are not allowed to start as a non-degree research student at the Master’s level, since you already have a Master’s degree. You could start directly as a Master’s degree student or as a PhD-level research student, but MEXT does not allow you to go backwards in your degree progression. That might have been what the Embassy was really digging into. I would recommend that you try to get permission from the universities to start directly as a degree student on arrival.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Thank you, I really appreciate the quick response. I should confirm with the Embassy then if it is necessary to start directly as a Master’s degree student and not as a non-degree research student. Incidentally, the Master’s program that I wanted to take has just opened its admissions for studies beginning April 2019. I may have to go through the application process to enroll in the Master’s program, although that means paying for the examination fees since I have not yet been awarded the MEXT scholarship.
If in case I do not get accepted to a Master’s program before the second screening, does that mean I may not get the MEXT scholarship?
Hi Yani,
Yes, I think it’s a good idea to contact the embassy.
Regarding the university and acceptance, there are three times when the university can choose whether to accept you as a research student or degree-seeking student. The first is when they write your letter of acceptance. If you have not passed their entrance exam yet by then, they could still write you a Letter of Acceptance as a research student. The next chance is when MEXT formally asks them to accept you, after the secondary screening. Even if your Letter of Acceptance was as a research student, the university could decide then to accept you as a degree-seeking student if you passed the entrance exam in the mean time. Finally, if you pass the entrance exam after then but before you arrive in Japan, then the university could choose to accept you as a degree-seeking student at that point, too. So, you should have opportunities left!
By the way, yes, you would have to pay the entrance exam up front, but it should be refunded to you later after you start your studies there.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Thank you for all the information and encouragement!
I was able to contact the Embassy regarding this, and they said it is not an issue to start as a non-degree / Master’s student and they were just asking to clarify whether I really didn’t want to proceed directly to a PhD. Could the Embassy be wrong/uninformed about this? I mean, is it MEXT’s clearly stated policy that Master’s degree holders cannot begin as a non-degree research student under the MEXT scholarship? So sorry for pushing this topic, I just want to make sure this won’t haunt me later on and miss my chances of securing the scholarship.
My case is also unique… although I completed my Master’s degree, I only have 15.5 years total education as of today because of the education system in my country (6 years elementary + 4 years high school + 4 years undergraduate + 1.5 years Masters). This being the case, I do not even meet the 16-year education requirement for Japanese graduate schools (although there is a way to get around this by going through a longer application process), that is why I also would prefer to begin as a non-degree research student. I hope this makes sense.
Thank you again for your time reviewing and replying to my concerns.
Best regards,
Yani
Hi Yani,
I was certain I had seen in the past that applicants who had completed their Masters were not able to start again as a Master’s level research student, but when I looked through the guidelines again, I could not find that note this year. It is possible that the requirement went away and I simply did not notice the change. When you read these guidelines year after year, new things pop out at you, but it’s harder to notice when old things vanish. . .
I think you should be fine. I am sorry for worrying you.
Yes, your background and reason for starting as a research student makes sense! In general, I recommend starting as a research student, anyway, I was just out-of-date with my understanding of the requirements in your case 🙂
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Thank you, that’s such a relief to hear! 🙂
Hi Travis
Thank you very much for your articles, you encouraged , guided and supported me in each step of MEXT Scholarship and now as result of your support it is time for me to Obtain a LoA.
My desired course Master in Disability Sciences is taught ONLY in Graduate school of Comprehensive Human Sciences in Tsukuba University and i chose 2 professor from the faculty what is you advice? should i apply to another university as well (In rehabilitation sciences)??
My Research Title is “Current Challenges in Education and Employment of Persons with disabilities in Ibaraki and Tokyo prefectures with special focus on challenges of visually impaired, hearing impaired and persons with intellectual disabilities”
Once again Thank you very much dear!!!
Hi Idrees Naeemy,
I am somewhat familiar with that program at Tsukuba – I am on their email list for sharing research results related to supporting disabled students in higher education in Japan. In those emails, they are constantly reminding us that they are the only such program in Japan.
Since your research is focused in that area, I would recommend that you stay focused on only that university. I don’t think you want to risk ending up in a program that does not really fit your research interests or needs.
On the other hand, putting all of your eggs in a single basket – even if you have multiple prospective professors there – is somewhat of a risk, if you don’t have any previous contact with them. As a back-up plan, you may want to consider applying to other universities in peripherally related fields. If you end up getting the LoA from Tsukuba, then you could choose to list only that university on your placement preference form in the end. But in the worst case scenario that you did not receive an LoA from Tsukuba, at least you could move forward with the scholarship application.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you very much dear. I already started networking with some of my friends (Professors in SNE in other university and My trainer from JLDD) and they assured to find a suitable professor for me and obtain LoA. Let’s see. Once again, Thank you very much for you guidance and support dear !!!!
Hi Idrees Naeemy,
Thank you very much for your update! Going through connections is one of the most effective approaches in Japan, so I hope you hear good news soon!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
I owe 99% of my coming so far to you (and 1% to sheer luck). Thank you so much for providing all these valuable information and managing the blog!
I have 2 questions.
1. I only really want to enter my first choice (a private university). Can I be an asshole and only obtain a LOA from my 1st choice (i.e. not even contacting my second and third choices)?
2. My field of study is antique (and so are most of the professors in said field, naturally). Do you happen to know their retirement protocol? Does the lab disappear once the professor leading the lab retires? Would it be rude for me to ask the retiring professor who is taking over their lab? If so, who else can I ask with regards to identifying the associate professor/professor who would be taking over the lab?
Thank you for your help!
Hi Amber,
Thank you for your kind words! I am glad that I have been able to help.
1. Yes, it is possible to obtain only one LoA and list only one university on your placement preference form. However, it is a risky course of action. If for some reason you were not able to get a letter of acceptance from that university, then you would have no back up plan to be able to continue with the scholarship. You might want to consider obtaining a back-up letter of acceptance from another university as well. If you get the LoA from your first choice, then you could choose not to mention the backup or submit that LoA to the embassy.
2. From what I have seen in most years, if a professor is approaching retirement, they would not agree to take on a new advisee, so you shouldn’t have to worry about succession plans. But if you find out that the professor is retiring, then it would not be rude at all to ask about succession – it is essential to your academic success to have that knowledge.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you so much for your reply! I’ve just obtained verbal acceptance from the prof who is my first choice through a skype interview and he said that I should be getting the LoA from the school soon 😀
I’m now wondering if it is possible for MEXT to reject me during the second screening (due to lack of budget) if I only have one LoA (from a private school that costs more than twice that of national schools). Do you know what are the possible reasons for rejection during the second screening? I am sure there are reasons why they disclaim in the passing letter that “not every applicant who has passed the first screening will pass the second screening” in bold.
Hi Amber,
Congratulations! That is great to hear that you have an LoA coming from your first choice!
I have never heard of an applicant who passed the primary screening being rejected in the secondary screening. (But maybe they put that phrase in there because I keep telling people that they won’t get rejected and MEXT wants to make it clear that they still have the power. . .)
The only reasons I know of to get rejected in the secondary screening are: Not receiving any LoAs, having a research topic related to weapons technology, being prohibited from entering Japan due to past immigration offenses, and if MEXT detects deliberately falsified information in your application.
I do not think that any of those should be worries for you!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis!
I really appreciate your articles on the scholarship. I just wanted to know if there is a limit to how many times one can apply for the scholarship. If I don’t make it through the screening process can I still apply next year?
Hi Astha,
There is no limit on the number of times that you can apply, so long as you still meet the age eligibility requirements.
I know of applicants who earned the scholarship on their second or third attempt. If for some reason, if you don’t make it through this time, you can use your experience and the knowledge you’ve gained to improve your application and try again.
(Though I hope that won’t be necessary!)
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Transenz,
First of all I would to appreciate any single article of yours.
I have a question for you though.
Let me put it straight. So, what am I going to do in order to complete my chosen universities list to 3 knowing that, according to Jasso’s list of university courses offered in English, only one university fits my expectations with regards to field of study ?
Should I choose any other university even if it has no English taught programs ?
Hi Adrien Iffono,
Thank you for your kind words!
You should never list a university on your placement preference form if it does not have a program that you are qualified to attend. You don’t want to risk being placed there (though the chances are good that you wouldn’t be able to get an LoA if you didn’t meet the language requirements, so that shouldn’t be a risk).
Ultimately, you do not need to have three universities on the final versions of that list when you submit it along with the Letters of Acceptance later.
However, I have trouble believing that there is only one university in Japan that teaches your field in English. Have you considered that it might be considered part of another field at other universities and listed under a different or broader name? I would recommend that you don’t limit your research to just the JASSO list. There are other resources to help you find universities with English-taught programs, as well.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Just wow Travis ! !!
You’re so smart and so straightforward in your answers.
I’m ever grateful to you. Thanks to God and you I’ve passed my embassy’s primary screening.
Blessings…
Now my chalenge is to find universities with exact programs for my specific field of study (Private Law). In that case should I just choose any university having a graduate school of law regardless of the speciality given that the universities with such program are not many (according to my humble research).?
Kindly,
Hi Adrien Iffono,
Thank you very much for your kind words!
Is your goal to become a practicing lawyer in Japan, or are you more interested in studying law academically? I ask because there are two kinds of law schools you will find at universities in Japan: Professional Law Schools (i.e. law schools that award a JD) and academic Schools of Law (that award a PhD). When you research your schools, you want to make sure that they have the kind of program you are looking for, offered in English.
Personally, I recommend that you go as far as looking at the professors’ specialities at those schools so that you can make sure that there is one who matches your research interest. I have another article about how to find universities and professors in Japan that may help with your search.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis!
Thank you so much for your guidance in all themes related to the MEXT scholarship, I really appreciate your through and detailed explanations, they were so helpful in the preparation of my application and I’m pretty sure they helped me to get so far into the process. The embassy in my country called me last friday to let me know that I passed the first screening, I’m so happy!
I wanted to send my applications to the universities I selected right away but I am a bit confused about how to proceed and specially on what documents to send. You mention above that it is not necessary to send to the universities the placement preference form nor the health certificate, the person at the embassy in my country told me so as well but when I looked up the Universities webpages on the process for embassy mext applicants to a LoA 2 of them mentioned that I need to send the health certificate in order to get a LoA, I don’t know if it is correct for me to send just the documents I submitted to the embassy and if the universities request additional documents then send them those, but I’m worried that if I don’t follow the instructions on their webpages from the beggining they won’t answer me or they will disqualify me to get an LoA, another thing I’m confused about is the person I should contact, the person at the japanese embassy kindly provided me the contacts for each university I selected in my placement preference form but one of the universities I selected states in their webpage that I should contact the professor directly, I was thinking of contacting the professor and copying the contact the person from the embassy provided me. Another thing I’m worried about is if the professor I listed does not appear in their researchers list, I made sure to check that the professor was available when I submitted my documents but apparently they are not available now, should I contact the international assistant office on how to proceed and also the embassy or should I just go ahead and select another professor? I know I have a lot of questions and I understand if you don’t have the time to answer all of them in detail but just a small response would be of great help.
Thank you so much in advance!
Kind regards,
G.
Hi G.,
Thank you for your kind words.
The instructions to not send the Health Certificate and Placement Preference Form are new this year. It sounds like the university might not have noticed that change and may still have the same instructions listed from last year.
I would recommend that you contact them and send only the documents that the Embassy told you to send. Mention in the email that the Embassy told you that as of this year, MEXT has said that applicants are not supposed to send the Placement Preference Form or Health Form, and ask if they still want them. That should be enough to make the University staff look at the guidelines again and realize that they are not following MEXT’s instructions, hopefully.
They should at least have the courtesy to follow up with you if you can show that you have a good reason for not sending those documents!
As for the university that said to contact the professor, I would recommend doing exactly what you said – email the professor and CC the office in the same email (do not send separate emails). In the start of your email, explain why you are contacting both of them. (Website said to contact the professor but the embassy gave you the office’s email as the point of contact, so you are just being thorough).
For the professor who vanished from the list, I would recommend contacting the international office at the university to follow up before you select an alternative. Tell them that you had initially been interested in that professor but can no longer find their info on the website and ask if that was a technical problem or if the professor has left.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you so much for your reply and advice Travis! I’ll do that, thank you again for all your help and for running this amazing site! I wish you all the best!
Hi Tavis, your blog is amazing!
Thanks to your help, I passed the preliminary screening – and now I have to hand in a ton of documents to the Japanese Embassy. They urged me to do everything as fast as possible, but I have a lot of stuff going on right now and I struggle with prioritizing my schedule. They said the deadline to hand in my documents to the embassy is the 17th of August. And the deadline for asking for a letter of acceptance is the 24.08, right?
Do you think that, if I hand in everything by the 29th of July, everything will still be fine? In that case, I could start asking for a LoA at the beginning of August.
Would that still be plenty of time or will I be better off doing everything 1-2 weeks quicker?
In my calculation, two to three weeks until the deadline on 24th of August sound like plenty of time; but the application procedure has so many intricacies, I fear I might be overlooking something?
Hi Shyenne,
Congratulations on passing the preliminary screening! And thank you for your kind words, as well.
I’m not sure what it is that you have to turn in to the Embassy now. In most cases, you would have turned in everything you needed at the beginning of the screening process, but it sounds like your country might have created it’s own process and only ask for the official documents at the end.
I would encourage you to submit them as soon as possible.
As you said, the deadline to contact universities is August 24, but it is better to contact them earlier if you can. If you run into the situation where the first universities you contact are not able to accept your application (for example, if the research isn’t a close enough fit, or if the faculty member you chose is going on sabbatical or something like that), you want to have more time to contact alternate choices.
August is vacation month for universities in Japan, so response times are going to be slower.
If you submit everything to your embassy by July 29, and hopefully get the documents back from them shortly after, you will certainly be in time for the deadlines, but earlier would give you more opportunities for lengthier communication and alternatives.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Thank you so much for your Articles, your blog helped me a lot ! I am still in the first screening stage and the Embassy invited me for an interview this Friday. I tried contacting professors and networking with them a month ago and unfortunately no one replied, I am afraid they will never reply. What happens if I pass the interview, send all the required documents for LOAs and not get at least one? in this case can the Embassy interfere and help or is it dead and I should give up ?
Hi Abir,
For what it’s worth, MEXT has instructed universities not to follow up with applicants about Letter of Acceptance requests until after they have passed the primary screening. Once you pass the Primary Screening and contact the university by the application process for LoAs that they require, you should have no problem getting an LoA!
The Embassy will not intercede on your behalf, but the process will become much smoother after the Primary Screening, so there should be nothing to worry about.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you so much !
Hi Travis!! I’m really happy! Yesterday, I received the call saying I passed the interview and now I have to send my documents to the universities.
I was thinking about applying for this scholarship since many years ago. And after all this time, I finally felt prepared for it, and all your posts were really helpful!!
I’m still assimilating that I’ve got this far, it’s like a dream!
I hope to get through and obtain the LoA’s
Regards!
Ambar from Panama
Hi Ambar,
Congratulations! I’m very happy for you!
Passing the primary screening is the toughest hurdle. The Letters of Acceptance should be easier, and once you’re past that stage, your scholarship award is practically guaranteed!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
You have helped me a lot, and I am really thankful for that.
About LOA, for the universities that we should contact professors directly, can we ask the associate professsor and assistant professor as well or just the professor.
Thanks for all the help
Hi Reza,
Thank you for your kind words!
As for the professor’s rank, it depends on the university and also on the professor’s degree. The professor would have to have at least as high a degree as you are applying for. If a professor/assistant/associate has their own lab or is leading their own research, then that probably isn’t a problem.
Otherwise, really, the only way you can find out is to contact the faculty member and ask directly. If that professor cannot supervise you, you could ask them to suggest someone else who can.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thanks for all the awesome instructions.
The Japanese embassy in our country said that they would announce the document screening results in July. Till now (July 3) we haven’t received anything from them. My question is that should I wait for the primary screening or should I contact universities for the LOAs. Because it is getting late.
Thanks for all the help
Hi Reza,
Unfortunately, you are not allowed to contact universities to apply for a LoA until after you have passed the primary screening and received the Passing Certificate of the Primary Screening. There is nothing a university can do for you at this point.
You have to submit your application to the universities no later than August 24, so you still have time.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Travis What if I am not confident that I did well in one of the subject areas during the qualifying exam but is very confident with my other exam in another subject area. Would the results still be favorable?
Please reply asap I’m panicking
Hi Andrea,
Unfortunately, I don’t know what to say.
I do not have any expertise in the scholarship for undergraduates, so I do not know how big of a factor the individual exams are.
I hope someone else can chime in and offer advice!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you again for your comprehensive guides and your generous replies.
I have an important question that kept me sleepless for days (thats why this question is longer than usual)…
I learned about MEXT Scholarship about two weeks from its application deadline. Therefore, I didn’t get the chance to read all your helpful articles (except articles about application and plan of study which were very valuable).
I chose three universities based on field of study and university location, however I couldn’t confirm what is the language of instruction and I couldn’t figure out that information from the university websites (not available). Based on the website, admission guidelines, professor publications (written in English) I assumed that the language of instruction is also in english.
After being invited to the interview, I wanted to start contacting universities. I started reading all of your previous article about the application process, and I found out about a website and a PDF file that lists all of the Japanese university programs that are conducted in english… to my surprise, the three university (doctoral) programs that I have chosen were not in that list!
My question is this: Can I contact and try to apply to four (maximum number) universities (with English-confirmed language of instruction) that are not listed in my placement form? Or did I just passed the point of no return and I am obliged to commit to my choices in the placement form?
Hi Hamid Alghurabi,
Thank you for your kind words.
You should be able to apply to universities that are not on your original Placement Preference Form and change your list on that form later, once you have secured LoAs. I would recommend that you double-check to be sure, but my understanding of the form and what I have heard from past applicants is that it is changeable after the Primary Screening.
1. You are allowed to apply to up to 4 universities at a time, even though you can only list 3 on the form. That suggests the form can change.
2. In the end, you are not allowed to list universities in the form that have turned down your request for a Letter of Acceptance. That means that the form would have to change if you did not get an LoA from one of the universities on it.
So, no, I do not think you have passed a point of no return!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
First of all, thank you so much for providing so much information on the MEXT application procedure! It has helped me a great deal! You are an amazing person!!
I just passed the passed the primary screening. However, I am a little confused about the research student vs. degree-seeking student thing. There is only one university that really fits my criteria, so I guess I only have one chance to obtain a letter of admission. And I really want to go there to continue my research. My plan is to do a Master’s course and potentially a doctoral course after that.
So, is my best bet to apply as a non-degree seeking research student and then move into a Master’s course (and potentially later doctoral course) after one or two semesters have passed?
Or rather, what exactly will happen if I ask for a letter of admission for a Master’s course? Will I have to take the regular entrance exam? Will one option grant better success chances of getting admitted than the other?
Hi Janell,
Thank you for your kind words!
In general, I recommend applying first as a research student, unless there is some overwhelming reason why you need to finish everything up early.
At the point of getting LoAs, the university cannot give you an LoA as a degree-seeking student unless you pass their entrance exam. In some cases, that might be a simple document screening, but other universities may require a more intense process or require you to come to Japan in person. It’s easier to deal with all of that when you have already started your studies in Japan, in my opinion. Arriving as a research student also gives you the chance to settle in to life in Japan before you go on the clock for you degree program.
Neither option gives you a better chance of getting admitted – both are practically guarantees of admission – so you don’t need to worry about that. If you’re concerned, you can tell the university your preference but make it clear to them that you are willing to do whatever they think best.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you for your in-depth answer! In that case, I will definitely apply as a research student.
Now, I am finding myself in another dilemma. I just found out about another study course at a different university that would be well suited as a second choice for my research. Last year when I started my MEXT application, this course didn’t yet exist.
The problem is that, in my research proposal, I thoroughly discuss the curriculum of my first choice university. Do you think there is any way for me to ask for a Letter of Acceptance at the other university, given that the name of the first university is all over my research proposal?
I was thinking of explaining my situation and attaching an additional research proposal tailored to their curriculum. In that additional research proposal, I would list research of their professors and talk about the specific courses that I would like to attend there.
I feel like I really messed up by including the first university’s curriculum in my research proposal.
Do you have any advice regarding this?
All the best!
Janell
Hi Janell,
In general, I would not recommend including a university or professor by name in your Field of Study and Research Proposal, unless you had no plans to consider anywhere else. But at this point, it is too late to be worried about that. Just focus on what you can do now if you want to apply to the second university, as well.
You can certainly ask the second university. Be up front with them that since their course did not exist or you had not yet discovered it when you started your plan, that you had focused on the other and ask their understanding of the situation. Make sure they know that you are genuinely interested and not just casually applying.
You are required to submit the same Field of Study and Research Program Plan as a screening document. The university may or may not accept your additional proposal as part of their screening. If you have the time to write it, then I would suggest that you give it a shot – you have nothing to lose!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Again, thank you so much for your help!
I have prepared everything and I am about to ask the other University now.
But I am hesitant: if the other university finds out I listed my first choice in my research proposal, is it possible that they might contact a professor from my first choice university? I am afraid to lose both chances. (Similar to the risk of applying to two Profs at the same faculty). Do you think this is something that can actually happen or am I overthinking things because I am seriously stressed out at this point?
Hi Janell,
You do have to send your research proposal as part of the application process for the LoA, so if your first choice university is mentioned in there, the other universities will see it. What you can do to hopefully help with that is to say to the other universities that you had only researched that first choice university when you wrote the research proposal and discovered them later, which is why they were not mentioned. That might help.
Every university knows that you need to apply to multiple universities for LoAs, so if your first choice university hears that you applied to another university, that should not affect your chances there.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you very much for your detailed guide, it helped me a lot in my MEXT application.
I am still in the primary screening stage and have been invited recently by the Japanese embassy to undertake the exams and perform the interview.
My question is when should I apply for the universities listed in my placement form? Should I start the applying now (before the interview)? or should I wait until I pass the primary screening?
Hi Hamid Alghurabi,
Thank you for your kind words. I’m glad I was able to help.
You are not allowed to apply for a letter of acceptance until after you pass the primary screening. I typically recommend getting in touch well before you start your application to try to start networking, but at this point it is too late for now. I would recommend that you wait until passing the primary screening for this year.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
The deadline for submitting documents in our country was June 10, and I haven’t received any email from the embassy till now (June 23). Does it mean that my documents weren’t accepted, or should I wait longer for their response.
Thanks for all your help.
Hi Reza,
Every embassy or consulate has a different timeline. Some release results in days, others can take multiple weeks.
Did the application guidelines on the Embassy’s website say when and how successful candidates would be notified of the results of the document screening? I would recommend you check those guidelines. If they state a notification date and it has already passed – or if they do not state a notification date – then I would recommend that you contact them to follow up.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis, my Lord and Savior,
I hope you are doing well, I just want to say thank you for your help, your blog helps me a lot! I am still in the primary screening, and I have a quite banal question to you. One of my publications was a huge (A0 format) scientific poster- having more charts,photos and graphs than text, so I reprinted in a smaller A3 size (as an attachment of course) because on A4 is unreadable… do you think it will problem if I submit my docs in an A3 format dossier?
Hi Petra,
Thank you for your kind words, but I think you might be overstating things a little!
For your poster, I think it is fine to submit an A3 size paper for that document, only, folded in half, of course. I would also recommend that you include a summary of the poster on A4-sized paper as well. That way, even in the worst case that they don’t want to look at the A3 poster, at least they will understand the research and what you accomplished.
I would not recommend submitting any of your other documents in A3 size, though.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis, I applied for 2019 MEXT scholarship, India. But the form they gave me to fill was another one and not the one
which is specified by default.
And they didn’t tell me to wait to hear about the first screening, they told me to wait for the date and time for the
examination and if I pass they would call me for an interview.
It seemed completely different from the process I read.
Is it something I need to worry about?..
Why did they give a simple form for me to fill?..
Hi Danie,
It’s possible the the Embassy there runs there own pre-screening process using a different form beforehand. Each embassy or consulate has some discretion with the beginning of the process.
Applicants who pass the document screening next have to take part in the exam and then the interview. Only after passing the interview do you pass the Primary Screening as a whole. So, so far, your process sounds like it is more or less normal. You shouldn’t have anything to worry about!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hey travis!
The embassy just sent me an email telling me to come on the 26th to take the qualifying exam. I am quite nervous because I have to take the japanese, math and English exams. Do I have to do well in all subject areas? To be honest I am not really confident in math.
Hi Andrea,
Are you applying for the undergraduate scholarship?
That is not my area of expertise, so I do not know how each of the exam scores are factored in. Obviously, you would want to do as well as possible in each of them, but I assume the value would change based on the field of study you chose.
If you are applying for the graduate scholarship, then the only exams you need to take are the Japanese and English language tests.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hey Travis,
Thank you for another really useful MEXT scholarship article. I wanted to ask if you had any idea how much weight an applicant’s order of preference has on the placement decision, providing they have LOAs from all three.
The reason I ask is that I have a very strong desire to attend either of my top two preferences. I would still be happy to be placed at my third preference, but much less so. All three universities are national and charge the same tuition fees.
Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Jack,
If your first choice is a national university, I can think of no reason that MEXT would not contact them first.
My knowledge is only anecdotal, but I don’t know of any examples of MEXT choosing to contact your second or third university first if your first choice was a national.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz