The gold at the end of the rainbow is so close, you can taste it!
(Photo Credit: Marc Veraat, CC BY 2.0 , modified for size).
For Embassy-Recommended MEXT Scholarship applicants, winter can be a nerve-wracking time. You have passed the Primary Screening, acquired your LoAs and turned them in to the Japanese Embassy or Consulate and . . . heard nothing but silence for months.
Understandably, that leaves a lot of applicants worried: Am I going to get the scholarship? Will I be placed in my first-choice university? Will I go into the Japanese language program? When am I going to hear any news?
Well, first things first:
At this point, you are practically certain to receive the MEXT scholarship!
I have never heard of any applicant that passed the Primary Screening and submitted at least one LoA that did not ultimately receive the scholarship. So you do not need to worry about that. Time to move on to the next important question: What comes next?
Secondary Screening Results
After you submitted your Letters of Acceptance to the Embassy, your application went to MEXT for the Secondary Screening. But don’t worry, this is not a competitive screening!
The Secondary Screening is only making sure that all of your paperwork has been completed correctly and there are no problems with your application. If you have passed the Primary Screening and turned in at least one Letter of Acceptance, then you should have nothing to worry about at this point.
The only way I know of to lose the scholarship at the secondary screening is if MEXT determines that your research subject is into weapons technology or dual-use technology (which should have already been caught at the Primary Screening level), or if MEXT uncovers a deliberate lie in your application materials or a criminal record that would prevent you from being able to get a visa for Japan.
Again, I have never heard of any of those things happening. You should have absolutely nothing to worry about.
Secondary Screening Results: When Are They Available?
Unfortunately, like so many other things in Japan, the answer is, “It depends.”
In 2017, applicants from several countries (Albania, Angola, India, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, Turkey, US, UK) reported receiving confirmation of passing the Secondary Screening by the end of November.
If you have received your confirmation of passing the secondary screening, please share the date and your country in the comments below!
It is up to each individual Embassy or Consulate to decide when, or even if, they will tell applicants that they have passed the Secondary Screening. Some may wait and announce the Secondary Screening and University Placement results at the same time. The timing may even differ between consulates within the same country. The only way to find out when – or if – you will get notified is to check the application guidelines for your embassy and, if the answer isn’t written there, to contact them directly.
Again, it is not a competitive screening and you should have nothing to worry about, so there really is no need, but I understand that your future is on the line here and you might be a little nervous!
University Placement
After you pass the Secondary Screening, MEXT will start contacting the universities on your placement preference form to ask them to start accepting you. MEXT contacts universities one at a time in the preference order that you gave, except that if your top choice(s) are private or public universities, MEXT may contact your highest choice National University, first. There is really nothing you can do about it.
When MEXT contacts the universities, they will ask if the university will accept you, what status they will accept you as, and whether or not the university wants you to participate in the semester-long language training program, first.
Enrollment Status
By “status”, I mean, whether the university will accept you as a research (non-degree) or degree-seeking student at first. As I wrote in a previous article, the university has three opportunities to designate your status (or upgrade you from Research Student to Degree student – you will not be downgraded). The first is when it issues your LoA. The second is the University Placement phase. If you were initially given an LoA as a research student, but passed the university’s entrance exam before the placement phase, the University can upgrade your status to degree-seeking student at this point.
The third opportunity will be when you arrive in Japan. You still have a chance after the university placement to take and pass the entrance exam and arrive as a degree-seeking student.
Japanese Language Program
If you have relatively low Japanese language ability, the university may decide to assign you to spend your first semester in an intensive Japanese language program before starting your studies. This program is designed to help you learn day-to-day Japanese so that you can accomplish tasks like shopping, traveling, and communicating with your landlord, etc.
It is not an academic Japanese program. It will not help you improve your Japanese to the level that you would be able to take classes or conduct research in Japanese.
If you have a moderate level of Japanese ability already – and especially if you are enrolling in a program taught in Japanese – then you are unlikely to be enrolled in this program.
Depending on your assigned university, the Japanese language program may be held at the same university where you will study or (especially in the case of private universities) it may be at another university in the same city.
University Placement Results: When Are They Available
Once again, this varies based on each embassy or consulate.
Typically, they will not release the results for any applicants until all applicants through that embassy or consulate have been placed. That means that if everyone gets accepted by the first university that MEXT contacts, you may find out your results early. However, if even one applicant does not get places in the first university and MEXT has to contact a second or third university, everyone’s results could be delayed.
The important thing to take away is that just because your results are slower than someone else’s in another country, that does not indicate that you won’t get the scholarship or that you won’t get your first choice. There are many other factors at play!
As of the 2017 application cycle, a large number of countries saw their results released during the second week of January. For that year, at least, that seemed to be the default date if everyone got into their first choice. There were also one or two examples of consulates where the one person who handled MEXT scholarships was out sick that day, so results came later.
In the case of India, at least one embassy or consulate had announced that results would be available in February, but then ended up releasing them in late January.
University Placement Results: How Are They Released
Embassies or consulates typically contact applicants by email.
If you have received your university placement, please share the date and your country in the comments below!
University Placement: Unofficial Results in Advance
There are two ways that applicants often find out their university placement results before the official announcement (sometimes even before the Secondary Screening results announcement). Technically, neither one should happen, but if you do find out this way, you can consider the results to be correct.
On the other hand, if you do not hear unofficial results, do not take that as a bad sign (and do not ask for them). It just means that the university is actually following MEXT’s rules.
Adviser Leak
If you have stayed in touch with the professor that you asked for an LoA, then sometimes that professor will tell you directly that you have been placed in his or her lab. That could even happen before the university confirms your acceptance to MEXT, but there is no reason to think that they would change your name.
If a professor that issued you an LoA contacts you to say that you have been accepted to his or her lab, consider that to be unofficial, but accurate.
Housing Leak
In the case of students who will arrive in April, sometimes the university’s housing office will contact you before you get the final MEXT results to invite you to apply for housing.
The only reason that the housing office would have your contact information would be if you were on the university’s list of students to enroll in the spring, so you can consider this to be confirmation that you will be assigned to that university.
I also recommend that you follow up on those emails and apply for housing if you are interested. The chances are good that by the time you get the official results, you may miss the housing deadlines, so do not delay!
What To Do After Getting Your Official University Placement Results
First contact any other university or professor that you had been in touch with about letters of acceptance, tell them that you have been placed in another university, thank them for their support, and say that you still look forward to working with them in the future.
After all, you will still be a scholar in the same field in Japan, and there are a limited number of universities teaching in each field in English, so there is a good chance you will cross paths again in the future.
Preparing for Your Departure
The timing can vary significantly, depending on when you will start your timing in Japan.
If your future university has contacted you about housing and you haven’t followed up yet, do that right away.
The university will usually contact you and tell you what day that they want you to arrive. Later, a travel agency will contact you to arrange your tickets, so be sure to arrive in time for the dates assigned by your university!
You will also have to complete a visa application, but there is a special Student Visa application process for MEXT scholars, so look for instructions from the Embassy or consulate about that process.
Share Your Experience!
If you are applying for the Embassy Recommended MEXT Scholarship, please let us know when you got your notification, as well as the country your are applying for, in the comments below.
Of course feel free to ask any questions below, as well.
Special Thanks
Special thanks to the TranSenz supporters on Patreon, especially Daimyo Supporter Kenzo who pledges $10 per month to show his support! You can show your support for TranSenz on Patreon for as little as $1 (0.08% of a MEXT monthly stipend) per month. If TranSenz has helped you in your application process and you want to “pay it forward” to keep this site running to help future applicants, every contribution helps!
If you want to show your support but Patreon is out of reach, I’d appreciate it if you say hi on social media or in the comments below to let me know if you appreciate these posts. You can find me on facebook at @TranSenz or on Twitter at @tagsenzaki. I look forward to saying hi!
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Hi Travis, I have passed the primary screening and am now in the process of applying to universities. I have one confusion, the embassy has specified 25th August as the deadline for making a request to a particular university for LoA, and it is also said that the LoA might be given anytime till September 27th. Since we can contact only two universities at a time, I am not sure what will happen in case I don’t hear from either of the two universities before August 25, but find out later that I have not been accepted in either? I would have no time to contact the third university also then, since the deadline would have passed. I am confused how that woul work. Kindly give your insights on the same? Thank you!
Hi Arundhati,
Your understanding is correct. If the first two universities that you contact do not reply before Aug 25 and ultimately do not accept your application, then you would not be able to apply to any other universities for a Letter of Acceptance.
In that case, you would turn in your Placement Preference Form again without any Letters of Provisional Acceptance. You could list three universities on that form, even if you have never contacted them. (But you cannot list the universities that rejected your application.) If you pass the Secondary Screening, then MEXT would still try to contact the universities on your list, even if you never applied to them for a Letter of Provisional Acceptance.
In my experience, though, it’s pretty rare for an applicant to get rejected by both universities, especially if they have thoroughly researched the professors’ fields and avoided the common mistakes I mention in my article about the Letter of Provisional Acceptance. Getting a Letter of Provisional Acceptance should not be as competitive as passing the Primary Screening!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you for you reply, Travis! I have heard from one of the universities, the graduate school has called me for an interview. I had been in touch with the professor and he was very kind to be throughout, and I also feel prepared to answer questions about my research so I am not very worried, but still a little nervous about what else might be asked. If you have any suggestions, they would be welcome!
Hi Arundhati,
The professor’s interview is likely to be a little different from the Embassy interview, since they will be focused on the academic/research side, while also trying to determine if you are the kind of student that they can get along with in their lab.
I have an article about university interviews from the series about the University-Recommended MEXT Scholarship that might provide some useful hints!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hey,
I’m do thankful for your blog, it’s so helpful !!
I would ask for your expertise,
I have had my interview in in 22 of June, but I didn’t receive any updates until today (9 July). does it mean that I haven’t pass the first screening, and do you think it would be wise to contact them or it’s better to give them some time?
Thank you so much
Regards
Maryam
Hi Maryam,
Did the embassy tell you anything about what to expect after your interview? Such as when the results would come out and whether they would contact everyone or just successful applicants?
It would surprise me if they didn’t give you your results one way or another at this point. I have heard of embassies not contacting unsuccessful applicants after the document screening, but anyone who makes it this far, to the interviews, should get a direct message.
See if you can find out from forums, etc., if anyone else in your country has gotten their results yet. If they have and you haven’t then it would be a good idea to contact the embassy. But if you find that everyone else is waiting, too, then it’s probably a case of slow bureaucracy.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
This blog has been really helpful for me throughout the application process. I’m extremely thankful for your posts.
I’m from India and I would like to post the date in which the second screening results arrived. The embassy sent the official confirmation of the second screening results on 14th February.
I have one query regarding the visa application process. When I applied for the visa, there wasn’t a visa class called student visa for japan and they insisted on applying for a business class(single entry) visa. Please let me know if it would cause a problem.
Hi Sam Kingsly J,
Thank you very much for sharing your results and the announcement date! Congratulations.
For the visa, there is a specific visa process for MEXT Scholars, so you need to make sure you are following their instructions for that process. You must have a student visa (this category absolutely exists!) and a student residence status in Japan to remain eligible for the scholarship.
If you are trying to apply for a visa on your own, I recommend that you stop and wait for instruction from the embassy/MEXT. They will tell you about the specific application process for MEXT scholars.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Here sharing the confirmation day from Vietnam. I got the final result on 7 Feb, 2023 and luckily have been chosen to receive the scholarship. Thank you for all your sharing on this scholarship. Without your support, this wouldn’t have happened! so thank you for everything.
Moreover, i have one question regarding the entrance exam to upgrade my student status, what are the scenarios for those who are not able to pass the exam? Atm, im following up with the school to see how the exam will take place.
Hi Minh,
Congratulations! Thank you very much for sharing your results and for your kind words.
For the entrance exam, if you start as a research student, you can take it multiple times up until the end of your maximum allowable research student period. You would have to apply for the MEXT Scholarship extension once per academic year and then apply for admission to the degree program each semester until you are accepted. (It is not common for applicants to need multiple attempts, so I wouldn’t worry about it too much, I just wanted to let you know.)
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
May I ask one more question?
If i enter the apr 2023 entrance as non regular with a scholarship period stated in the acceptance letter from apr. 2023 to apr. 2025 while passing the closest entrance exam in sep. 2023, i will become a regular one with a academic period sep. 2023 to sep. 2025 (end of program).
And if i understand correctly, i then apply for a scholarship extension for a 6month period to Mext with the help from the international office at the University.
Please kindly give me any suggestions from your exp. on this as much appreciated!
Thank you and have a nice day
Hi Minh,
Actually, you need to apply for the scholarship extension when you change status (e.g. from Research Student to Master’s Degree Student), even if you still have time remaining on your research student period.
In your case, since you’re planning to move up from Research Student to Master’s student in September, you’ll have to apply for the scholarship extension almost immediately after arriving in Japan. (There’s a special scholarship extension application period exclusively for scholars like you who arrive in April and will extend in September. Your university should be able to give you more information.)
The scholarship extension application and the application for admission to the degree program should be simultaneous and you would need the scholarship extension to be approved before you start the degree.
When you apply for the extension, the new scholarship completely replaces the old one, so you’d be applying for a 2-year extension for the Master’s degree starting in September 2023.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you so much for this much insightful comment! I can’t thank you enough!
Out of topic here, could you please kindly any suggestions to make out the most of this non-regular period?
My plan is:
– Taking courses in the degree program and JPN Language training classes (I believe I am eligible for that)
– Taking part in academic activities
– Visiting here and there, getting to know the people and the culture
Very much appreciated to have your input!
Thank you so much for your precious time!
Kind Regards,
Hi Minh,
Do you know whether or not you will be participating in the Japanese language program during your first semester as a research student? If so, that is going to be your primary activity, since it’s rather time-intensive. In some cases (depending on your university), it might even be held at a different university from where you will study. If you are in the language program, you probably won’t have the time to take any courses that will end up counting toward your degree, but you can still meet with your advisor and get started with your research, such as the literature review and finalizing your research topic. You can do that even if your language program is at another university.
If you are not participating in the Japanese language program and will be a research student at the university where you plan to enroll for the degree, then you would be able to take some courses (you will be able to transfer the credits for those courses to count toward your degree later) and start your research that you proposed in coordination with your advisor.
In either case, though, it’s not going to be a period of “free time”. You will still need to be focused on academics and research since you will be a university student on a student visa, so don’t expect to be able to travel and visit here and there except in the time outside of your studies. (Of course, if it’s site visits for your research, that is allowed!)
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
This is a random question, but if I hypothetically drop out of scholarship, would I be asked to pay anything back?
Thank you
Hi Bella,
No. I have never heard of an applicant being asked to pay anything back in terms of the scholarship. Dropping out after starting the scholarship would prevent you from applying again for three years (the same as someone who had completed their scholarship-funded studies), but that’s about the only penalty I know of.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
thank you for your amazing blog, as I could pass the primary screening and obtain LoA thanks to you and I am currently waiting for results of second screening (research student).
I would like to ask a question:
I have taken an entrance exam for Tokyo University and waiting for results, as I would like to start in April as a Master degree student instead of research student.
If I pass, do I need to inform embassy or someone, or it will be automatically adjusted by university?
Thank you very much
Hi Brittany,
Congratulations on passing the Primary Screening and getting an LoA!
I assume the LoA was from the University of Tokyo.
You should not need to inform the embassy or anyone else. The university should handle the required processing. If you had passed the entrance exam before the university confirmed to MEXT that they would accept you in the Placement step, then they could have already informed MEXT that they would accept you as a degree student at that point. Otherwise, they will have the chance to change your status from research student to degree student on your arrival. (I’m assuming you will not be completing the language semester first.)
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis.
First of all i want to thank you for this amazing blog due to which i was able to pass the 2nd screening as an undergraduate student.
I just had small doubt that can my scholarship still get cancelled even after passing the 2nd screening or can I rest assured?
I have this doubt since called the university and they told me to wait till February even though I have recieved the 2nd screening acceptance letter
Just some typos, but in this instance i have called the Embassy and not the University
Hi Chinmay,
Thank you for your kind words and congratulations on passing the 2nd screening! I do not think it is possible to get the scholarship cancelled at this point, but of course the Embassy will refuse to give you a final confirmation until they can confirm every applicant’s results all at once on the official release date, so calling them now is meaningless.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
The results for undergrads have been rolling out over the week and I’m finding myself increasingly on the edge. I have two private university LoA and still can’t shake off the feeling of uncertainty for not yet being confirmed for the scholarship. Surely there should be nothing to worry about for the upcoming announcements for us for research students?
Your book and blog have been invaluable so far.
Kind regards,
Hi Thom,
Thank you for your feedback!
Wow! I’m surprised to hear that the undergrad results are coming out already! The guidelines said they were anticipated by the end of January, and MEXT is usually late, not early.
For the graduate scholarship, the expected release date is between Jan – Feb 2023. So, it was already projected to be later than the undergrad results, before they came early.
If you passed the Primary Screening and got two LoAs, I cannot imagine you not winning the scholarship in the end, but I understand the stress of waiting for an answer! The delay has nothing to do with you or the quality of your application, though, it’s just a matter of slow bureaucratic processing.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis, thank you for the useful content and efforts as usual.
I have a question that is long overdue, but better asking late than never.
I passed the first screening (Research Students) in my country in July and was thus granted the permission to request LoAs. I searched for and solicited professors who had research interests similar to mine, but in vain. For a reason or another, all of them rejected my application. The only university which sent me an LoA was a private university in Tokyo.
The problem is, the advisor which was assigned to me was nothing but a tentatively designated one. Which means i had no contact with him beforehand whatsoever, nor does his research interests fit with mine. It was as if the university “filled the gap” with his name just in order to provide me with a LoA.
Have you ever heard of similar cases? If yes, would that have any influence over my chances in the second screening?
Looking forward to your answer.
Hi Amine,
Just to double-check, but when you applied to that university, you didn’t specify an advisor that you want to work with? Or you did, but the university replaced that professor with someone else?
I am familiar with cases where universities do not assign advisors to students at the start of their studies. For example the Master’s program in Economics at the university where I processed applications for MEXT only assigned thesis advisors to students at the end of their first year of studies, so for the MEXT LoA, they would just fill in a tentative name.
There was never any problem with those students being accepted or earning the scholarship, as far as I know. So, if it was a deliberate decision by the university to designate that professor as a placeholder advisor, it shouldn’t be a problem for your selection.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
Many thanks for your insightful answer, I am truly reassured by it. In fact, I did specify a professor I wanted to work with, and the university put the placeholder advisor’s name instead. By the way, the program I applied to is an MBA in which the thesis could take various forms other than a traditional academic piece of writing (business plan, case study, etc). So I guess not much pressure would be put on students concerning that part.
All my gratitude, you are a wonderful person.
Hi Amine,
Thank your for your kind words!
Your situation is not surprising for an MBA program. I think that kind of program would be more likely to defer deciding on your advisor. It’ll probably still be a while before the final results are out, but I don’t think you should have anything to worry about.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
hello Travis.
Thank you so much for helping us with your great website.
I have a question regarding the second screening procedure. some of my friends received emails from their professors asking them about the time of departure. I believe these were applicants applicants whose professors didn’t determine whether they want the student in April or September in the letter of provisional acceptance. However, after seeing them all talking about their professors, I became nervous and emailed my Professor, asking him whether mext has contacted him or not. My professor told me that the ministry hasn’t contacted him… I can’t tell how devastating the news was for me but I wanted to ask you this: is it possible for mext to not contact any of our preferences as a form of rejection?
thank you
Hi Marry,
MEXT does not contact all of the universities on your list, they contact them one-by-one and only contact a second university if the first one declines to accept you. So, it’s possible that if you had multiple universities on your list that MEXT contacted a different one.
MEXT also does not contact professors directly. They contact the admin office that handles the scholarship paperwork. If the admin office didn’t need to follow up with your professor for any questions (e.g. when the professor wants you to arrive in Japan), then it’s possible that they simply processed the application at the admin level and didn’t tell the professor.
If you had failed the secondary screening for some reason, usually, I have seen that embassies would tell you about that result before the application process moved on to contacting universities, so I think it’s too early to give up hope. There could be many different reasons why the professor didn’t know. (And universities and professors are not supposed to contact applicants to tell them the results at this stage, anyway.)
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you for the useful article.
Thanks to this blog, I was able to pass the primary screening for the embassy-recommended graduate-level scholarship. I also obtained 2 LoAs (both from national universities)
If you don’t mind answering, I would like to confirm regarding the “unofficial secondary screening acceptance” leak.
Earlier today I was contacted by the professor from my 1st university of choice. She stated that she’s currently preparing the documents for the acceptance of international students, then proceeded to ask me for my desired period of arrival (Apr/Oct) and if I wanted to take the preparatory Japanese language class. She didn’t mention anything about her accepting me or if I would be placed on that university.
Still, I think that if she’s preparing the acceptance documents, she should be accepting me as a research student under her care.
Is my understanding correct? Can her email be interpreted as a strong, albeit unofficial, hint that I will be accepted on that university? Or am I getting ahead of myself?
Your help is appreciated.
Hi Tunamayo,
Yes! I would say that the communication from the professor is an almost certain (if unofficial) confirmation that you have been selected for the scholarship and will be placed at that university. The only reason she would be preparing your acceptance documents at this point and asking about the language program would be if MEXT contacted that university to request that they confirm your placement there.
It will be a little longer before the official confirmation, but it sounds like you got an early Christmas present!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you a lot for your hard work! Thank to that I have been able to obtain two LoAs and submitted them to the embassy.
I have called the embassy and they told me it is okay to submit LoAs and documents that need adjustment by email. So I submitted my two LoAs, as well as an adjusted Placement Form. And I stated in the email subject as “Final version”.
I have read this blog post a few times before, but now reading it again I realized something, which is I have never checked if my third choice university is a public or private univ. I did a quick check and, yes, it is a public university. So my current situation is like this:
– 1st: Waseda University, private, has LoA.
– 2nd: Nihon University, private, has LoA.
– 3rd: Tsukuba University, public, never contacted (university require contacting professor directly).
In this case, is it likely that MEXT still try to place me in my third choice university? And if they do, is it likely that the university will accept me?
If both the answer is ‘Yes’, then is it okay to adjust the placement form, changing 3rd choice or remove it, and submit it to the embassy again?
My country’s embassy set the deadline to be 29th, so there is still a bit of time left. However I don’t know if it is okay to re-submit document like this, especially I am the one who declared the previous email “Final”.
Hi SK,
Since you don’t have an LoA from the third choice university, even though it’s national, I think MEXT will prioritize the universities that have issued you LoAs.
I cannot say for certain that is what they will do, but I cannot see any reason why they would skip over a university that HAD offered you an LoA in favor of a university where you never applied.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis! I’m Shafa from Indonesia. Thank you very much for writing a useful blog post. I have been very anxious about the secondary screening result. I recently met my friend who was a Kosen (College of Technology) secondary screening candidate from Indonesia. She unfortunately didn’t pass the secondary screening for 2018 departure. This got me worried as a 2023 research student candidate. I have collected all my paperwork, including the 1 LoA from the Tokyo Tech which prosfessor I have a close network with. However, this story of my friend made me so anxious. Is there any difference in the passing rate of research student with the other types of scholarships? Since undergraduate and CoT didn’t need any LoA is it normal to be rejected even in secondary screening? And will it have the same case with research student? Thank you.
Hi Shafa,
I don’t know as much about the other scholarship application types, like kosen and undergraduate, but my understanding is that it’s pretty rare to be rejected during the secondary screening in any of the application types, especially in the scholarship for graduate students. Usually, every embassy knows how many applicants they can nominate, and only that number passes the primary screening. So, in that case, there is nothing competitive about the secondary screening and almost everyone should pass.
However, there was one exception in 2019. It seems like MEXT reduced the number of applicants that each embassy and university could nominate suddenly, after the Primary Screening was already complete in some countries. That meant that a lot of applicants ended up getting rejected during the Secondary Screening to reduce the numbers.
That was also the year that Japan made university education free for low-income families, so I suspect that had a major impact on MEXT’s budget and contributed to the reduced number of scholarships. Since then, the scholarship numbers have stayed at that low number, so I do not think they will be reduced again.
I’m not sure what might have happened to your friend in her application, but the processes are different so you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello, Is it late for me now to apply for the MEXT scholarship 2023 and when is the scholarship going to be available in 2024
Hi Hollow,
The application for the Embassy-Recommended MEXT Scholarship usually opens in April, with the deadline in May or early June, of the year before you would arrive in Japan. So the application for 2023 is over and the application guidelines for 2024 should be out in April 2023.
However, there should still be time to apply for the University-Recommended MEXT Scholarship for 2023. That application process usually opens in the fall, but the timing and the application process is different at each university, so you’ll have to check the website of the university where you want to apply for their instructions.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi! I hope you are doing well.
If you don’t mind, I have a question.
“Well, first things first:
At this point, you are practically certain to receive the MEXT scholarship!”
Is that the same with undergraduate recommended applicants too? Or just postgraduate?
Thank you!
Hi Daniela,
Unfortunately, with thousands of comments on this site, I’m afraid I don’t remember what I was replying to in the case of the one that you quoted, so I can’t be sure. Could you let me know what your situation is so that I can better answer your question?
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi! I’m sorry for the late reply. That quote was from ‘Embassy Recommended MEXT Scholarship: Secondary Screening and Placement’, where you wrote about students recommended by embassy are almost sure to get the final approval of the second screening. I was wondering if that is the case for undergraduate applicants too, because of what I have been told, even in this stage the chances can be low because the competition is global for undergraduate. Thank you.
Hi Daniela,
Thank you for the follow-up information!
As far as I know, undergraduate students are not competing globally for the scholarship. Just like the scholarship for graduate students, my understanding is that there is a quota for each country and the embassies know in advance how many applicants they are allowed to nominate. In that case, the situation would be the same as the scholarship for graduate students and you would also be almost sure to be selected for the scholarship in the end.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thanks for this post, i just stumbled on it while searching for progress on mext 2023.
I don’t know if you could help. I’ve submitted all my application form since May and I heard most people has already been receiving mail for first screening in Nigeria. Although I submitted towards deadline.
So,I’ll like to ask if mext screening takes batch in sending mail for screening or if one doesn’t receive any mail it means I’m not qualified?
Hi Kafayat,
The primary screening is handled entirely by the local Japanese embassy, so all of the notification are going to come from the embassy, not MEXT. That means that the schedule and how they send out the notifications for every country is going to be different. Some countries will notify all applicants of their results, but others only contact successful applicants. Unfortunately, I do not know what the case is in Nigeria. Since it has been more than a month since the deadline, it you haven’t yet heard back about the results of the document screening and gotten an invitation to the exams/interviews, I’m afraid that most likely means that your application wasn’t successful, but you could always contact the embassy for confirmation!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
hi Travis
it’s been almost a year since I’m following your contents regularly and I really appreciate them because they helped me a lot.
regarding the second screening I have a question which I will appreciate it if you could help me with.
I know that you have mentioned graduate students who have provided at leat one letter of acceptance are practically certain to pass the second screening unless they have told a deliberate lie or their major is banned or they had criminal records. However I wanted to ask is it possible for us to become rejected in second screening if we have obtained other countries’ scholarship? I mean I may have applied for other countries along with mext as well but I didn’t accept them after I passed the first screening in mext scholarship. so is it possible for them to check us in all countries to know whether we have applied for other programs and reject us based on it ?
thank you
oh I have to mention something important as well.
I am aware that mext candidates are not allowed to receive any other scholarships equivalent to mext duration and amount. In the application form they asked this question whether we are receiving or applying for other scholarships and if yes they asked us to name them, however I answered this question with a no since I wasn’t simultaneously applying to any other scholarships or receiving any, despite the fact that I have applied for some scholarships 3 months prior to mext. I’m planning to cancel them upon being awarded mext scholarship but do you think they will consider my application form answer as a lie and reject me because of it? I didn’t really mean to answer them with a lie but I really thought there is no need to mention my previous applications as long as I withdraw from them after gaining mext scholarship. I’m really worried :
Hi Sahar Hassani,
If you had already applied to other scholarships and had not cancelled your application before submitting your MEXT application, that would be considered “simultaneously applying”. Simultaneously applying means that you have an application open at the same time, even if you have already submitted all of the application paperwork and are just waiting for the results, so your situation is the perfect example of when it would be required to fill out the question about other scholarship. Not declaring those scholarships (saying that you were not applying for other scholarships simultaneously) would be considered a false statement on your application and could be grounds for disqualification/rejection.
If your other applications are discovered, then I think that could be a problem. I’m not sure how MEXT would discover them – I don’t think they have a process to systematically check every other scholarship in the world – but if they do find that information, then it could result in your being disqualified.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
thank you so much for your answer sir, but there is something else that I want to share. actually in the application form they asked us (are you receiving any other scholarships together with mext) and my answer to this question was no because I wasn’t and still am not receiving any other scholarships but at the second part of this question they asked us (if you are receiving or applying for another scholarship please name them) and here I didn’t mention my previous applications because I thought they aren’t asking about them. so do you still think I answered the application form incorrectly? if so, I have an upcoming interview with Japan embassy for mext, do you think I should inform them about this and tell them I didn’t know that I have to mention my past applications? ?
Hi Sahar Hassani,
If you have applied for a scholarship but have not yet gotten the final result, then that is exactly what the question is asking about when it asks if you are “currently applying.” (If you applied, were approved, but the scholarship payment period hasn’t started, then that would be considered “receiving a scholarship or planning to receive one”).
So, unless you have already gotten rejection letters from every other scholarship you applied to, then you are “currently applying” and did not answer the question truthfully/accurately.
Unless you plan to cancel/withdraw from all of your other ongoing applications before the embassy interview, yes, I recommend that you inform them that you have applied for other scholarships but didn’t realize that was what the question meant.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Sahar Hassani,
Thank you for your kind words.
If you were applying for scholarships from other countries at the same time, but turned them down or will turn then down once you are accepted for MEXT, then that is not a problem. As long as you don’t end up accepting the other scholarships, that would not be an issue.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis.
I wanted to say thank you for all the amazing job and the knowledge you put out in this blog. It was very helpful throughout the application process. Thanks to them I was able to get the 2022 scholarship.
But there is one question I wanted to ask. I was placed as research student and I will apply for master’s course in July and take the exams August. My question is, will the be the only chance to upgrade my status and what will happen if I fail the written exam. Will be my student status or scholarship status terminated? Or do I have another chance to apply again for the next semester?
I am a little hesitant to ask this question from my supervisor.
Thank you in advance.
Hi Muxammad Raximov,
Thank you for your kind feedback!
I have heard in the past of applicants who did not succeed in applying for entrance to the degree program the first time. From what I understand, they were able to withdraw their scholarship extension application and remain as research students for another semester to try again. If you started your scholarship in April 2022, you should have a maximum of 2 years that you can spend as a research student (including the semester as a language student, if applicable), so you should be able to keep trying again as long as you remain within those two years.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Understood! Thank you very much for the answer.
Hello Travis,
Hope you are doing well.
I have been quite a regular in your blog since last year as I had no idea how to proceed with the scholarship procedures. I am very grateful and pleased to confirm that I have been selected for my first choice university and the scholarship for the entry in April. I am very thankful to you and all the people who have shared their experiences on the blog that guided me during the last year.
Regarding travelling, I have been advised to wait due to Covid-19 restrictions in Japan and about the min 7 days self paid quarantine that will be required once I arrive. Do you have any information if the universities provide these arrangements or we need to choose the place?
Thank you very much in advance and I look forward to hearing from you!
Warm regards,
Krishtee
Hi Krishtee,
Congratulations! I am thrilled to hear that you earned the scholarship and got placed at your first-choice university. I am also very happy to hear that this blog was a little helpful in the process.
Last week, the Japanese government made a major announcement about the borders reopening and a change to the quarantine procedures starting in March 2022. The details haven’t all been finalized yet, so I think you can expect more guidance from MEXT or your university about the actual quarantine procedures, but I think you can expect more details specific to your case in the next couple of weeks.
For now, the quarantine is 7 days, in general, but it can be shortened to three days or, in some cases, exempted entirely. It all depends on:
Based on the combination of those two variables, there are four patterns for quarantine that may cost you or may not. But this was just announced over the weekend, so Japanese universities are still in the process of deciding how to handle quarantine for their students based on the university’s unique situation. Hopefully, you should get some specific information soon!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Greetings Travis. Thank you for the wonderful work you’ve done so far in relation to providing relevant information concerning MEXT SCHOLARSHIP. Can you confirm if the JAPANESE EMBASSY in some countries have offered VISAS to MEXT SCHOLARSHIP recipients expected to start school in April 2022?
I’m told there might be a delay this time around because of a backlog of 2021 recipients who are yet to enter Japan.
The reason I’m asking these questions is because the entrance ceremony for my first choice school I’ve been placed in is on April 3 and I’m yet to receive a call from the Japanese embassy in my country in relation to my departure. All the relevant procedures with my school has been sorted. They asked for a soft copy of my passport, photograph for student ID card and made me fill a student registration form.
My Japanese Language class starts April 8.
Hi Pappy,
I haven’t heard any reports from April 2022 scholars about their visa issuance or flight plans yet.
From what I understand, your host university has to register you in the ERFS system for new arrivals to Japan – that is probably why they asked for your passport, among other things. From there, they send that information to MEXT who will work with MOFA to get your visas issues and flights arranged.
Right now, there is a limit of 7,000 people per day who can enter Japan, including new international arrivals, Japanese returning from overseas, etc., so there is likely to be a little bit of a backlog, but I think they are trying to get all students (including MEXT scholars and privately financed students) into the country by the end of May.
Hopefully, you should hear more from the Embassy, soon. Once you do hear from them, I suspect you will not have much notice until your flight!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Greetings Krishtee, Congratulations. I’ve also been awarded the 2022 MEXT SCHOLARSHIP from Ghana and due to start school in April at my first choice university. Just want to inquire from you whether you’ve heard from the Japanese embassy in your home country when you’d be leaving.
Hi Pappy,
I apologize for the (extremely) late reply. Actually I didn’t check the comment section for a long time and missed your comment.
Congratulations on getting MEXT Scholarship and your first choice. I travelled Mid- May to Tokyo and had to undergo a 5 day quarantine. Hope your travel to Japan went on well and enjoy your time here.
Sincerely,
Krishtee
Dear Travis,
I left several questions back in 2020 and you were kind enough to answer them all. Unfortunately, the 2020/2021 scholarship was canceled here (I’m from Iraq) due to Covid-19 but I made it to 2021/2022 and just yesterday I have received the final results that I got the scholarship (2/15). I can’t thank you enough for your help whether through the blog or the further explanation in your answers, and I’m sure many others were able to reach this point thanks to your content.
I have a couple more of my questions though! I will reach out to the university I got in and I was wondering do you think it would be better to ask permission to contact my supervisor at this point or is it too early ( I chose the fall semester)? or can I go ahead and contact him directly?
Also, I will contact the other university to thank them as you advised however they reach out to me through different email addresses, I believe a reply to one of them would be fine, right?
Once again thank you very much for all of your efforts and your time.
Best regards,
Alyaa
Hi Alyaa,
Thank you very much for taking the time to write back after so long and and to share your results! I remember when the scholarship application process was cancelled in 2020 and I can’t imagine how devastating that must have been for you at the time, but I am thrilled to hear that you persevered and finally made it through to the end. Congratulations!
I think this would be a great time to reach out to your supervisor in Japan. If nothing else, it would be polite to let him know that you earned the scholarship and look forward to working with him starting in the fall. If you have already been in direct contact with him, it’s fine to contact him again directly now. If you haven’t been in direct contact with him yet (i.e. you’ve been communicating via an admin office), then it might be better to contact that office first to let them know about your success and ask to get in contact with him.
He may be willing to start working with you remotely, such as suggesting some preparatory reading, research, etc., or he might want to wait until you arrive. That’s going to be up to each individual professor.
For the other universities, yes, it’s a good idea to contact them. If you were in direct contact with the potential advisors, you should contact them directly (you might still end up meeting one another in Japan, since you’ll be in the same field). I also recommend contacting the admin office you were working with. Whichever address they used to contact you (or all of the addresses at a single university, if they used multiple ones) would be fine.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Thank you for all the amazing content on this blog. I’m a MEXT applicant from Tajikistan and a couple of days ago I’ve been contacted by the Embassy about passing the secondary screening and the university placement. Unfortunately, I didn’t receive any email regarding my arrival plans or housing application from the university. My professor also hasn’t contacted me yet. Should I try to contact the university and the professor by myself?
Best regards,
Mahina
Hi Mahina,
Congratulations! I am very happy to hear about your successful application.
It should be the embassy that contacts you about your travel arrangements to Japan, though the university will have some guidance about your arrival dates, typically. (Unless you are starting with the Japanese language program.)
Are you planning to arrive in April or September/October? That could be a factor, too. If you are planning to travel in April, you should be getting additional guidance soon, but if you are arriving in the fall, you might not get any more instructions until the summer.
In either case, I would give it a few more days. The results just came out, and perhaps they haven’t been released in all countries yet. So, they are probably planning for the next steps now. But if you are planning to travel in the Spring and don’t hear anything by the end of the week, then I think it is fine to reach out to the embassy and university for more guidance.
It is also a good idea now to reach out to all the universities that offered you Letters of Acceptance and thank them for their consideration. For the university where you were placed, you can tell them that you are excited to study with them. For the others, thank them for their efforts and let them know you were placed somewhere else.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
I am a Vietnamese MEXT’s applicant. Firstly, thank you very much for all your helpful posts. I decided to apply for the MEXT Scholarship when it was up to the deadline, and initially, it was hard for me to apply without a mentor. But then I found your blog and your helpful information and advice helped me so much during my application process.
In Vietnam, it is said that the final result for research students will be announced around January. I haven’t heard about it yet, but a few days ago I received emails from my professor and university’s support office in Japan about applying for housing and meeting online after I got the official result. I think my final result and university placement are coming soon, and I will update it in this comment.
Thank you very much again and hope you have lots of health and happiness!
Hi Trang,
The official results should be available soon, but if your university is contacting you about housing and meeting the professor, I think you can consider that to be an unofficial indication that you have received the scholarship and been placed there!
The university wouldn’t be reaching out to you unless MEXT had already contacted them to ask them to formally accept you as a scholarship student.
You should be hearing good news soon. Please do let me know when it arrives!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you very much.
It was Lunar New Year holiday in Vietnam, and finally I received the official result from the Embassy on Feb 10. I will fly to Japan in April!
Hi Trang,
Congratulations! Thank you very much for sharing your results with me, too!
I hope that by April, all of the new MEXT scholars will be able to travel to Japan in person.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis.
Hope you are doing well and healthy.
At the beginning of December 2021, I received a message from my first choice university. They said it is the final confirmation for the MEXT screening and that they have to report to MEXT about my accepting details now. Then they asked my exact plans about whether I will take Japanese preparatory classes and the arrival plans. However, I have heard that this is not the final letter (confirmation) and that I will be contacted again by the Embassy or Uni (or MEXT) by the end of December 2021. I have not received anything and I am getting worried about all this stuff (given the situation with Omicron).
I would love to hear your thoughts about this matter.
P.S I apologize if you’d already answered this type of question in your threads.
Thanks and Happy New Year!
Matthew
Hi Matthew,
While you’re right that the message from the university is not the same as the final result from MEXT, it is safe to treat it as unofficial acceptance. Once MEXT has finished the secondary screening, the only thing that remains for your scholarship award to be confirmed is the confirmation from one of the universities on your list that they will accept you – and you have essentially gotten that, thanks to the message from the university!
There will be an official confirmation later from the Embassy, but that confirmation is not due at the end of December, so please do not worry. According to the application guidelines, you can expect to hear from the Embassy about the final results in January or February.
Good Luck, and Happy New Year to you, too!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Firstly, thank you for all the outstanding content. Some months of silence after submitting the placement form to the embassy in my country, I received an email regarding the preparatory japanese course, from a partner university of my first choice uni in the placement preference form. Does this count as unofficial results ?
Thank you very much and happy new year!!!
Hi Luke,
Thank you for your kind words.
Yes! That sounds like a good example of unofficial results to me!
When MEXT contacts universities to ask them to accept students after the Secondary Screening, if the universities agree, then one thing they have to determine is whether or not each student should attend the language program. So, if they’re asking you that now, it’s likely because they need to fill it in on MEXT’s form confirming that they will accept you.
It might be another month or so before you get the final official results, but that should just be a confirmation of that you already know.
Happy New Year to you, as well!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
I want to extend my gratitude for this blog! All of your posts are informative, fun to read and easy to follow. I spent so many an-hours reading your entries and had inspired me to apply! Now, I’m waiting for results of the second screening.
I successfully received 2 LoAs (1 from a private and 1 from a national University).
As I let my nerves brew, I would like to ask for your expertise, please:
1.) As a UK graduate, would I still need to submit an English language certificate?
2.) I have checked all the document requirements for University applications and all of the documents, I already sent to MEXT. Am I required to send copies of these to the universities or would MEXT send these on my behalf?
3.) The universities are inviting me to come in April 2022 for the Japanese Language Preparatory Education. The UK Consulate would not give the results of the University placement until January 2022. I’m afraid that I would not have enough time to prepare for my departure (if successful). Do you have any advice?
4.) What can I do to prepare for University entrance exams?
Thank you very much in advance and I look forward to hearing from you!
Warm regards,
Hazel
Hi Hazel,
Thank you for your kind comments!
It sounds like you’ve already made it most of the way through the process and should have very little to worry about as you wait for the final results. It is just a matter of the time required for the administrative processing.
1. For the embassy-recommended MEXT Scholarship, you are not required to submit proof of English language ability. If it was required, you would have had to submit it already!
2. You should have already sent all of your documents to the university when you applied for an LoA, so they should have them, right? In any case, when MEXT contacts universities to ask them to formally accept you, they will send all the necessary documents. At this point of the application process, you do not need to submit anything else directly. It is all in the hands of MEXT. Your next interaction with them should be when you get the final confirmation of the scholarship.
3. This is the normal schedule, so there is nothing to worry about. MEXT and the university will work with you for your travel arrangements. As far as your personal preparation goes, since you have made it this far in the application and have those two LoAs, it seems almost certain that you will receive the scholarship, so start thinking about what you need to do to prepare so that you can be ready when the announcement comes.
4. University entrance exams vary from university to university and field to field. Sometimes it is a mere examination of your application documents. In other cases there may be a written exam. My best advice is to consult with your academic advisor once you know your university assignment. They should be able to tell you what to expect for that particular university/graduate school. You should be able to take the exam itself (if required) during your semester in the language program.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz