Applying for Letters of Provisional Acceptance is your final active step in the MEXT Scholarship application process!
Congratulations on Passing the Embassy’s Primary Screening!
If you want to learn more about how to choose the best university and professor for you, as well as how to reach out to professors for a Letter of Provisional Acceptance, I go into much more detail in How to Find Your Best Degree Program and Advisor for the MEXT Scholarship.
In fact, almost all applicants who pass the Primary Screening and get at least one Letter of Provisional Acceptance (LoPA) from a university in Japan receive the MEXT Scholarship. The good news is that the screening to get a LoPA is significantly less competitive than the Embassy’s Primary Screening and as long as you avoid the major causes for rejection that I discuss below, you should have no problems at this stage.
Note: The only time I have heard of applicants being rejected for the scholarship after passing the Primary Screening and getting a LoPA was in the 2019/2020 application cycle, when MEXT had a budget crunch and had to reduce the number of scholarships after the primary screening was already in progress or over in some countries. I do not expect that situation to happen again.
So, what do you need to know about getting that letter of acceptance? Let’s get started.
Note: This Article is About the Application Process in 2022
If you are applying in 2022 for the MEXT Scholarship to begin in 2023, then this article is for you. If you are reading in a future year, be aware that the deadlines below will have changed and there could be other changes to the requirements, too, but the general idea should remain the same!
Three Ways to FAIL to Get a Letter of Provisional Acceptance
Let’s get this out of the way first: There are three avoidable ways to get rejected by a university. Almost every LoPA rejection I have seen was for one of these causes.
- Missing the Deadline: As of the 2022/2023 Embassy Recommended MEXT Scholarship Application Cycle (applying in 2022), the deadline to apply to universities for a LoPA is Friday, August 26, 2022 (Japan time). If you do not submit your application by that time, they won’t even look at it. Be aware of time differences and don’t wait until the last minute. An application that arrives in the Japanese university’s inbox at 00:05 am on August 27 will be rejected, even if it was still August 26 where you are.
You also want to avoid the possibility that your email doesn’t arrive at all because it is too large or the university’s inbox is full. Submit it as early as you can!
- Not Having the Required Language Ability: Every year I hear about applicants who have no Japanese language ability applying to programs that are taught only in Japanese. Of course, universities reject all of them! You need to have the requisite language ability as of the time you apply for the LoPA or you don’t have a chance.
While MEXT offers a 1-semester, intensive Japanese language program on arrival for scholarship recipients, it is not supposed to teach you academic Japanese or give you enough ability to study for your degree in the language. It teaches Japanese for surviving day-to-day life. So do not think that you can apply to a Japanese-taught program and brush up on your language skills later.
This is an easily avoidable problem if you followed my advice in my article about how to find universities and professors in Japan.
- Applying to a University Where No Professor Can Supervise Your Research: This was probably the single-most common reason for rejections at my former university. The rejection letters would say, “Great student, great research plan, but we don’t have anyone doing research in that field that can supervise you.”
This is mostly avoidable if you follow the advice in the article I listed above and my book, How to Find Your Best Degree Program and Advisor for the MEXT Scholarship. The only part that is beyond your control is retirements and personnel changes. However, if you get in contact with the professors in advance, you can also avoid those personnel problems.
If you can avoid those three pitfalls, you should have no problems securing two Letters of Provisional Acceptance. Here is the process you need to follow to make sure you get everything done.
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 stop you from trying again now. Many universities have a policy to not respond to MEXT Scholarship applicants until after they have passed the Primary Screening. It’s nothing personal!
Changing the Universities on your Placement Preference Form
If you have a list of universities and professors but want to change it from the information you entered in the Placement Preference Form before the Primary Screening, that should still be possible. You might want to change the universities on this form if you found a better university/professor after submitting your Placement Preference Form, or if any of the universities on your list rejects your application and you need an alternative.
To check the rules about changing the universities on your list, contact the Japanese embassy or consulate where you applied for more details on their policies. Usually, you will submit the Placement Preference Form again after acquiring the Letters of Provisional Acceptance and when you do, make sure that the universities on that list have offered you a LoPA or, at least, have not rejected your application. Most applicants must change the list in their form.
Deadlines
Applying to Universities for a Letter of Provisional Acceptance
The deadline to contact universities to request a Letter of Provisional Acceptance for the 2022/2023 scholarship application cycle is Friday, August 26, 2022 Japan Time. MEXT has instructed all universities in Japan that they are to refuse any applicant who contacts them on or after August 27. Keep in mind that Japan is ahead of most countries in terms of time zones. Do not wait until the last day! An emailed application sent on the 26th in your time zone that arrives after midnight in Japan will be rejected.
Email Delivery Problems
If you send your application by email, that message is likely to have several large attachments, so your application email might not be delivered. It could also get filtered as spam, be blocked because it is too large, or it could be rejected because the recipient’s email inbox is too full to accept it. If that happens, you might never know that your application didn’t arrive.
When applying by email, I recommend sending two emails: The first one with no attachments that states your intent to apply and informs the university/professor that you will send a follow-up email immediately with the required documents attached, and the second one with the actual application materials attached. That way, even if the attachment email doesn’t get through, the first message should arrive and they will know that you have tried to apply. Even if your email with the attachments does not arrive, they may be flexible and allow you to resend the documents that were blocked.
Recently, I have seen applicants try to send documents with a Google Drive download link to avoid heavy attachments. If you do so, make sure you set the permissions so that anyone with the link can access the files. Do not limit access to specific email addresses. The receiving email address might be a shared address that automatically distributes to other emails, etc., so if you limit the addresses, the person who needs to process your application might not be able to access it.
How Long Does it Take to Get a Letter of Provisional Acceptance?
August 26, 2022 is your deadline to contact the universities. It is not the deadline for universities to issue the Letter of Provisional Acceptance. MEXT specifically says that applicants must not urge universities to issue letters quickly.
MEXT has instructed universities to reply to applicants with the final results within approximately one month of receiving the request. This is not an immediate process and you should not expect instant results. Make sure you apply to the university and give them enough time (at least a month) to process it, make their decision, and issue the letter.
Do not start insistently contacting the university if they don’t send you a letter right away. That will not get you a positive response. However, if a month has passed since you contacted the university and you have not heard from them, or if your deadline to submit the Letter of Provisional Acceptance to your embassy/consulate is approaching, then it is OK to contact them and politely ask about the status.
Keep in mind that it might take a few days before universities can get to your email. Universities will also be extremely busy processing applications around the deadline, so expect delays in replies. It is also common for universities to not acknowledge receipt of your application and not send any reply until they have made their final decision.
Submitting Letters of Provisional Acceptance to Your Embassy/Consulate
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 applied for their submission deadlines.
How Many Universities to Contact
You may contact a maximum of two universities at one time to request a Letter of Provisional Acceptance. This is a change from the past, when you could have three or more Letters of Acceptance, so if you see any articles (including on this site) saying that three or four letters are OK, that information is out of date!
Even though you will probably have three universities in your Placement Preference Form, you can still only contact two at one time. If one of the two universities you contact rejects your application and it is still before the deadline, then you can contact an alternate, but you should never have over two active applications and you should not get more than two Letters of Provisional Acceptance.
Applying for a Letter of Acceptance: How to Apply
MEXT’s instructions say to contact the division of international student affairs at the university where you intend to apply, first. However, I recommend that your first step should be to check the university’s website to see if they have instructions posted for Embassy-Recommended MEXT Scholarship applicants. 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.”
You may find that some universities ask you to contact a faculty member as part of your application. In that case, follow the university’s instructions.
I tried this method for 7 top universities and in almost every case, the top result was the page with the instructions on how to apply for a letter of acceptance.
Despite MEXT’s instructions that applicants should contact the international offices at their target universities, you can see from the list below that the actual practice can vary significantly from university to university.
Just for reference, the universities I tried (June 2022) and their results were:
- University of Tokyo: Contact the administrative office of the graduate school where you want to enroll (not your prospective advisor).
- Tohoku University: Contact the instructor directly. If you cannot find their contact information, then contact the administrative office of their graduate school.
- Kyoto University: Contact the Admissions Assistance Office to apply for permission to contact the professor and, once approved, contact the professor directly.
- Osaka University: Recommended to contact the professor in advance through the International Student Affairs Division to inquire about the possibility of acceptance and consult about the research contents, but you must officially apply by emailing the required documents to the International Student Affairs Division. There are specific instructions for the subject line and contents of the email you need to send.
- Waseda University: Complete their online form and upload the documents directly
- Keio University: Complete their online form and upload the documents directly
*Note: Apparently, their online application includes a question about whether you have contacted your desired advisor for informal acceptance, and if you have not, they will not issue the Letter of Provisional Acceptance.
*This was the only university where I could not find the instructions using the Google method above and had to dig around their website for the information. - Ritsumeikan University: Submit application to the International Center
If the university does not offer specific instructions on their website, 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.
Applying for a Letter of Acceptance: How to Send Your Application
The website with the Letter of Acceptance application procedures for your university should have a list of required documents. Always follow the directions from the university instead of the instructions below or instructions from the embassy. The information I have provided below is from the MEXT guidelines, so it is more general.
You will send all of your application documents by email to the university or upload them directly, depending on the university’s instructions. MEXT also says that you can send the documents by post if you have trouble submitting them electronically, but in that case, make sure that you contact the university first and communicate with them about your submission plan. You will also have to submit your application even earlier in this case, since the mailed documents would need to arrive at the university before the deadline.
As mentioned above, when sending your documents by email, I recommend you do not attach them all to your first message. Your application document scans may have a very large file size and many university email accounts in Japan have size limits or attachment size limits. If your attachments exceed the limit, your mail will not be delivered.
Before sending your documents, reach out to the office or professor you have identified. Let them know you plan to apply and that you will send your application documents in a subsequent email. You do not need to wait for a reply to your first message.
Applying for a Letter of Acceptance: What to Send
I recommend 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 Scan app. NEVER send your documents as individual jpeg files for each page. That makes it very difficult for the university to process your application and will put them in a bad mood before they even begin to review the contents of your file.
At a minimum, you are required to send the university the documents below. These should be the documents that you submitted to the embassy and had returned to you after the primary screening and should be stamped by the embassy. You cannot replace the contents of these forms between submitting them to the embassy and sending them to universities.
- Application Form
- Field of Study and Research Program Plan
- Certified transcript for each academic year
- Graduation certificate or degree certificate from 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
*Universities will sometimes require you to submit proof of language proficiency even if you did not submit it to the embassy during the primary screening.
Note 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. MEXT has instructed Universities 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 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:
https://www.studyinjapan.go.jp/en/_mt/2022/04/2023_Guidelines_Research_J.pdf
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, documents unique to the university, etc., even if you did not submit them to the embassy or consulate.
For a detailed explanation of the required documents, please see my article about How to Apply for the Embassy-Recommended MEXT Scholarship.
Things to Check in Your Letter of Provisional Acceptance
There are a few things you will want to pay particular attention to in your Letter of Provisional Acceptance once you receive it.
Arrival Date
The first is your date of arrival. In the Application Form, you wrote whether you prefer to arrive in the April or September/October semester. When the university issues your Letter of Provisional Acceptance, it will include their decision about when you should arrive. In principle, it is not possible to change that date from what is written in the Letter of Provisional Acceptance, so make sure the date in that letter works for you.
Enrollment Status
The second thing to check is your status. In your application form, you filled 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 Provisional Acceptance as a degree-seeking student, you would have had to have passed their entrance examination prior to them issuing the letter. Some universities will consider a screening of your application documents to be a sufficient entrance exam. But if they do not, the chances are high that you would not have passed their exam 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 Provisional Acceptance and final Placement Preference Form to the Embassy, MEXT will conduct a secondary screening of your application. 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 status 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 could to start as a degree-seeking student immediately on arrival in Japan.
If you end up arriving in Japan and starting as a research student, there is no problem with that course of action, either. In fact, that’s what I recommend in most cases. You will take the entrance exam while in Japan and apply for an extension of your scholarship to cover the full degree program. Starting as a research student will give you an extra semester (or more) to get used to studying in Japan and to take courses and starting your research.
Japanese Language Preparatory Education
The final thing to check is whether the university plans to assign you to the Japanese language program. Usually, they will send you to that program if you are studying in English and need to learn some basic Japanese to survive daily life. If your Japanese is already good enough that you can study for a degree in Japanese, you will most likely not join the Japanese language program.
If you are starting in the Japanese language preparatory education program, you will be a research student (non-degree student) for the duration of that program, even if you applied to start directly with the degree program.
I recommend you make a copy of each of your Letters of Provisional Acceptance prior to submitting them, so that you can refer to the contents later.
Submitting Your Letters of Provisional Acceptance and Placement Preference Form to the Embassy
When to Submit
MEXT requires that you turn in every Letter of Provisional Acceptance that you receive to the Embassy and that you list those universities in your placement preference form. It used to not be mandatory, so you might see comments from past students that they applied for more Letters than they turned in at the end. That is no longer allowed. Submitting fewer letters would constitute lying on your application and could result in your being disqualified if discovered later.
Each embassy or consulate controls its own deadline for when you should submit Letters of Provisional Acceptance, so be sure to check with them. MEXT has asked universities to return letters of acceptance within one month of the application, so the embassies’ deadlines should not be earlier than that, but there are always miscommunications between the two.
*In the past, MEXT required universities to produce Letters of Acceptance within a month. This is no longer a requirement, but your local embassy might think that it is and set their deadline accordingly. If your embassy has given you a deadline, it is not rude to provide that information to the university, provided you are polite when you address them.
Resubmitting the Placement Preference Form
When you submit your Letters of Provisional Acceptance, you will also likely have to submit an updated Placement Preference Form. You may not list universities on your final Placement Preference Form that refused to issue you a Letter of Provisional Acceptance. This also applies if one professor/graduate school at a university has rejected your application. You can not list an alternate professor or graduate school at that university!
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 Provisional Acceptance (even if the hard copy of that document has not yet arrived). You should also be able to re-order your university preferences, but that is also something you should confirm with the embassy.
Since 2020, it is now mandatory to list all universities that have issued you a Letter of Provisional Acceptance. The old tactic of acquiring emergency back-up Letters of Acceptance but only submitting the one letter from your first-choice school is no longer allowed.
Since you can only get two Letters of Provisional Acceptance, but can submit up to three university names on your Placement Preference Form, you can include the names of universities that you didn’t apply to for Letters of Provisional Acceptance. (If every university you applied to rejected your application and you have no letters, you can still fill in the names of three universities, as long as they are not ones that rejected you. Even without a Letter of Provisional Acceptance, MEXT will try to place you at one of them.)
Secondary Screening and University Placement
Once you have submitted the Letters of Provisional 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.
Aside from the 2019-2020 cycle, I have never heard of an applicant getting rejected for the scholarship after passing the Primary Screening and submitting at least one Letter of Provisional Acceptance. However, in 2019, it happened to several people. In that year, MEXT reduced the number of places available to each country during the Primary Screening. Some countries seemed to have gotten the information in time and reduced the number of students who passed that screening, but others did not, so applicants from some countries were eliminated during the Secondary Screening to get down to the required number. In those cases, the applicants heard after MEXT’s Secondary Screening process and before the University Placement Process, so they got their replies much earlier than the successful applicants.
One thing that all rejected applicants I heard from had in common was that they had all left the Japanese Language Proficiency Test blank during the Primary Screening!
2019 was the first, and so far only, time I have heard of this happening. I do not expect it to happen again, but I can no longer be sure. This was also the year that Japan made higher education free to students from low-income households, so I suspect that had a major impact on MEXT’s budget and led to the cuts.
It will take a long time for 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. For the 2022/2023 application cycle, the final results and placement information are expected in January-February 2023.
Unofficial Results
Sometimes, you may end up hearing from the universities even before the embassy gives you the final approval. For example, universities might contact you about attending the Japanese language program around October/November. If they do, that usually means that you have passed the Secondary Screening and MEXT has reached out to that university to ask them to accept you.
You might also hear from your professor or housing office at one university on your list. In any of those cases, you can consider the contact from the university to be an unofficial confirmation that you will win the scholarship and be placed at that university.
However, if you do not get unofficial confirmation, don’t worry! Universities are not supposed to contact you at this stage, so the lack of any messages could just be a sign that they’re doing things right.
Once you have your final confirmation, reach out to the other university that issued you a Letter of Provisional Acceptance to let them know 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!
For more about what to expect from the secondary screening and placement, I have another article entirely about that process.
Questions?
Let me know in the comments below!
Special Thanks
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What does it mean that the prof I have chosen rejected to give me a permission to begin correspondence with him? That is the response from the University of Kyoto. I have passed all the embassy steps. I applied Kyoto University and Ritsumeikan University. I still haven’t heard from them. What if both universities rejected me? Embassy said they would prepare something but what are the further implications?
Hi Steve,
Unfortunately, that response means that the professor will not accept your application/issue you a Letter of Provisional Acceptance.
If there is an alternate professor at Kyoto that you are interested in, you might be able to ask them to connect you with that professor, instead. I’m not sure if they will accept and help you. Technically, the deadline to contact universities has passed, but you could look at it from the perspective that you had contacted the university before the deadline, even if you hadn’t been able to get in touch with a specific professor by then, so maybe they would accept the application in that case?
If they are not willing to accept your application, you still have the Ritsumeikan chance. But if that also falls through, then when you resubmit your Placement Preference Form to the embassy, you will have to list three universities, not including Kyoto or Ritsumeikan. (You cannot include any universities on the list that have refused to give you an LoPA). In that case, you won’t be able to contact the universities/professors in advance to request an LoPA, but if you pass the Secondary Screening by MEXT, MEXT will contact them to ask them to accept you.
Because you won’t have any prior contact with them, you will need to research your target professors as carefully as possible to make sure they are closely related to your research proposal and also that they are not visiting professors, at retirement age, etc.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
My name is Lorenzo and I’m from Italy, your blog was very useful in helping me prepare for my MEXT application, I think I’ve spent the last 4 months or so finding and contacting universities and professors, and preparing my research plan and other documents.
Sadly, I got the email the other day saying I was rejected at the initial screening, without even getting to the written test, which left me quite surprised and dejected to be honest.
I assumed that people who get rejected at the very first screening are those who maybe start preparing their application only weeks before the deadline, or don’t prepare well at all.
I understand this changes from country to country, but would you have any idea what could have went wrong in my case? I thought I had a competitive research plan, added attachment such as time-table and bibliography, and covered all the points you suggest to cover in your blog. And all my other documents were in order. My GPA/academic score isn’t the top but it still was pretty high, at least for masters.
My embassy doesn’t explain anything as to why you get rejected, so even if I wanted to try next year it might just be another waste of time as I’m not sure what to improve, if I even have any chance to being with.
I’ve been looking for scholarships and similar things that could get me to Japan but it seems like MEXT is the best option by far, especially for someone who doesn’t have much research experience or publications or a phd to hope to get some grants from entities such as the Japan Foundation etc., so I’m kinda losing hope.
(I was asking/looking for University reccom. MEXT too but that’s a no-go as well)
I would try again next year but 1 year is not a short period of time, especially when age is not on my side (I would be 32 next year) , and I’d feel even worse if I would get rejected again and waste months again.
By any chance, do you still do private calls to help people with their research plan and similar things?
Best regards,
Lorenzo
*my research field would be in the “Japanese studies/cultural-historical studies”, although I don’t think people from fields like that one are considered “low priority”, but you never know. I’ve talked to some people who managed to win the scholarship a few years ago and were in my same field.
Only difference was that they had N1 and I don’t, also that I finished my masters in 3.5 years instead of 2, although I explained why in my application form (eg i went in erasmus-study abroad experience), but maybe that’s why they rejected me, as my application doesn’t scream 真面目な学生 — given I took more years to graduate, I don’t know though.
Hi Lorenzo,
The lack of an N1 in your research field may indeed have been a factor. Without knowing your research plan in detail, I can’t say for sure, but most research in your field would require use of Japanese language primary sources, so they may have expected a high level of proficiency and even a research proposal written in Japanese/application to a Japanese-taught program. (This could be particularly true if there were other applicants in the same field this year that did have that qualification.)
I can’t say for sure without seeing the application, but that could be a factor, so if you try again, it could be worth your while to try to get an N1 score in the meantime.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi travis, thank you for the reply.
I did write my research plan completely in Japanese and even got it corrected to make sure it didn’t have mistakes (as far as Japanese languages goes), but I guess the lack of any JLPT or N1 could have been a big negative factor. My application form (1) was written in English as I didn’t think it’d have made much difference if it was in English or Japanese.
I’m kinda honestly surprised that there are like 50 or more people that got to the written test that have a better research proposal and a good JLPT level of N2 or N1. I thought that knowing about this website and preparing as much as I did would have given me a substantial advatange or at least made me competitive enough to pass the first or second screening.
I’ll check out the coaching page as well, thanks!
Hi Lorenzo,
Thank you for your follow-up. While nothing is certain, I suspect the lack of a JLPT was a factor in your case (Although I doubt that the application being in English made much of a difference). There wouldn’t have had to be 50 better overall proposals, if there were as many as 3-4 others in a similar field who did have JLPT scores, that could have been enough to eliminate you from the application. I suspect embassies want to keep a balance between different fields, so they would probably have a baseline for the maximum number of selectees in any particular field.
Applicants in other fields–pretty much anything other than Japanese studies–would not have had to submit proof of Japanese language ability, assuming they were applying to programs taught in English, so the bar to entry in those fields would have been lower.
Ultimately, it is a zero-sum game and figuring out why your application was not accepted would require looking at the other applications to see the difference, so all I can do is guess based on past experience.
I do think (hope!) you had an advantage by following the advice on this site, but you also had the disadvantage of applying in one of the few fields with higher expectations, thanks to the JLPT.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Lorenzo,
Thank you for your feedback about the resources on this site. I am sorry to hear that it wasn’t enough, though, and that you didn’t make it through the document screening. I can imagine how you must be feeling now.
As far as I know, Embassies never offer any feedback on why applications get rejected, so your situation is not unusual in that regard. I certainly understand your frustration, though!
As far as private reviews go, I do not offer private live calls (I used to, but scheduling was too difficult to arrange), but I do offer application reviews by email. I have two options: A full application review or a review of just your Field of Study and Research Program Plan. In your case, I think the former would be a better place to start. In that case, I would go through your whole application, make sure that everything meets the requirements, and look for areas that need improvement and offer advice. I do not go into the Field of Study and Research Program Plan in as much detail in that review, but I will let you know what issues I find with it, if any.
(In the FSRPP review, I go through it in far more detail, with section-by-section advice on how to improve).
If you’re interested, you can find more information (and the application form) at the “Coaching Services” link at the top right of the page.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis!
Thank you for writing this amazing blog with such detailed information and advices.
Right now I am still a student in my high school and doing a preview on the scholarship program for more understanding about it. I would like to ask if I need a Letter of Acceptance to apply for this program for undergraduate studies. And will my subject taken in my high school be an obstacle for me to choose a subject in a different genre for my course? (e.g. taking Physics, Chemistry and Biology (natural science subjects) in high school but wants to study economics, business administration (social science subjects) in university) Thank you so much in advance!
Hi Takeshi,
It’s good to start researching early!
No, you do not need a Letter of Acceptance for the application for the undergraduate scholarship. That is only at the graduate level.
I don’t think your high school studies should be an obstacle. Nobody really expects you to get deep into a field in HS, anyway, and may of the other applicants will be coming from “general” high school backgrounds that did not specialize in any particular field.
What matters more is making a case for why you chose your undergraduate fields and how you plan to use that education to contribute to society in the future.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis
Thank you so much for your reply!
Hi Travis,
Your information had been very useful. I have received two Letter of Acceptances during the Primary Screening Round for MEXT 2023 which I have submitted. My Professor told me last month that I had been accepted as a student in her university, though the University haven’t received any official notice yet. I have still not received any update from my Embassy, and I am becoming a little paranoid. Please suggest what I should do.
Hi Uddalak,
Thank you for your kind words.
All you can do now is wait. You have nothing to worry about! Final results were originally supposed to be released in January or February (and MEXT is late more often than it is early!), so we are still well within the expected time frame. I haven’t heard of official results of the Embassy Recommended MEXT Scholarship for graduate students coming out for anyone yet, so everyone else is in the exact same situation.
Well, almost the exact same situation. If anything, it sounds like you have more reason to be confident than most, since your professor said that you had been officially accepted as a student at the university!
For now, it’s just a matter of waiting for bureaucratic processing. MEXT is not going to release the results until they have all of their paperwork processed. But you should hear good news soon.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis, I had a doubt regarding receiving the letter of acceptance from a University that requires you have to have a JLPT cert (I’m assuming at least N2?), like eg. Waseda or Osaka University, and I’m hoping you could help me understand the situation a bit better.
I finished my masters in Japan studies, and I know japanese, and I will be choosing a graduate course that most likely will only be taught in japanese (so they will ask for JLPT cert from what i’ve read), but I never took any JLPT exam up until now and the first one I can do in my country is in December, so it’ll be too late for this year’s application.
Is it possible that I won’t need any JLPT cert. if i tell the university that I studied japanese in both my bachelor’s and master’s degree? Or can I prove to them in some other way that I understand japanese, without getting the JLPT? Or are there universities that won’t ask me for the JLPT maybe?
Thank you very much in advance!
Lucas
Hi Lucas,
Unfortunately, I do not know of any Japanese-taught programs that will accept applicants without JLPT scores, even if you have experience studying the language in the past. (It’s really frustrating with how infrequently the JLPT is offered!)
If you apply via the Embassy-Recommended MEXT Scholarship, you do not need to show proof of language ability to the Embassy and you will actually go through a language proficiency test at the Embassy as part of the Primary Screening, but unfortunately, the universities you apply to for a Letter of Acceptance do not have access to that test – either to your specific scores, or to the test itself, to determine if it is an appropriate measurement of ability.
One thing you could consider would be to apply to a university and degree program that is has both an English-taught and Japanese-taught program as a Research Student, with the intent to move into the degree program. Then, you could take the JLPT while the application process is ongoing, start your studies in Japan as a research student, then apply for admission to the Japanese-taught degree program.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thanks for the fast reply! You’re incredibly helpful!
The problem is that my research field and topic is japanese theatre, and by searching a bunch of universities already I didn’t really see any graduate degree program taught also in english that was related to such a field, only ones in japanese.
Could I possibly apply to an english-taught graduate degree that’s somewhat unrelated to my submitted research plan? Or is my only option at this point to write a research paper that’s related to an english-taught degree program – so that I’ll pass the eventual university screening, even if such research paper won’t be in the same field of my past researches? (eg the ones i did for my master thesis on japanese theatre)
What I was thinking was also that I could travel to another country to take the JLPT test there in July…if taking it in July would work.
Hi Lucas,
I’m just guessing here, but I would assume that any courses taught in English on Japanese theater would probably be in a “Japanese Studies” program, rather than a School of Arts and Humanities/Language and Literature where they might be housed in Japanese.
It might be a bit of a long shot, but if one of the Japanese-language programs that you’re interested in also has an English-taught Japanese Studies or Japanese Culture program and any of the theater-related professors are also affiliated with the Japanese Studies, etc., program, then that could be a relatively “easy” path.
I would not encourage you to change your research topic to something that doesn’t interest you. But if there’s a professor in theater that you really want to work with and you can find an English-taught program at that university where you could propose peripheral research that would allow you to pursue your interest and work with the professor, even if someone else was the official supervisor, that is the best path I can think of at this point.
As for taking the JLPT in July, I do not think that would not be in time for this year’s Embassy-Related MEXT Scholarship. The July test releases scores in September, but the deadline to apply to universities for the Letter of Acceptance (after you pass the Embassy’s Primary Screening) is going to be in August, and I doubt they would wait, unless you had a pre-existing relationship with the professor there and they were willing to delay the decision for you or fight for you.
(It would be in time for the University-Recommended MEXT Scholarship, if you were interested in that route.)
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you Travis, if I could ask you one last thing to clear my doubts about this: do you think it’s possibile for me to win the scholarship even if the research project I make is in a field (in my case japanese theatre/and its history) that’s not directly related to any graduate program the university offers, or has no professor who studies that field specifically?
The reason I was thinking about changing my project was also the fact that right now I’m struggling to find universities with programs related to theatre, or professors who would take me for such a project. (I asked Waseda which has a big theatre department, but they told my research wouldnt match any of their graduate programs…) so I’m a bit at a loss of whether I should proceed with this topic or change research altogether.
Thanks a lot, as usual!
Hi Lucas,
Happy to help. . . even though I’m afraid my responses haven’t been particularly encouraging or helpful in finding a way to accomplish your goals.
In order to win the scholarship, you will have to find a university that is willing to accept you with your research plan. First, you’ll have to pass the Embassy’s Primary Screening, and after that, you need to contact up to two universities to request the letter of acceptance. If no university is willing to issue you one, you would be able to move on to the Secondary Screening with three new universities on your Placement Preference Form, but ultimately, if none of them are willing to accept you either, you would not win the scholarship. So, you might need to change your research topic to find acceptance.
I’m not sure what your research topic is, precisely, but have you checked literature programs? A theater program might be more focused on performance, but some aspects of analyzing themes, history of the field, or specific playwrights, might be found in a literature or humanities department. Or at least, you might be able to find a similar topic there so that you don’t have to change your research too much.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi
I’ve applied for the MEXT undergraduate scholarship 2023 and I’ve passed the first screening. As for Japanese , I’ve finished N2. it’s January now and I didn’t get any information about it.Do you have any idea about when and how will the results of the second screening be announced?
Hi Sam kingsly J,
All I know is what was in the original application guidelines, which said that the results would be released from MEXT to the embassies by the end of January.
MEXT is almost never early with anything (and it is not unusual to be a little late). It make take the embassy a day or so to process the information from MEXT and contact applicants, too.
I suspect you will hear from the embassy some time in the week of Jan 30-Feb 3.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you for the response
I’m always very grateful for your articles😊
Hi Travis
Thank you souch for your advice. I just got informed that I have passed the second screening. Could you please explain the procedures that will be done after the second screening?
Hi Sam Kingsly J,
Congratulations on passing the Secondary Screening! That is the final round of the selection process for undergraduate scholars, so all that remains now is the administrative processing, like your visa, travel arrangements, etc. You should hear more from the embassy about those specifics soon.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello, Travis.
Thank you for your brilliant articles about MEXT! This the the only resource I could find and I think it is really helpful. I filled the application form while reading your articles, and it certainly helped a lot.
I am applying for undergraduate, I passed the first screening. I would like to know how the second screening goes for undergraduate applicants: are there lots of chances of getting it for undergraduate? When are the results coming out?
In my case, I have N1 certificate. Do you think this can somehow ensure I would pass second screening?
Again, very grateful for all the information you have provided.
Hi Aslan,
Thank you for your kind words!
I saw that you had asked the same question on another post and answered it there first.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you for your blog, it is absolutely amazing and thanks to you I passed the primary screening and could obtain letters of acceptance.
However, yesterday an embassy staff emailed me to send a proof of my IELTS score that I have put into the application which was 7.5.
However, I havent realized before that IELTS expires after 2 years and mine was taken in 2019, so I shouldnt have written it into the application.
Do you think they could see this as a deliberate lie? I have the certificate but it is just expired, so I worry a lot about this.
Hi Lucy,
Thank you for your kind words! I am thrilled to hear that you have been so successful in the application so far!
I don’t think it’s a problem that your IELTS score is more than 2 years old. It is optional to submit in the first place, and there was no statement in the application requirements that the score must be from within 2 years (or within the validity period), so I think it was clearly an honest mistake on your part and not a deliberate lie.
The embassy should have asked you to submit the certificate with your initial application documents (it is mandatory to submit it if you mention a score in your application form), so I suspect MEXT is just asking for it to complete your documentation, not because they are suspicious about the date. Ultimately, your language qualification for the scholarship comes from the test at the Embassy during the primary screening, not from the IELTS score in your application form.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Greetings!
I submitted my Placement Preference Form and two LoPAs to the embassy on September 26 2022.
Today, the correspondence person from embassy called me. According to him, the MEXT enquired about the ‘Page 4 – Question 13’ of my MEXT application form.
In the question ‘Have you ever written a thesis?’, I had ticked on ‘No’ in my application form as I am a Bachelor graduate and we were required to submit report of a ‘Final Year Project’ as a part of the Bachelor’s degree course. The final year project was completed by a group of 5 friends (batchmates) including me. We did not require to write a thesis individually.
However, at that time after the document screening from the embassy, the embassy asked to submit ‘Abstract’ of my Final Year Project work and mentioned nothing else and therefore I submitted the abstract. Afterwards, I passed the Language exam of the embassy and then the interview and eventually got selected in primary screening. Further, I secured LoPAs and submitted to the embassy.
Now, according to the correspondence person at the embassy, MEXT has enquired that “Although you have ticked ‘No’ on the question ‘Have you ever written a thesis?’, you submitted the ‘Abstract of thesis’.” But, I had submitted the ‘Abstract of our final year project’, as asked by the embassy at that time, which is not actually a thesis.
Today, the embassy person contacted and told me about this and I explained everything. Then, he asked whether the project work was a group project and I said yes. Then, he asked to edit the form on that page by ticking ‘Yes’ on the question ‘Have you ever written a thesis?’. Then, I asked what to do about the ‘Question 14’ of page 4 of the form as I had left it blank initially. Then, he said that the MEXT has not enquired anything about the question 14 and so to left it as it is and then to e-mail the pdf of filled form.
I did exactly what he said to do and mailed the form to the embassy and he notified me that he received it.
Now, I am in confusion and a kind of worry that what it might affect to further proceedings at the MEXT. I would also like to ask you whether you had encountered such case in the past.
Thank you very much.
Hi Bibek,
I’ve never heard of a situation quite like yours at this level, but when I worked on the Primary Screening for the University-Recommended MEXT Scholarship, we had similar situations fairly often. In that case, I was the one asking applicants to submit the abstract of other papers (when they didn’t have a thesis). In your situation, I would have considered your final project to be equivalent to a thesis, even though it was done by a group, but that’s really a matter of individual discretion.
When we asked applicants to make those kinds of changes though, it was purely for record-keeping purposes to make sure the applications were complete. It had nothing to do with whether or not the applicant was going to pass the review or not.
I do not think there is any risk of your application being rejected because of these changes. It is simply admin updates. And frankly, the question as to whether or not you have ever written a thesis is not that significant in the overall review. So, I don’t think there is any risk of your application being rejected because of this change. (If they were going to reject your application over it, they wouldn’t have asked you to change it!)
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
First of all, You have done a tremendous job with your blogs. I have been following your blogs and guidelines since day one of my application process.
After the test and interview, I received an email to in July that i have been selected as reserve/alternate candidate. They told me submit the original passport and and degree for verification and will return it once scholarship is confirmed. They also old me to get an acceptance letter from a university/professor.
I received 3 letter of acceptance and I have submitted them with placement form to the embassy till now.
Please Guide me what are the chances to move in principle candidates?. You or anyone you know have ever encountered this kind of (reserve/alternate candidate) scenario?.
I am confused and worried. Thank you so Much in advance.
Hi ALi,
Thank you very much for your kind words. I am glad to hear that you have found the site to be useful!
It sounds like you have done everything that you can at this point, but as a reserve/alternate candidate, as fas as I know, you can only move up to become a principle candidate if one of the current principle candidates withdraws or is eliminated before the end of the Secondary Screening or perhaps before the embassy submits your nomination to MEXT. (I’m not sure about the timing).
I can only speak with certainty about my experience with reserve candidates from the University-Recommended MEXT Scholarship. For that application, we sometimes chose a reserve candidate because we’d had MEXT nominees withdraw after we announced the results in the past. In the case of the University-Recommended MEXT Scholarship, a candidate could only move up from reserve to primary candidate if one of the existing primary candidates withdrew their application before we submitted nominations to MEXT.
I’m sorry that is probably not very reassuring, since it is out of your hands, but at least you should find out your situation within the next month or so.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
I have just noticed that I accidentally put that I have travelled to Japan for 4 weeks in my application but in reality it was only 3 weeks (it was a mistake of my memory). I have submitted the letters of acceptance already to the embassy. Do you think this mistake can make me disqualified and should I discuss it with the embassy or would you just let it be?
Thank you so much
Hi Lucy,
I do not think that an honest mistake will get you disqualified (they aren’t likely to double-check that during the secondary screening, anyway) and a three-week visit or a four-week visit should not make much of a difference.
It might come up once the entire screening process is complete and they process your immigration paperwork, but I think the worst that would happen is that they ask you to correct it.
It should not hurt to contact the embassy now and tell them that you discovered that you’d made a mistake in the dates of your previous travel to Japan by a few days and ask if you should correct it or not. It might be too late to make changes if they have already submitted the application to MEXT, but at least you’d have the peace of mind that you reported it, which is all you can do.
Again, I really don’t think it will be a problem!
Best Regards,
Travis
Hi Travis,
Thank you for your insightful comments!
I am lucky enough to get 2 LoPAs from both University A and D. Uni.A accepts me in neither Apr. or Sep., and Uni.D accepts me for April Admission.
Now entering the 2nd Screening and might be too early to ask, but I wonder if would it be possible for me to make a guess whether which semester MEXT is going to place me since both Universities have both April and September Admission.
What are your thoughts on this?
Thank you again for your support!
Hi Minh,
Congratulations on getting the two LoPAs!
MEXT does not determine the semester that you start, the university designates the semester when they decide to accept you and submit the formal paperwork to MEXT after the secondary screeening. Since your first choice university indicated in the LoPA that they could accept you in either semester. it’s impossible to guess. They might contact you to ask your preference or they might simply choose one.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Thank you so much for your hard work to prepare all of the important information for us. If you don’t mind, I have some concerns regarding contacting the University and the Letter of Acceptance for which I will be extremely grateful if you can help me with these.
A little bit of the context: I have 4 Universities in mind for the scholarship (A, B, C, and D). I only put A, B, and C in my placement form when I applied to the Embassy. Prior to the Primary Screening round, I contacted all three and got 2 replies from professors coming from University A and B: one professor from University B agreed to supervise me, and the other just told me to apply to the school.
After having the Primary Screening result, I decided to apply to A and B. Things become a little tricky here:
For University B, I submitted my documents through their online system but later found out that I had to complete some tests to complete their process for an LOA. After some thought, I decided not to proceed with the process and informed my decision to the school. The school then acknowledged my decision. While still having some time before the deadline to submit my documents, I decided to go to University C, and luckily I was able to get their LOA. My concern is whether this would affect my application whatsoever. What are your thoughts on this matter from your experience?
For University C, I decided to keep them in the form but not to contact them for more.
For University A, I submitted my documents to them at the beginning of August but haven’t heard from them since. Although I am fully aware their process might take around 1 month to issue one LOA, I plan to contact them to ask about my application status since the deadline to submit in my country is near (around 26 Sep). What are your thoughts about this?
Moreover, in my worst scenario, should I not get the LOA from University A and as a result, have only University D and C left in my form, would it be possible to put University B (the one I withdrew) back in the form (though this might sound silly!)? Or should I choose a new one and put them in the form? Or should I just go with the only two (D and C)? As far as I know from your site, it is possible to change as well as reorder Universities in the form. I also plan to follow up with my Embassy to confirm on this matter.
My comment might be long, so I hope you wouldn’t mind taking a look at it and kindly giving your thoughts on these matters. It would be so helpful for me to have your experience on these.
Thank you for all your time and consideration. Looking forward to having your feedback soon.
Kind Regards,
Dear Travis,
I would like to add some more information to my previous comment.
Regarding to my concern about University B/D, my Embassy did ask to submit email discussions to professors as a supplement prior to the official release of the LOA result. I did submit to them the email threads I had with the professor from University B (as well as the one from C). That’s why I am concerned that my decision to withdraw from B and contact to get an LOA from D would somehow affect my eligibility for the scholarship.
Thank you in advance,
Hi Minh,
At this point, you cannot contact new universities to request an LoA, so even if you don’t get the letter from University A, then you would not contact university B or D again, just put them on your Placement Preference Form.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Minh,
So, as far as I understand, your situation is as follows:
A: Applied for LoA, waiting results.
B: Started LoA application, but later cancelled
C: Received LoA
D: Never contacted.
If university A accepts you, then I assume you will just put A/C/D in your Placement Preference Form (even though you would have never contacted D – that’s not a problem) and everything will be solved. The concern is what to do if university A refuses to issue you a Letter of Acceptance, right?
In that case, you could put university B back on the list. They did not reject your application, so you are allowed to fill in their name. As with any university that did not issue you a Letter of Acceptance, it might be harder to get them to accept you (though in all likelihood, you would probably be placed in University C, anyway).
I also think it is appropriate to contact University A, let them know about the deadline, and ask when their review will be complete. At the same time, you should contact the embassy in your country to ask what to do if a letter will not arrive by their deadline.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis.
Thank you again for your hard work to prepare important information for us. I have a question regarding the letter of acceptance for which I’ll be grateful if you could help me with it.
Can an applicant who already has a master degree، apply for another master ? In other words, if I ready have a master degree but I want to study a second master under the mext scholarship and then proceed to phd, and I have a letter of acceptance for it, which indicates that the professor and the university have agreed to accept me as a master student, will mext allow me to study from master at the concerned university or it will reject my request because I already have a master? I mean, is it possible to study from master, (even if we already have a master degree), under the mext scholarship or mext does not allow this?
Thank you
Hi Sahar Hassani,
Thank you for your kind words.
It is possible to apply for a MEXT Scholarship for a Master’s degree even if you already have one. I would think the hardest part would be convincing the embassy that a second Master’s would be more effective for your eventual goals than a PhD. If the embassy and the university have already approved your application, then I think there should be no problem with MEXT approving your application during the secondary screening.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis.
Thank you for your hard work. Thank to your valuable information on your blog, I have made this far and obtained one LoPA from my second choice university.
The story is, on April 4th I submitted my document to my first choice university, and on April 9th I submitted to my second choice (those are dates that the university confirmed they received my document). On September 7th my second choice university sent me their LoPA, which is after 29 days.
My first choice university has summer vacation from April 11 – 21 (10 days). If taking that into account, it has been 26 days since I submitted my document to them, and I haven’t heard anything back.
So I want to ask if I should write to them and ask for the status. And when should I write to them to ask (embassy’s deadline is Sep. 26th). In the worst case they reject me, will they send me something or will they ignore me?
My embassy instructed all candidates to inform them when we obtain the LoPA, and submit the LoPA before Sep. 26th along with final version of Placement Preference Form.
I want to ask in which format do I need to send them the LoPA. Do I need to print it out in color and submit them in paper? Do I need to make three extra copies same as other documents? (The embassy didn’t instruct anything about this. I did email them two days ago asking for extra instruction, but they haven’t replied yet.)
Hi SK,
Just because one university responded within 26 days does not mean that you should use that timeline as a benchmark for other universities. They all have their own processes for LoPAs and some may take longer than others. That also means that you shouldn’t read any negative meaning into the delay, either!
Every university should give you a response, whether positive or negative. For this process, there should be no possibility that they will ignore you. The only exception I can think of would be if the university never confirmed receiving your documents (i.e. if they didn’t receive your documents, even though you sent them), but that is not an issue in your case.
Your embassy’s deadline is pretty early compared to most, so the university might not be aware of that. Sep 9 and 23 are also national holidays in Japan, so there is even less time.
I recommend that you email the university again on Sep 12 (2 weeks before the deadline), politely let them know that your embassy has set a deadline of Sep 26 to submit LoPAs and ask if they will be able to give you an answer on your application by then. (Since Sep 12 is the next workday as I write this, there is no harm in asking now).
As for how to submit the LoPAs, that is going to be up to the university. I think they should be able to accept printouts of the digital versions, as that seems to have been the case over the past few years, but you should certainly try to get their answer – the university will likely want to know if they have to post you the letter or whether a digital copy is fine, too. You might want to call the embassy again on Monday to ask, if you don’t hear back from them by email.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
Thank you very much for your blog and all the information which I followed during the initial phase of application to the 2023 MEXT scholarship. I passed the primary screening and have applied for the Letter of Provisional Acceptance.
I applied for the UTokyo (1st choice) during the last days of July through their online T-cens application system as they mentioned. The T-cens FAQ cited that the result would be announced in mid-September. I also applied for Tokyo Tech (2nd choice) later by contacting a professor there.
MEXT guidelines state that it is allowed to make only 2 active applications at a time. However, in the letter that the Japanese embassy provided to me along with the passing certificate after the primary screening, it quoted – “Please submit the letter of acceptance from at least one (maximum 3) professor of Japanese university and Placement Preference Form, not later than Thursday, September 29, 2022”
Therefore, on the last day and last hour of application (August 26), as the LoPA was not secured from any of the two applied universities, I applied to Waseda University as it was easy to apply there through their online application system and not needing to contact the professor. Their website mentioned that it may take around 1 month to issue LoPA.
And, a few days ago, I received a LoPA from Tokyo Tech. Now, I am wondering that if I eventually receive LoPA from UTokyo too, I would have already received two LoPAs, and to comply with the MEXT guidelines (whatever the Japanese embassy’s letter to me quoted), I would like to ask you whether is it ok to withdraw the application to Waseda University and what is the process to withdraw, as their application was completely online? And in case I don’t receive LoPA from UTokyo, I am thinking of not withdrawing the application to Waseda University. What would you say of this?
And, in my opinion, I would say that as the MEXT allow to enlist three priorities in the Placement Preference Form, I think they should have also allowed having three active applications at a time and the maximum of three LoPAs, (as their embassy in my country quoted in the letter to me) by considering that the result would be announced after the application deadline and some application might eventually be rejected. I would like to hear your opinion.
Hi Bibek,
In the past, it was allowed to contact more than two universities, so it sounds like your Embassy hadn’t updated their paperwork since then.
I think that since you have the document from the embassy saying that you could submit up to three, then you can say that you thought you were allowed to contact three because of that document and you shouldn’t be penalized for having three Letters of Provisional Acceptance. I do not recommend cancelling/withdrawing your applications at this point.
I think that MEXT should probably update their placement preference form to only allow two places to avoid confusion, but on the other hand, it could be said that there is a benefit to having more. Even if an applicant is rejected by all of the universities that they apply to for an LoPA, they have to resubmit the Placement Preference Form to the embassy with new universities on the list, even though they haven’t contacted them. If that applicant passes the Secondary Screening, MEXT will still contact the universities on that list to ask them to accept the applicant, even without an LoPA, but the chances are slimmer in that case, so having more options could help. MEXT will never contact universities that aren’t on the applicant’s Placement Preference Form.
I disagree with you about allowing more universities. I think that allowing fewer universities can actually help applicants. From the universities’ perspective, a lot of universities are used to being second or third choices or to going through the process of screening applicants and issuing LoPAs only to have the applicant end up somewhere else, which is a lot of wasted effort. It is one reason that some universities do not treat Embassy-Recommended MEXT Scholars well or why professors might ignore messages from MEXT scholars. So, by reducing the number of universities you can apply to, the universities see that it is more likely that you will be placed there and should be more responsive to your application than they would have been otherwise.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Thank you very much for your detailed explanation of my query.
My first and second choice universities have sent me the LoPAs by email. However, the third choice did not accept me. Therefore, I believe my dilemma regarding 2 or 3 LoPAs has been cleared.
What I want to ask you specifically is that in our country, we need not submit the Placement Preference Form before the primary screening of the Embassy. Therefore, I am going to fill and submit the Placement Preference Form along with the LoPAs for the first time. During the initial application, I submitted my Field of Study and Research plan to the embassy in which I wrote a research plan on a title.
Now, although the field of study, of course, remains as it is, the research title has been slightly modified in the LoPAs. So, I would like to ask you whether I am supposed to fill out the [Detailed Field of Study in Japan] of Placement Preference Form with the research title as mentioned in the LoPA of my first choice. The research titles in the two LoPAs are also slightly different.
Thank You
Dear Travis,
Please let me ask one more question.
UTokyo has sent me the pdf of LoPA via email and instructed me to submit it to the embassy staff on my own. Then, I contacted the embassy and they asked whether the university will send the original hardcopy document directly to the MEXT, If it is so, then the embassy staff asked me to submit the color print of the pdf document along with the Placement Preference Form.
Since the university has sent me the scanned pdf of the original LoPA and has not mentioned anything extra, is it to be understood that the university will send the original hardcopy directly to the MEXT?
Thank you.
Hi Bibek,
I don’t know if all universities send the hardcopy letters of acceptance directly to MEXT, so I think that you should contact them and ask (explain what the embassy told you, or even quote their email). I recommend avoiding assumptions!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Thank you very much for your clarification.
I am extremely sorry that I mistyped a word there “Since the ̶e̶m̶b̶a̶s̶s̶y̶ [ it should be UNIVERSITY] has sent me the scanned pdf of the original LoPA and has not mentioned anything extra, …………….”
I hope you understood what I meant to say but I request you to edit my comment there if possible.
Thank you.
Hi Bibek,
It was clear enough to me what you meant 🙂 but I have updated your comment anyway for future readers.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Bibek,
Thank you for explaining how the Placement Preference Form works in your country.
For the “Detailed field of study”, even if the titles are different, is there a way you can describe your specific research project in a way that meets both research titles? If not, then the research title of your first choice university would be fine.
It is not a requirement that the Detailed Field of Study match your research title, that is just my recommendation to explain how specific it should be, so you can be a little flexible.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Am I allowed to work from my home country during my MEXT Scholarship period?
Hi Preethi Perianayagam,
No, the MEXT Scholarship is for in-person studies, only, so you would have to be in Japan.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you for the information. Your blog has been very helpful for my application process. I have passed the first screening. I have applied two universities but I have not been accepted or rejected. Today is the deadline and I am starting to get anxious. I would like to know whether my scholarship chances will be effected if I could not receive any LOA from both of the universities I currently applied. Is there any possibility that I will get assistance from MEXT or the embassy to apply for new universities after the deadline?
Many thanks.
Hi Kim,
It is completely normal to not hear back from universities before the deadline. You should not take that as a negative mark on your application or worry about your chances. In fact, I would say that it is very rare to hear back before the deadline! Most universities take a while to process these applications and since August-September is summer vacation, some of the senior faculty members who would need to approve the LoPAs might be away from campus doing research, etc., so they further slows things down.
I do not think that you have anything to worry about as long as you have submitted your applications as the universities require.
In answer to your questions, if you did not receive any LoPAs, that would hurt your chances to pass the secondary screening and be placed at a university. It wouldn’t necessarily make it impossible, but the chances of passing in that situation would be much lower. If both of the universities that you applied to were to reject you, you would not be allowed to apply to alternative universities for an LoPA.
As long as you have avoided the reasons for rejection that I describe in the article, there should be no issues and nothing to worry about!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you very much for the reply. Please let me ask one more question. Have you ever heard about any case that the student got university assignment chosen by the MEXT? I would like to know whether I would still have chance to get university assignment if I could not get LOA from both universities I applied.
Besides, I could still write third preference in the university preference form although I am allowed to apply only two at one time. How does the third preference actually work? Will I be allowed to contact the professor (or the university) whom I write as third preference?
Hi Kim,
If both your first and second choice universities decline to issue you a Letter of Provisional Acceptance, then you would have to submit the Placement Preference Form to the embassy with three new universities filled in. You are not allowed to list universities that have rejected your application on the final version of that form.
In that case, you would not be able to officially contact any of those three universities, so you would have to do your research carefully to make sure that they were good fits.
There is a chance that you could pass the Secondary Screening in that situation and then MEXT would still try to contact those universities to see if they would be willing to accept you. It happened once at my previous university that MEXT asked us to accept a student who had never applied to us for a Letter of Provisional Acceptance, and we did so.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis
It’s me again. I got declined from both of the universities I applied for LOA. I got the result long after the application deadline. For now, I cannot apply for any other university. I am losing my confidence at this point.
I have to resubmit the Placement Preference Form to the embassy by the end of this month. I am considering to fill in only “the Name of University and Name of graduate school” on the Preference table. Is it even acceptable or is it mandatory to fill in the names of the supervisors? Please let me know your thought on the matter.
Best regards,
Kim
Hi Kim,
I am very sorry to hear that you were not able to get any LoAs from the universities that you applied to.
Honestly, that will make it harder to pass the Secondary Screening, but it is not impossible. I have heard of it happening in the past.
I absolutely recommend that you fill in the name of prospective advisors when your resubmit the PPF! In your situation, I would say that it is a must.
Once you pass the Secondary Screening, MEXT will contact the universities on your list to ask them to accept you. If you haven’t bothered to list an advisor, it shows the university that you didn’t care enough to do your research (it would also give the same impression to MEXT during the Secondary Screening and hurt your chances to pass). On the other hand, if you have identified an advisor who can supervise your research topic, then that shows MEXT and the university that you have at least researched the program and the faculty and have a commitment to your application.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you very much, Travis. I think you are absolutely right. I will include the names of supervisors. Actually, I already have the list. I was just too desperate to even consider that omitting the supervisor names would get higher chance for acceptance. It wasn’t easy to pass the exam and I was scared to miss the opportunity.
In addition, through a senior, I recently got contact with a professor who kindly agreed to accept me to her lab. Nonetheless, I still won’t get a LOA to attach with PPF as I now cannot apply to the university officially. However, if I put her information as my first choice, the MEXT will reach out to her university to ask for my application acceptance as a first priority. Am I right?
I am sorry for bothering you with questions. I appreciate your time and responses. I can’t thank you enough for your suggestions. Have a nice day!
Hi Kim,
That’s great to hear that you have an informal acceptance anyway.
Yes, if you put that university first, MEXT should contact them and the university should consider your application despite not having issued you an LoPA. However, if that university is private and your other universities on the list are national, then MEXT might contact the nationals, first. However, in that case, they would still go down the list if the nationals did not accept you, so unless you were accepted elsewhere, they would eventually contact the university where you have the informal acceptance.
In the meantime, I hope you get positive results from the Secondary Screening!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis!
I’d like to thank you for your guidance. After being rejected in the interview phase last year, I felt heartbroken; and after thinking about it for a long time and improving my skills for the process, I decided to try again this year, and, fortunately, I passed the first screening on the second try. Your articles helped me a lot! I appreciate that. Wanted to thank you for this.
In this sense, I’d like to get some tips on dealing with the “wait”.
Just to expose my current situation: In late July, I received the LoPA from my 1st choice. Yesterday, I received the LoPA from my 2nd choice. My consulate told me to just wait for now, since I managed to get 2 LoPA before the deadline to contact univiserties. I believe everything is doing well and getting real and, at the same time, every day (since the day I received a phone call from my consulate) I struggle to believe I’m kinda achieving my dream.
Is it ok or am I supposed to feel “safe” at this point? I’m assuming the wait will last for months (January-February). I know, as you state at the beginning of this article, that your chances are great when you get at least one LoPA. But something keeps pulling me back to the possibility of not making the Second Screening.
I try to keep these thoughts away with positive/confident thoughts, improving my Japanese skills and my knowledge of my field of study, staying with my family and friends, and drawing/playing video games (hobbies); however the anxious side of my mind makes me fear making this far and not being able to get it.
I humbly apologize if this statement/question may sound a bit dramatic or if it does not apply in this context.
Again, thank you!
Hi Eduardo,
Not only would I say that you are “safe” at this point, I think you are way ahead of most applicants!
It is rare to get even one Letter of Provisional Acceptance issued before the Aug 26 deadline to apply to universities. The only thing you have left to do now is to submit those two letters and your updated Placement Preference Form to the Embassy by their deadline (although it sounds like you might have already done that).
Since you have passed the Primary Screening and have two Letters of Provisional Acceptance, you should certainly receive the scholarship in the end, and the only concern left is whether you will be placed at your first- or second-choice university.
And then, yes: Wait.
Most applicants won’t get their letters issued until September or even into October, so you have to wait for that. The Secondary Screening is really just a double-check and is not competitive. Barring an unlikely major cut to MEXT’s budget, there is no reason I can think of why applicants would be cut then. After that comes the university placement process and, like you said, that can last until January or February.
I definitely recommend focusing on what you can control. Continuing to read and study your field of study and improve your Japanese language ability are both great pursuits. If you’re not working currently, you might also want to take on a part-time job to keep your mind occupied and also save up some money for your time in Japan. (You don’t get your first MEXT Scholarship payment right away, so they usually recommend that you have about 200,000 yen available when you arrive in Japan).
I understand the tendency to assume the worst when you don’t hear anything, but there is no reason for concern in your case. It is just slow bureaucracy delaying the final answer!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis! Thank you so much for your continuous support through your blog posts and everything! I have passed the primary screening and applied to Waseda University (1st choice). I had already obtained an unofficial acceptance from a professor working at Waseda. However, when I e-mailed them to ask about the results to see if I also should apply to a second university (the University of Tokyo), they told me that they have not announced the results yet and will do so by the end of September (I applied on July 30). The thing is that I plan to submit my application to the University of Tokyo as a last-minute guarantee to secure my place in Japan. However, I want to study at Waseda, which, in all senses, perfectly fits my research theme and goals.
I have heard that for the past years, MEXT prioritizes public universities over private ones even though we list the private ones as our first choice. So, in this sense, I am afraid that MEXT may assign me to Tōdai, whereas my first choice is Waseda. I am indecisive about what I should do. Do you think I should apply for Tōdai and add a note stating that I want to study at Waseda—while also listing it as my first choice—if I get an acceptance letter from both universities? Or do you think I should apply for another (private) university so that it will not make any difference when MEXT assigns me to Waseda—in case I can obtain a LoPA from Waseda, of course?
Thank you so much for your all-time help & support!
Hi Semiha Karaoğlu,
You are right that MEXT prefers to place scholars at public universities – they say so directly in the application guidelines.
If you list Waseda as your first choice and University of Tokyo as your second choice and you have Letters of Provisional Acceptance from both, then there is a decent chance that MEXT will try to place you at Todai, first. I do not think that include a note that you want to study at Waseda will have any effect whatsoever. It is already obvious that you prefer to study there if you put it as your first choice, so adding a note won’t change anything.
Based on what you described about your application to Waseda so far, I do not think that there will be any problem with obtaining a Letter of Provisional Acceptance there. It is normal for the process to take that long over the summer vacation. So, you could choose to only apply to Waseda. Then you could list Todai and another university as your second and third choices on the list without applying for Letters of Acceptance there. In that case, I think MEXT is less likely to skip over Waseda for a National University that has not issued you a Letter of Provisional Acceptance, but they are still there as a back-up plan in case Waseda becomes unable to accept you in the end.
On the other hand, if Waseda does not issue the Letter of Acceptance and you end up with zero letters, you might not pass the Secondary Screening. It depends on whether or not you are willing to risk that.
Applying to a second private university for a Letter of Provisional Acceptance then listing Todai as your third choice (but not applying for a Letter of Provisional Acceptance there) might be the safest option to give you the highest chance to be placed at Waseda but still have a back-up plan. Of course, in that case, make sure that you are really willing to go to your second-choice university!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Thank you for your support for all the MEXT candidates.
I would like to hear your opinioni in the situation.
Around a month ago I submitted the documents to a university, and shortly after I have received an informal agreement from the professor. However since then there was no communication from the university. Should I be worried in this case? Considering there is a supervisor who’s willing to work with me, is there a chance to get rejected? I also applied to the second university, but they stated that the reply from them might take time up to the middle of September, therefore I hoped to get a response from the first school until August, 26th, so I had a chance to apply to the third option.
Thank you.
Hi Katherine,
Processing the Letters of Provisional Acceptance often takes a while during summer vacation. The time frame that your second university gave you is pretty common. Some of the senior faculty who need to approve the letters might be away from the university during the break for research, etc., so that is going to slow down the process.
As long as the first university acknowledged your application–or if you submitted it through their required channels–then that, combined with the professor’s informal agreement should indicate that you will not have a problem getting the letter in the end!
It is pretty rare to hear back from a university before the Aug 26 deadline with the final answer, unless it’s a rejection because you aren’t eligible, etc., so I think you’re in a pretty normal situation at this point ans should have nothing to worry about!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Thank you so much for your insightful comment and for guiding us through the process. I obtained my LoPA from Waseda University today and am still waiting for my LoPA from the University of Tokyo. I applied to the University of Tokyo as a backup since my first choice has always been Waseda. However, I am afraid MEXT may prioritize Waseda over the University of Tokyo while assigning me to universities. Would you think withdrawing my application from the University of Tokyo is a good idea at this point — now that I have a LoPA from Waseda? Or would you say it would harm my reputation as a prospective researcher in Japan?
Thank you very much, as always.
Best wishes,
Semiha
Hi Semiha,
Congratulations on getting the LoPA from Waseda! That’s great to hear.
If you have LoPAs from Waseda and Tokyo, even if you put Waseda first on your Placement Preference Form, there’s a decent chance that MEXT will prioritize Tokyo in the placement process and try to place you there first. They do prefer national universities. So, if you really have your heart set on Waseda, then withdrawing from Tokyo would increase your options of being placed there.
On the other hand, it would likely burn bridges with Tokyo, particularly if you had already been in touch with a professor there. If you’ve only been in touch with the admin staff about the application, it will probably only hurt you if you try to apply to Tokyo in the future and they remember you. But if you have been in contact with the professor (or that professor has already been reviewing your application), there’s a chance, even if not a big one, that the professor might be unwilling to work with you professionally in the future.
It’s not necessarily an easy choice and I would say that it really depends on how passionate you are about Waseda over Tokyo.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Dear Travis,
I have a question please. I applied to two universities, but I was so anxious since both of them did not reply for more than 20 days and so I applied to the third university as well. I am afraid that in case the three universities send me a LOA I will have to reject one. What can I do in that case? Should I email the professor or the Admission office about it? and what is the best way to tell the professor or university that I no longer want to join their program?
Thank you in adance!
Hi Lisa,
If you do get three LoAs, you will have to turn in all three to the embassy and explain why you have more than you’re supposed to. You are required to submit all LoAs that you receive. If you explain that you panicked because the initial universities did not respond at all, I don’t think the Embassy would invalidate your application over it, but they might warn you to pay more attention to the rules in the future.
If you are going to cancel one of the applications, then the time to do so would be now, before they issue your LoA. In that case, you should simply state that you wish to withdraw your application for an LoA and apologize for wasting their time.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Thanks to your guidance, I was able to pass the primary screening. Thank you so much for that.
I would like to ask a question regarding a letter of acceptance.
I have asked the Nagoya University for the letter in early July to the university office. At the end of July, the professor that I have identified had responded that he is willing to accept me in his lab.
However, I have yet not received an official confirmation from the office or any letter of acceptance.
As the deadline is approaching, I am tempted to email the office to check the status of the letter.
However, I am worried to sound ignorant as the professor has already unofficially confirmed he can accept me.
What do you think I should do? Do you consider this unofficial confirmation as certain that I will get accepted?
Thank you so much for your help Travis
Best Wishes
Natalie
Hi Natalie,
At Nagoya University, it looks like each graduate school handles Embassy-Recommended MEXT Scholarship requests for Letters of Provisional Acceptance separately. As long as you have submitted your application as designated on the graduate school’s website (including the attached files, subject line, and email content that they require), then you should be fine, even if they haven’t acknowledged receipt of your message. However, if you are concerned that your application email wasn’t delivered, due to large attachment size, etc., you could contact them to make sure that they received it.
The professor’s unofficial acceptance does not mean much of anything if the university has not received your application in the way they designate and started processing it.
Aug 26 is the deadline for your to apply, not the deadline for the university to reply, so it is not unusual for the Letter to be issued in mid or late September, but for now, it is at least a good idea to make sure that your application was received.
If they have received it and the professor has unofficially consented to supervise you, then there should be no problem with you eventually getting the Letter of Provisional Acceptance, it is just going to take a little time.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you so much for your answer.
The office has acknowledged my application in July and the office contacted the professor after I have sent the application.
From your answer, it seems that it is alright and I do not have to send an additional email.
Natalia
Hi Natalie,
I think your assessment is right – you should not have to worry about anything or send an additional email. It sounds like they are processing it!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis!
Thank you very much for the detailed information in your blog which I have been following since my initial application for the 2023 MEXT Scholarship.
I have passed the First Screening from the Japanese Embassy in my country and obtained the Passing Certificate. Now, I am in the phase of application for the Letter of Provisional Acceptance.
Would you please inform me about how to get a blank form for the Letter of Provisional Acceptance that we are to provide to the professors which in turn they will fill up for us if accepted? I came to know that in the previous years, it was provided to the applicant by the Embassy. But now, I am not provided with the document.
Thank you very much.
Hi Bibek,
Congratulations on passing the Primary Screening!
Here is a direct link to download the Letter of Provisional Acceptance from MEXT’s website as a Word file: https://www.mext.go.jp/content/20220526-mxt_gakushi02-000022214-04.docx
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
First, thank you so much for all your articles on the MEXT scholarship application! It is in part thanks to you that I passed the first screening.
I am now applying for two LoPA, but I am conflicted.
One of the labs I would like to do my PhD in has an amazing research topic (and is now probably my first choice), but this topic is also different from the one in my research proposal, even if both are still about biology.
I contacted the professor in charge of the lab and he does not have any issues with this and is willing to have me in his lab regardless, but would it also be the case for the university, and more importantly, for the MEXT? Is there a risk that the MEXT may reject me on the secondary screening because of this?
Hi Marielle,
If the professor at that university is willing to accept you, despite the mismatch between your FSRPP content and the research in the professor’s lab that you will actually be pursuing during your studies, that should not be a problem. As long as the professor approves, then the university should not have any objection.
In the Letter of Provisional Acceptance, the professor will fill out your letter of provisional letter of acceptance with your research theme in Japan and why you were accepted. If the professor fills in the new research theme you discussed and, in the reasons for acceptance, explains that was the theme that you arrived at after discussions, that should not be a problem. You are not committed to researching the project you described in your FSRPP and there is some expectation that your research will change. After all, if it didn’t, what would be the point in having an advisor, anyway?
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
Thank you for your books and valuable blogs. I am in the streetful situation of obtaining LOA. The embassy in my country announced the first screening result on 4th August, and they will issue the passing certificate and all stamped documents on 15th August.
Last week, I contacted 1st and 2nd choice universities about introducing myself and my intention to join the lab. I have also attached my CV and research plan since I have not obtained the passing certificate yet. Unfortunately, the 2nd choice rejected me, and he stated that his lab was full (I don’t know the real reason), and the 1st choice (TokyoTech) remained unresponsive; thus, I contacted the 3rd choice, but the result was the same as the 2nd choice. I am so depressed and lost my confidence.
I have a question, should I wait until I get the complete stamped documents and passing certificate before contacting the professor? I am afraid in case their lab is (actually) full that they have already accepted some students that contacted before me.
Sincerely.
Hi Paq,
Congratulations on passing the Primary Screening, and thank you for your kind words!
I am sorry to hear that you are having such a difficult time getting an LoPA. On the other hand, though, it is fortunate that the two professors responded to you so quickly to say that their labs were full. Because of their quick responses, you have the chance to contact another university before the deadline.
I do not think you should wait for the stamped documents before contacting professors, since the deadline is coming so quickly. When you contact them, let them know that you have passed the Primary Screening, but that your embassy will issue the documents next week. You can tell them that you will send the stamped documents then, but for now, you wanted to contact them in advance since the deadline is coming quickly.
On the other hand, if you are applying to a university where you need to submit your application documents to an admin office, then you can wait to send them to that office. (Contact the professor now, but the admin office after you get the documents.)
Part of the reason I’m recommending that course of action is because of the date of this comment. Today (Aug 11) is a national holiday in Japan. August 13-15 are also the O-Bon holidays. Some universities might be open on Aug 12, but will probably be minimally-staffed. Others might be closed entirely (one university where I used to work would shut down for a week around O-Bon).
Professors might still check their emails while the university is closed, particularly if they are working on research over the summer, but admin offices will not, so there is very little point now in contacting an admin office now before August 16, Japan time. (Professors also might well not respond during this time).
Based on how quickly the professors who rejected your application got back to you, I think it is reasonable to assume that their labs are, in fact, full. Unless your application was utterly terrible (in which case, you would not have passed the Primary Screening), they probably would not have made a decision so quickly. So there was most likely a reason that they simply could not accept your application at all, like being full.
I know it is hugely disappointing to have your application rejected for something that has nothing to do with you or the quality of your application, but don’t lose confidence. It had nothing to do with you, so you should keep trying! You passed the Embassy’s Primary Screening in what was one of the most competitive years, as far as I have heard. That is something to be confident about.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis, I am delighted to inform you that I got informal acceptance from a professor, and the student affairs division is working on issuing the LOPA for me. Without unexpected circumstances, I would receive the letter in September. I still have not received a reply from my first choice professor, and the deadline is approaching; thus, I started contacting another professor (same graduate school) yesterday. I hope he will reply to me very soon.
Best regards.
Hi Paq,
Congratulations! That’s great to hear that you should have at least one LoPA coming.
If you are contacting a second professor at the same graduate school as one that you have already reached out to, I recommend that you contact the first one and let him/her know that you are doing so (essentially withdrawing your application to the first professor). You don’t want the professors finding out that you have applied to both of them by talking to one another. It could make both of them think that you aren’t taking them seriously.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
Thank you so much for your reply. I apologize that I ask the questions frequently. I have just received the LoPA from the student affairs division in PDF. I wonder if I should ask them to send the original LoPA to me (via airmail or something else). Thus, I inquired the embassy, and they said that submitting original LoPAs are not necessary. In your perspective, is it important to submit the original LoPA to the embassy? And should I ask the student affairs division to an original to me? (Does it call original or copy of the original?)
Best.
Hi Paq,
It’s not a problem. No need to apologize 🙂
The only reason you would need an original LoPA would be if the embassy said it’s necessary. If the Embassy says that they will accept a printed PDF version, then there is no need to ask for the original and it would not confer any advantage.
It would be called the “original” (genpon in Japanese). A document is considered original if it has the original signature or stamp on it. (Or in the case of certificates, like transcripts or certificates of graduation from Japanese universities, if it is printed on the official paper.) It is possible to have multiple originals in that case.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis!
I would like to thank you for the time you take to help us with our applications.
If it´s possible I would like to ask for some advice regarding getting a LOA.
After passing the First Screening, I was told by the embassy of my country to NOT contact the professors directly, instead to contact the universities first.
So far I received a reply from my second choice and they told me that they were going to check my documents and get back to me.
I have not received a response from my first choice yet (Soka University) and it has been 10 days already. I sent a new email on friday to make sure my mail was received correctly, but I dont have an anwser yet.
I dont want to sound rude or make the university staff feel like I´m rushing them, but I sincerely don´t know if i am on the right track and wouldn´t want to miss the deadline.
What would you do in my position?
Thanks in advance!
Hi FKaihaku,
Forget what the embassy told you to do to apply for a Letter of Provisional Acceptance. What are Soka’s instructions? Always prioritize the university’s instructions for how to apply for an LoPA.
Actually, I couldn’t find the application instructions on their website, so I think your first step should be to contact their international office and ask how they want you to apply. If they are not responding to your email, then you can try calling.
If they provided clear instructions and you submit your application according to those instructions, then I think you should wait for their response, but if they are not providing instructions at all, then I think it is perfectly appropriate to keep trying to contact them until you can confirm what to do.
Keep in mind that this is the summer holiday period and, in particular, Aug 11 and 13-15 are national holidays, so it is likely that many faculty and staff are out of the office.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello
Thank you for all the information that you post.
I passed the first screening, and I am now in the process of applying for a LOA.
At the University of Tokyo, I found someone who fully matches my research topic but is a lecturer (he has a Ph.D., and I am applying for a master’s). He works in the same lab with a senior associate professor with similar research topics, and they also publish a lot of research together.
I know that the senior professor might be an adequate choice, but the ‘lecturer’ professor is a foreigner and has extensive research on Europe, which is what I need. Now I don’t know If I can choose someone with a ‘lecturer’ position or not.
Also, I know that for Tokyo University, I shouldn’t contact the professors directly, but I was wondering if, in this case, it would be okay to contact this professor just to ask if he is willing and can supervise a research student.
Hi Gigi,
Congratulations on passing the Primary Screening!
There is no universal rule to say whether or not a lecturer can supervise Master’s students that I am aware of. It is going to depend on the university and the individual faculty member’s qualifications/position there.
If there is a senior professor in the lab, it is likely that the senior professor is the official supervisor for most or all students in the lab, but you could still work closely with the lecturer and get their advice in that situation.
I think it would be a good idea to reach out to that lecturer to ask if he is willing/able to supervise you.
At Todai, contacting the professors is not part of the official LoPA application process, so you will still have to contact the administrative office to apply officially, but there is no rule saying that you aren’t allowed to speak to the professors.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis!
I have a question. I am currently in the process of getting an LoA, so I contacted the international student’s office of my first choice uni, and they asked me the name of the professor that I’d like to be supervised. However, I never reached out to the professor and straightly gave the professor’s name to the officer in charge. They never mention that I should contact the professor first, but I realize that many universities require you to do so. Thus my question is, will my application be okay? Is it a “must” to contact the supervisor even though the uni doesn’t tell you anything about it?
Thank you!
Hi Syefa,
It is not a “must” to contact the professors in advance. Some universities require it and others do not (or even discourage it). As long as the university said that you don’t have to do so, then you should be fine in the screening process.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
I have successfully passed the first screening. I have contacted one of my professors who is at a national university. However, upon further research I realised that the university is located very far from where there are jobs in my industry (1.5-2hrs away) while the private ones are 20-40mins from where the jobs are. I have not yet received a LoPA from her as it was only a few days ago, but at this point, is it impolite to withdraw my application so soon after contacting them? Will this negatively affect my application?
Also, is it okay to put 2 private universities on my form? I am worried neither of them will accept me and do not have time to reach out to a third option as the deadline is in a few weeks, and even if they do would this affect my chances of affecting the second screening because non of them are national universities? I’m taking this decision very seriously as I want to study until the doctorate level and work in academia.
Hi Shelley,
I really think you should think again about your reasons for wanting to change universities. That doesn’t seem like it should even be a factor. If you are looking for a job in Japan in the future (first, know that it’s far from guaranteed), I still think your focus should be the quality of the university and possibly the professors’ industry contacts (if you can tell), rather than simply physical proximity. Even if you want to get a job in that particular industry after graduation, the likelihood is that you would be traveling there less than a handful of times during your academic career, so the time isn’t all that significant.
You mentioned both “jobs in your industry” and “study to the doctorate level and work in academia”, so I’m a bit confused about your intent. But if you plan to study to the doctorate level, you should really focus on the university with the better quality research opportunities.
All that is to say that, yes, I think it would be rude to withdraw your application for the LoPA this quickly, particularly if that is the reason you were going to give. It would essentially burn bridges with that university.
If you can find another reason, like a clear disconnect with that professor and their research, then that would be fine and I don’t think the professor would have any issue with you withdrawing.
Having two private universities on your list should not negatively impact your chances of passing the primary screening, as long as you can get Letters of Provisional Acceptance from them!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis!
Thank you very much for the detailed information in your blog which I have been following since my initial application for the 2023 MEXT Scholarship.
I have passed the First Screening from the Japanese Embassy in my country and obtained the Passing Certificate. Now, I am in the phase of application for the Letter of Provisional Acceptance.
As we are allowed to be in contact with a maximum of 2 universities at a time, I have already applied to one university through their online application system.
And I am in the process of applying to the next university by contacting one of the associate professors. I had contacted mentioning my intention to apply to his lab and attaching my MEXT Passing Certificate. The next day, he replied to me and asked for my CV and Research statement (1-2 pages). Then, the next day, I emailed him by attaching my CV and Research statement and mentioning that I would send all my additional documents if it was okay with him. However, it has been 6 days and he has not replied back to me yet. (He has seen my email though as I used email-tracker but I would like to ask you if it is good to use email-tracker while contacting professors.)
And in the meantime, with further research about graduate schools, labs, and faculties, I am considering applying to the professor of the next graduate school at the same university. Can I just move on from the professor that I already contacted? Or, should I inform him about my intention to apply to another professor in the next graduate school at the same university? If so, then would you please assist me with how I should inform him?
Hi Bibek,
Thank you for your kind words and congratulations on passing the Primary Screening!
Once a week has passed with no reply, I think it is a good idea to contact the professor again to follow-up. Don’t just move on. A week is still quite short and something could have come up last week to delay him. (At my university, for example, last week was the deadline for faculty members to finish their grading for the spring semester). Send a follow-up email first. You might even go as far as to attach the documents you mentioned that you would send, in case he was interested.
I think it would be a terrible idea to contact an alternate professor at the same university without first informing the first professor that you were in touch with. Assume that they will talk at some point!
If you think the alternate professor would be better as a supervisor, I still think you should contact the professor that you are already in contact with to tell him that you have done some further research and think that your research topic might more closely align with the other professor’s research area. Ask if the first professor agrees, and if he does, only then would I say it is OK to cancel your application to him and to reach out to the alternative professor.
By the way, in terms of response time, August 11 and 13-15 are holidays in Japan, and many people travel home during (and before/after) that time, so responses might be slower!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello, Travis!
I have passed the First Screening and have applied to 2 private universities already. Assuming I get accepted by both, I plan to put a national university as my 3rd/back-up.
However, I am very worried that I will not get a LOPA. It’s rare that people from my field go on the MEXT Scholarship for Research . Furthermore, my research field is quite specific and mostly filled with tenured professors who might not have time to be my academic advisor. Many of them are Japanese-only courses as well, which I’m not fluent enough for. My research plan also needs to be conducted specifically in the Tokyo area, which further limits my options. As such, I’m not very confident about getting a LOPA.
For context, the 2 universities I have applied to, I applied under the English program for and I put 2-3 options for professors. They prevented me from contacting the professor directly, only had me send an email/fill up an application form.
– What is considered an active application? Is it when I have submitted documents or is it when I am only in active communication/coordination with the school’s International Office or the like?
– Can I explain this situation to the Embassy and ask for permission to apply for more schools?
– Will these universities try to assign me to a different professor assuming all the ones I put are unavailable? Or will they just outright not grant me the LOPA?
Would appreciate any advice you can give. Thank you.
Hi Isa,
There should not be any reason why tenured professors would be unable to supervise you. Being tenured does not make them more busy. (In fact, the reverse might be true, since un-tenured professors need to work harder on their publication schedule to earn tenure.) Tenured professors should certainly be expected to supervise applicants.
Since you have contacted the two universities to apply for a Letter of Provisional Acceptance, that is an “active” application, in both cases. As soon as you reach out to them to request an LoPA, the application is active. So, you cannot contact additional universities at this time.
You also should not contact the embassy to request permission to contact additional universities. Based on everything you have written in your comment, I don’t think there is anything to worry about and certainly do not think that there is any justification to make an exception for you on the number of universities.
It is very rare that there is more than one professor at a given university that would be able to supervise your research, particularly if it is as narrow as you suggest. I am already surprised that you listed 2-3. There should only be 1 best professor for each topic at any university. Having already listed multiple professors, I doubt the university would assign you to an alternate. (And if they did, I doubt that professor would be well-suited to supervise your research.)
My best recommendation would be to research additional possible schools in case one of the two that you replied to decides to reject your application. But really, I don’t see anything that you need to worry about for now.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Again thanks to your blog, I managed to pass the first screening of the MEXT Scholarship 2023! I am having some concerns regarding the University and the Placement Form.
I had put three universities and three profs for the first version of the form (prior to passing the primary screening). I had contacted all of the grad schools and the professors and out of all three:
– 1 prof directly agreed to supervise me (but it is my 2nd choice)
– 1 prof gave me a “vague” repose stating that prof thanked me for my interests in his projects and encouraged me to apply to grad school (this is my 1st choice)
– 1 prof (3rd choice) didn’t respond and later I found out the prof isn’t affiliated with the grad school.
So here are my concerns:
– Would it be possible for me to consider the response from my 1st choice of prof as a positive reply and not a direct rejection?
– What would you think about me putting the prof from 2nd choice to the 1st placement?
– Would it still be possible for me to not omit the grad school from the 3rd choice and just to change to another prof?
I hope you don’t mind answering my long questions. I look forward to hearing from you!
Thanks so much for your time and support!
Kind Regards,
Hi Khang,
Thank you for sharing your feedback on the interview and your progress so far!
When you reach out to universities, note that you are only allowed to contact up to 2 universities, even though you can list three on your form. Since your third professor didn’t respond to you and isn’t affiliated with the grad school, I think you’re still safe there. However, I would recommend that you contact the professor directly to withdraw your application (apologize for contacting them and explain you realized later that they were not affiliated with the graduate school).
It is possible to keep that third grad school on your list and to change to a different professor there (if there is another professor who can supervise your research). However, you should not contact them. Just keep the name on your list.
As for your first-choice professor, I do not think that is a rejection, so it is fine to keep your application going there. It is perhaps not as encouraging of a response, but it might just be that professor’s way to not get too invested in Embassy-Recommended MEXT Scholarship applicants at this point of the application process.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis!
Thanks to your blog, I managed to pass the first screening of the MEXT Scholarship 2023!
I am just wondering, if I got the scholarship, when do I start going to Japan? The program I am applying for (research student) only begins every Fall season. I don’t have any JLPT certificate, but I’d say my Japanese proficiency is around N5~N4. So, is it true that I must be in Japan 6 months before the beginning of my program to attend the Japanese language preparatory classes?
Also, what if the university I am applying for does not have language preparatory classes?
I hope you don’t mind answering my long questions (^^’). I hope to hear from you! Thanks so much for your time.
Hi Claudia,
Congratulations on passing the Primary Screening! That’s a huge accomplishment!
There are two possibilities for when you could arrive in Japan: April 2023 or September/October 2023. Do you remember whether you checked an April arrival or October arrival in your application form?
Your accepting university should specify your arrival month in Japan in the Letter of Provisional Acceptance. Then, when they decide to formally accept you after the Secondary Screening, they will decide whether or not you should attend the language program. With N5/N4 level Japanese, I think it is likely that they will recommend you for the program, though in some cases, they may ask your preference, as well.
The language program is provided by MEXT, not your university, so it is possible that it would be held at another university. If I remember correctly, MEXT only arranges the language program at National Universities, so if your university is Public or Private, then you would be attending another one for the language semester, but it should be close by.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis!
I was looking through the application form, and in the “Academic Record” part it’s said that I should write down educational institutions that I attended only as a full time student. The thing is, I’m getting my bachelor’s degree as a part-time student. Am I eligible to apply for the scholarship?
Hi Victoria,
“Full-time student” in the application form is actually a bad translation. The Japanese term should translate to “Degree-seeking student.” It means that you were enrolled in a program that results in a degree, regardless of whether or not you are taking classes full time.
For example, a university-affiliated language school, taking individual courses without enrolling in the a degree program, being an exchange student (at the exchange university), or being a research student would not count. But enrolling in a part-time load of credits while working toward a degree counts, so you can fill it in in the form and you are eligible for the scholarship!
You should write in the Notes section at the bottom that you were enrolled part time in order to explain why it took you longer than the usual number of years to complete your degree (assuming that it did!)
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
hello and greeting Travis
I have an urgent question from you which I hope you would guide me with it.
in my application form, where they asked those three questions from us about why do we want to study in Japan etc… I unintentionally named some specific professors at Waseda university. my intention from doing so was only showing my knowledge about Japanese professors in my field and I didn’t want to convey the message about my interest in those professors. simply I just used them as an example to say that I have knowledge about Japanese universities and it would be my honor to study under the supervision of esteemed
Japanese professors. but now I figured out that I shouldn’t have mentioned specific names because it sounds offensive to other professors. do you have any note and guidance on this matter ??? what should I do ? will they all reject me because of this unintentionall and inexperienced mistake ??
Hi Sahar Hassani,
There is really nothing you can do at this point, since you cannot change the application form after submitting it.
I don’t know the context in which you referred to the professors, so I can’t say for sure what the impact would be on other universities’ decisions about accepting you. As long as it wasn’t in the context of saying that you specifically want to study with those professors, it should not prevent you from being accepted.
I’m sorry I can’t say anything more specific than that. But my advice is that, since there is nothing you can do about it, you shouldn’t worry about what you cannot change. Instead, focus on writing a personal, detailed approach message to the professors/universities that you will ask for a Letter of Provisional Acceptance to make sure your interest in them is clear from the beginning of your conversation.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis.
First of all, thank you so much for your blog. I followed all your advice and I was able to pass my first screening for MEXT 2023! However, I’d like to ask a question. I have contacted the supervisor I wrote in my placement form via email, but unfortunately, she couldn’t supervise me. So my question is, can I change the supervisor at the same university? If yes, are there any steps I should follow?
Thank you very much for your kind attention. Looking forward to your replies!
Hi SH,
Congratulation on passing the Primary Screening!
It is pretty rare that there would be two professors at the same university that could supervise your research. The only time I have seen an applicant be able to switch to an alternate advisor at the same university was when the first person they contacted wasn’t a specialist in their field and recommended a colleague, instead.
In any case, it depends on why the professor you contacted wasn’t able to supervise you. If, like the example above, it is because your research wasn’t similar enough to hers, then you could ask her politely if she could suggest a colleague that would be better suited to be your supervisor so that you could contact them. Similarly, if she isn’t eligible to supervise graduate students at your level, you might be able to ask for a recommendation.
But if she was the best match for your research at that university and was not able to supervise you, she might not be able to recommend an alternate and in that case, I think you would be better off looking at other universities.
Whether she recommends an alternate or you search for one on your own, you should thank her for her time and, if you are going to contact someone else at the same university, let her know in advance.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you Travis for your kind advice. I have decided to change my university. However, I encounter another problem. The other university has no information regarding MEXT on their website, but it was listed in the list of potential universities that the embassy has given me. I tried emailing the university requesting the provisional acceptance letter, but they haven’t replied to me yet – and it’s been 2 days. So do you think I should follow up? or give them some time?
Hope to hear from you.
Hi SH,
I think you should probably give them about a week from your initial email before you follow-up, since there is still some time until the deadline.
In many Japanese universities, this is final exam week (my university just finished exams yesterday), so faculty members are super busy with grading and might take a little longer than usual to respond. (Even if you have contacted an admin office, which shouldn’t be affected, if they need to consult with faculty, it could take longer).
In the meantime, though, it might be best to consider a back-up plan just in case the university comes back to you with a negative reply later.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you for your response. This is me again, I’m sorry for asking too much but I hope you can help me. I have contacted one university (my 2nd choice) for the LoA, and they apparently need me to pay 5,000 yen for the application fee. However, I think I don’t want to proceed anymore as I have financial difficulties at the moment. So my question is, is it okay for me to withdraw my application? Will it not affect my second screening?
Thank you.
Hi SH,
I have never heard of a university asking for an application fee for a Letter of Provisional Acceptance before. That sounds wrong to me, since MEXT Scholars are supposed to be exempt from paying admission fees. I think it is fine for you to withdraw your application there and try somewhere else. As long as you are able to get an LoPA from another university, withdrawing from that university’s application should not hurt you.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis!
Is it allowed to put only 2 universities on the placement preference form, even though I had 3 universities on the previous one?
Thank you so much
-Emma
Hi Emma,
As far as I know, there would be no problem!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Greetings Travis,
I applied for UG Humanities stream (BBA)
As per their instructions, I’ve taken the exams on 9th July (India), Didn’t Do any Math, only English, Little to no Japanese,
The lady Representative (Japanese) at the test centre have said that within one week the applicants who have passed the examination will receive an Email while rest of them don’t,
Haven’t received any email from them after That, it’s means that I don’t pass the exams right?
I’m surfing through socials, Most of the people in India said no,
Is there any chances for me to make through the examination screening?
Thank you
Hi Navin,
All undergraduate applicants should take one of the Math exams, either A or B, so I’m not sure why you didn’t take it.
If they told you that only successful applicants receive the emails and that the emails should be out in a week, then it sounds like you weren’t successful. However, since July 16 was a Saturday and July 18 was a Japanese national holiday, you might want to wait another day before concluding that was the case. (Unless you hear from other people who tested at the same center that they have their results.)
I’m sorry I don’t have better news for you.
– Travis from TranSenz
It’s okay Travis there’s always another year, I did taken the math exam but I couldn’t do it, and some of the applicants across the internet have said that they didn’t receive any emails from them, that’s why I’m asking because according to their timeline the first screening results released on early April.
Anyways
because of your blog i made this far,
Thank you ,
Hi Navin,
Thank you for your follow-up and for your kind words.
No matter what your field of study is, you would have to do fairly well on the math exam in order to progress, so before you apply again next year, I recommend that you work on that material.
After the tests, there is one final step to the Primary Screening, the interview. So that is probably why they said the Primary Screening results would be out in August. It sounds like your embassy conducted a round of eliminations after the test and before the interviews, and most embassies also conduct a round of eliminations after the document screening, so it is possible to receive a negative result earlier than the ultimate Primary Screening results release.
Good Luck next time around!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you Travis
Hey Travis, i got recieved the email today from my embassy, as i expected i got rejected, i just wanted to inform you,
Thank you
Hi Navin,
I am very sorry to hear that, but from what I understand the exam results are very important in the undergraduate screening, so based on how you described your results on the math exam, it isn’t very surprising. I hope that you will have a chance to try again in the future!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you Travis. It is with great delight that I inform you that I have been confirmed by my university as a mext-sponsored student for October 2022. My school sent me via DHL original acceptance letter and mext result. As for COE, it wasn’t included in it. How are mext scholars going to do about it? I sent my school email but they are yet to respond.
So now, it is practically sure I will be in Japan this year right?
Hi Chaiks,
Congratulations! I’m very happy to hear that you have been selected for the scholarship!
MEXT Scholars do not need CoEs, since you are essentially being invited to Japan by the government. There is a special process for your visa application and you should receive more information about how to apply from the Japanese embassy/consulate that you indicated in your application.
Congratulation again!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis!
First of all, thank you so much for your blog. Thanks to all the information, I was able to pass primary screening on my second try!
I would like to ask a question about the next stage – is there a kind of screening during the application for the LOA? Apart from having the language ability and approval of the prospective supervisor (and contacting the university before the deadline), is there anything else universities could (potentially) take into account?
Hi Anke,
Congratulations on passing the Primary Screening! In many countries, it seems like it was particularly competitive this year, so you must have put together quite a strong application this second time!
There is a screening involved in the Letter of Provisional Acceptance process, but, in general, the university screening criteria are going to be less severe than the Embassy’s Primary Screening, so it should not be a problem as long as you have the language ability and your advisor is able to accept you. The only time you might run into a competitive evaluation is if there are more applicants for a particular professor’s lab than that professor can supervise, but I have never heard of that happening.
Otherwise, the only thing that universities might look at more closely than the Embassy would be your academic performance specifically in courses related to your major (as opposed to your overall GPA), but again, I have never seen an applicant rejected on that basis. It has only ever been because of language or non-availability of the professor.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz