Reaching out to a Japanese professor for the first time can be intimidating and confusing. Hopefully these questions and answers should make the process easier.
Embassy-Recommended MEXT Scholarship: Contacting Professors FAQ
For the Placement Preference Form, you are expected to list three universities and three professors that you want to study with. I’ve written before that you do not need professors’ permission to list them on this form, but I still get a lot of questions about it.
I’ve answered some of the most common questions below and will keep this page up to date with new questions, as well. If you want to know whenever there are updates to this (or any of the FAQs), I recommend that you join my MEXT Scholarship Mailing list.
I’ll also send you a copy of my sample MEXT scholarship application forms.
Live Q&A?
Once TranSenz reaches $50 in monthly support on Patreon, I will start a monthly live video Q&A. If you are interested in supporting this effort, or simply getting faster responses to your questions and access to articles ahead of everyone else, you can become a patron of TranSenz for as little as $2 per month!
Here are the questions:
Where can I download the MEXT scholarship placement preference form?
It’s available on MEXT’s website, but that’s written entirely in Japanese. So here’s a direct download link. (2018 version, excel file)
When should I start contacting professors?
I recommend contacting them for networking purposes as early as possible, but I do not recommend mentioning the MEXT application or a letter of acceptance until you have established a bit of a relationship or you have passed the primary screening.
I can’t get in touch with a professor. Is it still OK to list him/her on the Placement Preference Form?
Yes. Once you pass the primary screening you’ll have to get in touch with the professor to request a letter of acceptance, but it’s OK to list them on the form in advance.
How should I contact professors?
The method varies by university, so you’ll have to check the university’s website. Look for scholarship-based admissions for international students (or if that fails, general admissions for international graduate students in your field). They should have instructions on how to contact professors for each university.
Some universities will give you the email addresses to contact professors directly. Others will direct you to go through and administrative office.
How should I write my emails?
I covered this subject in detail in Embassy-Recommended MEXT Scholarship 2018: How to Get Started
I contacted a professor, but he never wrote back to me. Does that mean he’s not interested in my research? (Before passing primary screening)
Not necessarily. There are dozens of reasons why a professor might not respond. Chief among them: Professors are very busy and typically don’t spend much time on email. Replying to you, especially if they don’t know you, or especially if you’re asking for a Letter of Acceptance before passing the primary screening, is probably not that important to them.
It’s nothing personal, but most applicants don’t pass the primary screening, so professors don’t want to invest time before they know you’re a serious prospect.
You can list that professor on your MEXT placement preference form, anyway!
I contacted a professor to request a letter of acceptance, but he never wrote back to me. Does that mean he’s not interested in my research? (After passing primary screening)
Not necessarily. Check that university’s website and see if you are supposed to contact professors directly. Some universities want you to, others collect all Letter of Acceptance requests through a central office. Make sure you’re approaching your request correctly.
Is it OK to list an Associate Professor (or Assistance Professor) as a supervisor, or must it be a full professor?
It’s OK to list junior ranked professors, but you should check the following points:
- Does the faculty member have at least the degree you are applying for? (Obviously, a faculty member with only a Master’s cannot supervise a PhD candidate)
- Does the faculty member oversee his/her own research? (If the professor is a junior member of another professor’s lab, you should probably go after the senior member as a supervisor)
Is it OK to list an undergraduate professor as a potential supervisor?
You should try to find out if that professor is also associated with a graduate school at the university. If their main responsibility is teaching undergraduate but they also work with the graduate school, that should be fine!
Do you have questions about contacting professors that I haven’t answered above?
Ask them in the comments below and I will update this page as soon as possible. (Please keep in mind that it may take some time for me to catch up).
I’d also recommend signing up for my mailing list, below, to get notified whenever I have updates to any of the FAQs or new articles about the MEXT scholarship!
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Hello. I would like to ask about Placement preference letter. I am nearing the deadline and my profs are still not replying. I have to add the name of the advisors and If I have yet to receive from them is it ok to add 2 profs from 1 uni?
Hi KOKO,
I assume you are referring to the deadline to submit the Placement Preference Form to the embassy for the primary screening. You do not need to have a reply from the professors before submitting their names on the form at this point. You can write their names in the form freely.
You only need to contact universities/professors after you pass the Embassy’s Primary Screening to request a Letter of Provisional Acceptance. (That article is from last year, but I am preparing an updated version and will release it soon. If you’re on my mailing list, you should get a notification as soon as it is available!)
You can not list two professors from the same university on your Placement Preference Form, even if they are from different schools/departments.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello, I am really worried about one issue, allow me to explain my situation.
I contacted the university I wanted and got the LoA on my first try. Then I was told it would be best if I had 2, so I started contacting a second university. The second university rejected me, so I contacted a third, and they rejected me as well. Then I contacted a 4th university, who never replied, and after that, I contacted the 5th, who gave me the LoA. Securing two at last. I emailed the 4th university to not issue the letter in case they were going to in the future, just in case. Most likely my email never reached them in the first place, but I thought I should’ve sent it since I was told I am now allowed to have more than 2 LoAs. Did I break any rules by doing this? If I get disqualified from the second screening for this, I’ll never be able to forgive myself.
Hi Lev,
There is no problem with contacting additional universities after one rejects you. Technically, you should have emailed the 4th university to cancel your application before you applied to the 5th one, but I don’t think they will penalize you or reject your scholarship over that.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
I am a MEXT 2021 Scholar and it’s unlikely I will pass the entrance exam to the University I am a research student at. I am looking at alternative University’s to apply too, however, one of the University’s I put down on my placement lists start date is too late for my scholarship and the other one I put down has a professor who doesn’t fully suit my research. So my question is, can I apply for a University that I didn’t originally put down on my placement list and/or am I able to change professors to a University I am not a research student at?
Thank you again for all of your tips.
All the best,
Louise
Hi Louise,
When you apply for the MEXT Scholarship Extension, the universities that you listed on your initial Placement Preference Form are no longer relevant, so you don’t need to worry about whether a university was on that list or not.
In the Extension application, you can list up to two universities and you would only be able to extend your MEXT scholarship if you were approved for the extension and accepted into one of those two universities. You would have to apply to both of those universities as a normal fee-paying student for admission.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis
First of all, thank you for your blog, It helps a lot in applying MEXT.
I am currently waiting for the interview result (first screening), and I have not received a respond email from my professor (I got the professor contact by myself from his research article, so yeah I am a totally stranger to the professor). Should I send a follow up email again? or Is it alright, sending a new email to another professor? I am afraid that I would make a bad impression by sending multiple emails.
Hi Eka,
If you haven’t receive the results of the Primary Screening yet, then I would recommend that you wait until you get them, then contact the professor again. Particularly if you have already had the interview, then the results should be out soon.
Once you have the results of the Primary Screening, you can contact the same professor again with the new information that you have passed the Primary Screening and say that you are interested in formally moving forward with requesting a screening and Letter of Provisional Acceptance. (Make sure that you are following the university’s instructions for requesting that letter!)
That would not be rude or make a bad impression, since you are adding new information.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you for your answer. I have passed the first screening and I am currently looking for a prospective supervising professor. I have other questions that might be out of topic with the title of the discussion:
1. While I was searching for a prospective supervisor, I found another professor (besides my initial professor) with a research project that I am interested in, and his field of study also is aligned with mine. If there is no response email from my initial professor, can I apply for LoA at the new professor’s University? because his research project will be different from my MEXT application, especially the Field of Study and Research Program that I wrote specifically matching the research interest of my initial professor.
2. Do I have to ask for permission from the professor (the professor have to know) before applying for a letter of provisional acceptance?
Thank you very much for your time
HI Eka,
1. You can be in contact with up to two universities at any time. So, as long as you have only contacted one, so far, you can reach out to the new professor. If you are already in contact with two universities to request a letter of acceptance, then you would have to write to one to cancel your application before contacting the new university.
You cannot change any of your application documents from what you submitted to the Embassy, so the new professor would have to be willing to accept you even without changing your FSRPP (of course, you can always make changes to your research plan once you arrive in Japan, just not during the application process).
2. It depends on the university, so make sure you look up how to apply for a Letter of Provisional Acceptance on their website and see how they want you to submit the application. There are some universities that will require you to get an informal approval from the professor first and some that will not.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
hello Travis,
Sir, actually I have several questions regarding my eligibility as my case is a bit complicated I think.
Q1);- I have completed my IGCSE exams but I enrolled in that examination as a private candidate will I be eligible for the scholarship?
Q2);- I have two more years until I finish my a-levels will Mext be still running this program until 2024?
Q3;- is it necessary to complete A levels for this scholarship?
Q4);- are there other options in japan that allow students to enroll for a bachelor’s degree fully funded?
looking forward to your kind reply.
Hi Thoban,
It sounds like you are applying for the scholarship for undergraduate students. Most of my articles are focused on the scholarship for grad students, so you won’t find any articles specifically about the undergraduate eligibility requirements here.
I think for questions 1 and 3, you can find the answers in the application guidelines for undergraduate scholars. In particular, refer to the section about “Academic Background”. There are no requirements specific to individual countries’ systems (like IGSCE or A levels), so you have to compare your status to the standards listed there.
Regarding question 2, the MEXT Scholarship has been running for decades and I see no indication that it will end any time soon. (It seems to be particularly necessary after the pandemic.) You should have nothing to worry about!
As for question 4, I am afraid that I am not aware of any other fully funded bachelor’s degree scholarships for international students in Japan.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you for nice information
Dear, Thanks for your fruitful info. for MEXT interests.
Greeting from Myanmar and I’m a government officer holding M.Sc. I’d like to take MEXT scholarship application in coming year. By the way, being a government staff, can I try MEXT scholarship application and if yes, what kind of form of scholarship (i.e. Uni/Embassy) recommended) could I applied for and how it could be applied (i.e. way of channel)?
Sincerely
Khant
Hi Khant,
As far as the MEXT Scholarship is concerned, there is no problem with you applying while being a government staff. It is only a problem if you are a member of the military or a civilian employed by the military. You would also need to make sure that your government would allow you to apply.
You would be eligible to apply for either the Embassy-Recommended or University-Recommended MEXT Scholarship. I have articles about how to apply for each type of the scholarship that should help you get started on my MEXT Scholarship information page.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
I am delighted to let you know that your comments are really helpful. However, could you clarify the consequences if someone gets more than 3 acceptance letters? Can this affect his/her final results? The time between getting an official notification for the first screening and the deadline for contacting universities is less than one month in many countries; hence contacting only two universities is somehow tricky. If those Universities reject me after the deadline, the dream of studying in Japan will be out of my thoughts.
Hi Eric Haye,
Thank you for your kind words.
Every other applicant is in the same position as you when it comes to getting Letters of Acceptance and MEXT knew that was the situation when they set the deadline as well as the rule that you could only contact two universities, so there is nothing exceptional about your situation.
As long as you have researched your universities thoroughly and made sure that you are eligible for the program (usually the only problem I see is applicants applying for programs taught in Japanese when they don’t have any language ability) and that there is a professor there who can supervise your research, then you should have no trouble getting a letter of acceptance. The university screening of your application should be much less intense than the Embassy’s Primary Screening!
Many universities will require that you contact a professor, first and have their conditional approval before you formally apply for an LoA. In that case, once you have the professor’s approval, there should be no problem in the end.
I do not know of any specific examples of applicants who have suffered negative consequences for getting more than two Letters of Acceptance (nobody has shared that situation with me since the rule went into effect last year!) But there is no legitimate reason for you to contact more than two universities, especially since you know the rules.
(By the way, even though you can only contact two universities for Letters of Acceptance, you can still list up to three in your Placement Preference Form, including universities that haven’t given you an LoA, as long as they haven’t rejected your application. You would still have a chance of being placed there.)
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you for providing such a helpful link for all of us MEXT hopefuls. In regards to contacting professors, I plan to apply for MEXT next year and want to use this time to network with Professors. For methods of contacts, would it not be recommended to connect with a professor via LinkedIn? Again, this would be for networking purposes and building rapport until I’m ready to mention MEXT. Thank you in advance for your help.
Hi Hopeful,
Contacting professors via LinkedIn could be viable, if they are active on there. When you are first reaching out to build a relationship, any contact method is possible, but make sure that regardless of what platform you use, your contacts are respectful and formatted like a letter, never like an SMS or chat.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis! Thank you once again for all your help.
I was rejected last year and I believe it was due to my research theme/plan, so for this year’s application, I decided to write my research plan based on a potential advisor’s research project. Therefore, I want to contact a potential supervisor and ask him what topic my future research could help him with, based on my experience. The idea is to find a research theme that I’m confident with, that will guaranteed be of interest for at least one professor, and establish a more direct contact with a potential supervisor. I would love to know your opinion about this!
Also, in case I succeed, do you thing I should mention my connection with the potential supervisor to the embassy when I first submit my documents, in the interview (if I get there this time!) or shouldn’t I mention it at all?
Thanks!
Hi Rui Pedro Bessa,
Typically, my recommendation is that you approach your field of study and research program plan and contacting a professor in the following order’
1. Decide on a draft research question, or at least a draft research problem.
2. Research professors in Japan to determine which are closest to your research question and would be best to supervise you.
3. Write the plan while trying to appeal to the first-choice professor you identified (via the plan – you shouldn’t be in contact yet).
4. Once you have your research plan written, try to contact the professors you identified, start a conversation about how you would like to study under them, then ask for their feedback on the plan.
I would caution that you should not approach a potential advisor empty-handed and ask them to come up with a research topic for you. They are going to expect you to take more initiative than that.
If you are in contact with a professor and have their support, then I would certainly mention that in the interview. I don’t think there’s really an opportunity for you to mention it when dropping off the documents, at least not in a way I can think of that will get recorded.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis, I’m a MEXT 2020 embassy recommendation research student. I just failed my entrance exam and as a back up plan I’m thinking to apply to a different grad school in my uni. But this grad school only accept September enrollment while my scholarship as research student will end at March 2022. The exam result usually will be announced in the beginning of March, but even if I passed this grad school exam, I can only enroll in September 2022. In this case, will I still be eligible for the scholarship? If yes, will I receive the stipends from April-August? Do you have any information about a case like this? Thank you.
Hi Agnir,
I am sorry to hear about your struggles with the entrance exam.
If you started your MEXT Scholarship as a research student in March 2020, then you can apply for the extension to start your degree in April 2021, September 2021, of April 2022. You would not be able to extend to a degree starting in September 2022, since it would have to come right after your current scholarship period.
As an Embassy MEXT Scholar, you are allowed to apply to up to two universities/grad schools. If the alternate grad school at your current university does not start until September and so is not possible, you could consider applying to another university in Japan that has a grad program in the same field.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi , I am sachin sharma i have applied for the mext scholarship in college of technology program this year only i have cleared the first screening and also passes the online interview but its around 2 and half month and for next round of screening result to be declared so how long will i have to wait for it bcz due to this i haven’t taken admission in other college too
And i also want to knw tht is it mandatory or it is important to learn japanese before arrival bcz i dont knw how to speak or write japanese
Thanku so much i will be so thankful if u pay attention to my queries.
Hi Sachin Sharma,
My area of expertise is the scholarship for research students (graduate students) and I am not as familiar with the scholarship for Colleges of Technology. But according to the application guidelines, the embassy should release the results of the final screening to applicants by the end of January.
The guidelines also do not require that you have Japanese language ability, just that you be willing to learn Japanese. However, there might be a Japanese language requirement for the College of Technology program where you want to apply.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis San,
Hello,
Thank you very much for your blog, you’ve been helping a lot and answered many of my questions! Really grateful!
So, I am planning to apply for MEXT research student/master this coming May 2021.
I was wondering if there a useful way to find professors (besises univerity websites) that will be my future adviser. I found out about “Research map”, however this website allows only researchers to sign up. I never published a research. Do you know any other efficient way?
Also, the professor that I should choose must be a researcher in exactly the field that I want to research? For instance, I plan to do an “International MBA” with a concentration in Management, and my research would be about cross-cultural management. So, is it okay to just choose a management professor, or I must find a professor of cross-cultural management?
Thank you very much,
Kind regards.
Hi Meru,
Thank you for your kind words.
You do not need to register and create a profile to use Researchmap. If you click the “Researcher Search” link in the menu (the link above will take you directly to that search), you should be able to search from there. I just recently wrote the section on this website for my upcoming next book in the Mastering the MEXT Scholarship Series, and it worked for me at the time.
Another – much slower – way to search for professors in Japan without using university websites would be to try to find them in the bibliographies of research works in your fields or by skimming journal articles in your field and looking at the authors, then trying to find out if they are working in Japanese universities.
However, for an MBA, you are not looking at as intense of a research environment as you would be for a PhD in Life Sciences, for example, so I think you have a little more flexibility in how similar your professor needs to be to your research field.
I would suggest that you find a professor whose individual research interest (e.g. recent publications) focus on culture and management. Management as a general field is far too broad, so try to get as close as you can to your sub-field during your search.
Ultimately, you are going to have to appeal to that professor to accept you, so you have to be close enough that they are interested in supervising you.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Hope you are doing well!
I am sorry for disturbing you with my question, but I would be really grateful if you could dispel my doubts about the situation that occurred.
I tried to follow all your tips and recommendations and wrote an introductory letter to my target professor. In the letter I (1) presented myself, (2) expressed my desire to apply to the LL.D. program of his university, (3) referring to his academic/research background and membership in the relevant organizations, explained that I would be privileged if he could become my academic supervisor, in case of my successful enrollment and (4) referring to my experience and academic background, explained the rationale behind my interest in conducting the research under his supervision. I enclosed my CV and stated that if he is interested, I would be glad to describe my potential research ideas in more detail (to keep my first email short). For the sake of clarity, I did not mention my intentions to apply for the MEXT scholarship.
However, instead of receiving a reply from the professor, the next day I got an email from the university representative, saying that if I want to apply to their program, I should follow the general application procedure. They also explained that my desired professor will not be necessarily assigned to me, since the academic supervisor shall be decided after the student is enrolled in the university.
Considering this reply, could you please advise me, whether the fact that I tried to contact the professor directly could hurt my future relations with this university? I felt a little bit embarrassed after receiving this email and think that the university representatives can misperceive my intentions.
I will appreciate your assistance in this regard.
Many thanks in advance, and thank you for providing us with such valuable information.
Kind regards,
Dmytro
Hi Dmytro,
Thank you for message and kind comments.
Sometimes, you can do everything right about contacting a professor and still not get a response. Some professors just won’t be interested in talking to future applicants.
But I do not think this situation will hurt you in the long run in any way. It might be enough for you to reconsider whether or not that is a university that you really want to apply to, but on the university side, I doubt they will hold anything against you.
I would suggest writing back to that university representative, thanking them for their advice, and explaining that you understand the application process. Tell them that you do intend to apply via the official application process (you can even apologize for potentially coming off like you were ignoring the process), but that you had just been reaching out to the professor in advance because you were interested in their research and wanted to learn more in order to make sure this was the university and program that would be best for you. Make sure you close with an assurance that you will follow their instructions.
With a message like that, I think you can further ensure that there would not be any hard feelings or negative consequences later.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
I appreciate your work and it has been really helpful for me.
I emailed my resume and a motivation letter to a professor. He gave a positive reply for the same. He said he wanted to talk to me via skype, so I immediately replied to his mail. But it has been more than a month now and I haven’t heard from him since. I have even sent a couple of emails as a gentle remainder over this period but to no avail.
My query is that, is there something else that can be done here or should I just move on?
Hi Jatan,
If you are not getting a reply from the professor, then I would suggest sending a message to the administrative office of the graduate school where the professor works. Explain that you were in contact and the professor had asked you for an interview, but has not replied to your subsequent messages, so you are concerned that they are not being delivered. You can ask the admin office to reach out to the professor then to ask him to look for your message and reply.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi travis, I have just been accepted for my first screening and now I need to contact professors. I am really scared that none will reply, or that the deadline date to contact them will pass before granting an acceptance in one of the labs. My questions are: (1) can I contact more than one professor at the same university? (2) I have the stamped documents from the embassy, when do I send them and to whom do I send them (international division or professor himsef?) (3) if I sent out one email to a professor, how long should I wait before thinking of sending another email to him or another email to another professor to consider me? Thankkk youuu 🙂
Hi Zola,
Congratulations on Passing the Primary Screening!
I have just updated my article about How to Apply for a Letter of Acceptance for this year’s application cycle, so I would recommend reading that post, if you haven’t yet already. That article discusses who to send your documents to and how.
Getting a Letter of Acceptance from a university in Japan should be far less challenging than passing the Primary Screening was. As long as you have identified a few professors who can supervise your research and know where you will apply, it should be straightforward and the university’s screening should not be too severe.
1. I would not recommend contacting multiple professors at the same university simultaneously. There is going to be one best professor for you in any university (they would not employ two professors doing identical research), so contact that professor first. Assume the professors will talk to one another and would be justifiably upset if they learned you had contacted someone else at the same university!
2. Please see the article I linked above, where I cover that question in detail.
3. I would recommend sending the professor a polite reminder after a week. (This is assuming that you are applying to a university that wants you to contact the professors directly). If that doesn’t work, wait a couple of days and then contact the administrative office of the graduate school, explain the situation, and ask if they can help you get in touch. If even that does not get results, then before you contact another professor, I recommend sending one final email to the first professor, politely thanking them for their consideration but informing them that since they do not seem to be interested, you will be applying elsewhere.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Ohh thank you for updating the article, it is very very informative! I have another question, so we must only approach two universities at a time, however, I have sent out emails to three. I still haven’t asked for letter of acceptance, I was just sending out emails to professors to see if they are interested in having me as a student. Is this considered lying if I only ask for two provisional acceptance letters? I also am confused about the dates the embassy set, so I must not contact universities after one month but what if I didn’t receive any reply from the professors? what if one professor at one university did not reply and the other university sent me a rejection? Will I be rejected in the second screening stage in that case? I feel like this stage is waayy more challenging than the first screening.
Hi Zola,
You are only allowed to apply to two universities (at any one time) for letters of acceptance, but if you contacted more than two as part of the process of narrowing down your choices and trying to determine which universities were the best fits for you, that should not be a problem. It isn’t lying.
You may not apply to universities for Letters of Acceptance after November 20 and you cannot have more than two applications in progress (including positive results) at once. So there is, unfortunately, a risk that you could apply to two universities and that both could reject your application after Nov 20. In general, if you have done your research about the potential advisors and know that you are applying to someone who can supervise your research and whose program is taught in English, it should not be the case that you get rejected after a long period of deliberation. I have heard of a few applicants this year getting rather fast rejections from professors, which seems more likely. If a professor cannot accept you, they would know that right away.
As for the possibility of not getting a reply, I recommend making sure that you are also in contact with the administrative office at the university, even if they direct you to contact the professor. Professors might not answer their emails regularly, but admin offices will, so you can use them to make sure that you get a reply.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
I apologize for the many questions but you are our only source of information, thank you for that. I want to also ask about non-degree master’s in some of the universities. I don’t know if I got it right, but do they mean studying Japanese until I sit for the university exam? It’s not really clear but it is for MEXT applicants and it says that I will be a non degree student for one year and I can apply for the exam to be a master’s degree. what do they mean? and when do I sit for the exam? do I sit for it before going to japan or after? This might be a university question, ignore it if you also feel that. Thank you again so much 🙂
Hi Zola,
It’s no problem.
Non-degree student basically means that you haven’t passed the entrance exam to start the degree program yet. During the semester in the Japanese language program you would be a non-degree student, but it is also possible to be a non-degree student in your program. In that case, you would be able to take classes and start your research, but any credits you earn would not count toward your degree.
There is an entrance exam that you need to pass to officially start the degree. (Depending on the university, the “exam” might not be a formal test, it could just be a document review and interview, etc.). You would take that entrance exam in the semester before you start the degree, after you arrive in Japan. You might be able to take it during your semester in the language program, depending on the university, or you might take it after being a non-degree research student at the university for a semester. The timing of the exam depends on the university, but your advisor should be able to assist you with that information.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hey Travis, I found out about the scholarship a few days ago, and found your website today (great info btw). I am thinking of applying next year (2021) in the undergraduate program and I had a few questions:
1. When would be a good time to starting contacting or looking for professors?
2. I want to study programming (computer science) for my undergraduate so which universities could be my best bets?
Thanks for any information in advance and this blog!
Hi Vinayak,
Thank you for your kind feedback.
Actually, most of the content on this site is dedicated to the scholarship for graduate students, so not all of the details will apply to you.
For example, in the undergraduate scholarship, unless you are applying for Direct Placement, you do not have any say over what university you are assigned to. You will spend your first year in an intensive Japanese language program, designed to get you to the level where you can study in Japanese, and then MEXT will assign you to a university after that.
If you want to apply for Direct Placement, then you can select your university and start directly with the degree program, but you would already need the required language ability. In most cases, that means that you would be limited to unviersities that offer your degree taught in English at the undergraduate level. I have a separate article about finding universities that teach in English, so that would be a good place to start!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thanks for the information and for such a quick reply Travis! 😄
If that is the case, then why do I need to mention three universities in the application form? Or are those just my preferences that they want to know?
Thanks again!
Hi Vinayak,
I think you might not be looking at the right form. I’ve reviewed the undergraduate application forms and there is no place to list universities anywhere in them. The application form asks you to list potential majors, but that’s it.
If you’re looking at the placement preference form, which asks you to list three universities, that is only for the scholarship for graduate school.
I would recommend that you read the application guidelines again for the undergraduate application, check the list of documents and forms required, and make sure that you are using only the ones for the undergraduate application.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis.
Thanks for all the info that you have posted on this blog. I’m writing you because I have a concern about writing an email to a professor. I have found 15 prospect professors that specialize in the area that I want to conduct my research so I emailed them. The email comprised in: explained the area that I graduated, three lines which I explain the idea of my research, the desire to enter in their labs and I’m looking a professor to conduct my research (I didn’t metion anything about MEXT scholarship). Additionally, I attached my research plan and resume so they can have a better view. However, 15 emails that I sent, 5 were read and one of them answer my email (Niigata university) and telling that his lab was full. So if the professor read my email and didn;t reply is because he is not interested on my research or they take some time to give a feedback?
Hi Andres,
I certainly hope that you did not send the same email to 15 professors. Even if you sent the emails separately (believe it or not, I have seen applicants include multiple professors in the “To” section!), professors can tell a generic email right away. Sending an email that could conceivably be sent to multiple people is highly disrespectful.
I have to say that I highly doubt that you could have carefully researched the professors if you were able to find and contact 15. Finding and preparing the email to each professor should probably take hours of work and if you were being that careful, I think you would have been able to narrow down your choices.
You should be writing a customized email targeted at each professor and they should be the focus of the email. Why do you want to work under their supervision, in particular. you need to show them that they are important.
If I am wrong and you did write carefully researched and individually targeted emails to each professor, there are still any number of reasons that they might not have replied. Not being interested would be one possible reason. Being too busy to get to your message could be another. Or if the university does not expect you to contact professors during the application process, they might just have a policy of not replying.
If you feel like you wrote appropriate messages to the professors and still did not receive a response, a polite reminder a week later would be appropriate. But at this point, my reply is late, I know, I would recommend waiting until you pass the Primary Screening before reaching out again. And when you do reach out again, be sure to contact the university according to their instructions.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
How i contact a professor for p.hd and research work in Japan. In the website there is no any email of the professors. And contact number . How i contact to the professor of P.Hd
Hi Kiran Jarariya,
I have found that often a little work with google has been able to turn up a contact email for any professor I have been looking for. Sometimes they have their own websites, or you can find their contact information from conferences they have participated in, etc. (It’s also helpful if you – or someone you know – can search for their information in Japanese!)
Universities also typically have instructions for getting in touch with professors among their application guidelines, if it is necessary for applicants to do so, so you can check there.
However, if even that doesn’t work, then one way to reach out to them would be through the administrative office of the graduate school where they work. You can almost always find an email address or phone number for administrative offices and you can ask them to either connect you with the professor or pass a message on to the professor to start your communications.
However, if you are applying for the Embassy Recommended MEXT Scholarship and have not yet passed the primary screening, then I do not recommend contacting the professor directly about the MEXT scholarship application. It is fine to start trying to build a relationship based on research interest, but if you mention the scholarship at this point, there is a decent chance the professor/university will not reply until you pass the primary screening.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
hello Travis,
if i want to apply mext scholarship through university recommendation this year and the university that i want to apply will open application on december. when should i contact the professor that i want them to advise me ? i’m applying as a research student .
Hi Solyly,
My recommendation is to start building a relationship with the professor as early as possible. But at this point, you should be doing just that, building a relationship based on the fact that you want to study under them as soon as you have the opportunity and discussing research interests. Then, when you get closer to the scholarship application period – around September or October – you can ask for their support in that applications.
By the way, the Embassy Recommended MEXT Scholarship application process should be starting soon. Have you considered that application in the meantime?
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis!
Here I am bothering you once more. You probably recognize my name by now after all my comments throughout your blog haha.
Once again thanks for all your effort helping applicants prepare for the MEXT scholarship, I have now finished both of your books and I can confidently say that without them I would have never gotten this far.
I have already finished my FSRPP and I’m waiting for the embassy application which should start soon providing it’s not delayed due to the current COVID-19 situation. Anyhow, I was wondering what to do next and I remember that near the end of the second book, you recommended to start contacting professors.
After reading this blog post I understand that the only reason you would do that before passing the first screening is to establish a relationship with them, and not to talk about the scholarship.
When doing this, what should I talk about? Should I just talk about my interest in their research and about the research area I pretend to participate in? Sorry, I’m just confused about what should I focus the email on if I can’t talk about the scholarship yet.
Another doubt I had, and apologies because I know I’m way too early for this, is that do we ever send the FSRPP to the professor? After passing the first screening of course. I’m asking because I believe nowhere in the blog post is mentioned about sending the FSRPP to the professor.
Thanks for everything!
Hi Johnny Navarro,
Yes, I recognize your name, but it’s never a bother! I consider it an honor when anyone comes back with a new question. Hopefully, it means that the information I shared in the past was useful to you!
When you approach professors at this stage, you can talk about every part of your application except the scholarship (and it’s even fine to talk about the scholarship once you have exchanged a few emails and have a base of a relationship). Opening with interest in their research and explaining that you want to study with them is a great start. You want them to know that you are an applicant who wants to study in their lab, my point in avoiding scholarship conversation is that you want to make the clear impression that you want to study with that professor, not give off the impression that you are just looking for someone/anyone who will agree to supervise you so that you can get the scholarship.
Certainly talk about your research plan and what you hope to accomplish.
It is fine to send your FSRPP to your professor as well, once you have exchanged a few emails and the professor has expressed interest in you. I didn’t write about that in the blog post because I wanted to post to focus on what to do in the first contact. I have seen far too many applicants who think they can skip that contact and go straight to asking the professor to proofread their FSRPP or ask them to be their supervisor for the scholarship in the first or second email address. That’s something like asking someone to marry you on your first date.
Please keep in mind that my strategies for communication were focused on the first few messages and getting to know one another. Once you have that relationship founded on research interest, it is fine to talk about the scholarship and the professor’s opinion on your research plan.
I hope for all of our sakes that this COVID-19 situation settles down soon. I think that it what is delaying the MEXT guidelines release this year, since they will need to adjust the application process.
Good Luck and I hope to hear from you again in the future!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis!
Thanks for your reply. Now I’m clearer about what to say in the first email. I’m sorry for getting too ahead so early, I definitely wouldn’t want to inconvenience the professor by sending my FSRPP or talking about the scholarship too early, I just have the tendency of wanting to know in advance the things I have to do haha.
I will try to contact the professors introducing myself and my interest in studying in their labs. Do you think that by any chance the COVID-19 might make it more difficult to contact them? I imagine universities might be closed right now and I don’t know if professors in Japan check their emails outside the campus. Was kinda curious what you might think of it.
Thanks again!
Hi Johnny Navarro,
Don’t worry about getting ahead in your planning. It’s never a bad idea to know what’s coming, just so long as you are also clear on what you need to do right now.
I don’t think COVID-19 will make it more difficult to contact professors. As far as I know, most universities in Japan are in session, though some have gone completely online for the spring semester (like mine). If universities have moved to online courses, though, that might make it easier to contact professors, since they’ll have less face-to-face interactions and will need to be paying more attention to their email to keep in touch with students.
Although starting next week, we have the Golden Week holidays and most universities will not have classes between April 27 and May 6, so responses could be slow during that time.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis.
Once more, thanks for all your help. I will contact the professors and wait for the embassy recommendation application to start.
Thanks!
Hi! I am Inam Ullah from Pakistan. Currently working as a lecturer in geography here in Pakistan. I have completed my 16 years of education, want to pursue higher education at any prestigious Japanese university on scholarship. Please kindly guide me. Thanks!
Hi Inam Ullah,
Most of the articles on this site are dedicated to exactly that purpose and my books go into further detail on a few particular subjects. I hope that by reading through them, you can find the information that you need! But if there is something unclear, please feel free to ask in the comments of whichever article it is.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
I have done my graduation in Electronic and Communication Engineering but I want to do my master in Business Management. What are my chances that i will be accepted to do my master in Business Management through MEXT?
Hi Ripon,
One of the rules of the MEXT Scholarship is that you have to apply in a field that you previously majored in in university or its related field.
So, in order to apply in Business Management and still qualify, I would recommend that you find a way to link something (anything) you researched in your EE degree to business, or the other way around.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
HI,
I want to apply for Japanese universities for masters. the normal way of intake of any Japanese universities is to contact the supervisor first and ask for their consent to accept us in their lab and then carry on with the application f0rm. can u please direct me how to write emails to professors regarding the same.
i have cleared written of MEXT and the result of the interview is still pending
Hi Shradha Sharma,
At this point, I would recommend that you wait until you have confirmed that you have passed the Primary Screening before reaching out to professors.
I do not have any sample approach emails right not, but in general, I would suggest that you think of the professor as a person and think of what kind of email they would like to receive and would be interested in replying to. So, your emails should be personalized (never send the same email to multiple professors), should indicate that you are interested in working with that professor and are familiar with their work, introduce yourself and your research topic very briefly, and ask if you can send them more information to follow up.
Keep the first email short and easy to reply to, then follow up when you hear back from the professor.
The idea is not too different from reaching out to any influencer or person that you would like to establish a relationship with.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis. I wish I stumbled on your blog sooner. It would have helped me greatly and I might had avoided the situation I am currently in. I believe I am stuck in limbo because of the uncertainty I have with a professor. The first email went well and he asked me my about my research plan. I replied that I needed a week to provide a preliminary research design, and I did provide him one witihin a week. After that, I haven’t heard from the professor since. I wrote another email inquirung wether he had received my previous email and were there any feedback on my preliminary research design and mentioning about my plans to apply for MEXT. And still no reply. Do you think it’s all done with this professor and I should focus on contacting the next professor?
It would be awesome if you replied.
Thanks in advance.
Hi Alan,
I’m sorry to hear that your communications have stopped with this particular professor. It all really depends on the reasons for his not getting back to you. It’s possible that he just got busy at that time, but it is also possible that he was not interested in your research design (if it wasn’t a fit for his lab, etc.). Although in the latter case, it is rather rude for him to to reply at all.
In some cases, professors will not reply to you if they know you are applying for the Embassy Recommended MEXT Scholarship and have not yet passed the Primary Screening, too, so that could be a reason.
Since you need to have three potential supervisors anyway, I would suggest that you might want to start reaching out to another professor at another university who would be a fit for your research, too. You can loop back to this professor after you have passed the primary screening to let him know your progress and check again if he would be willing to supervise you. (Although, in that case, you might want to consider if you really want to work under a professor that communicates like this. . .)
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear MEXT,
I am a Yemeni citizen and I am not able to apply. In Yemen there is no embassy and the embassy in Riydha which we are supposed to apply to as a second option is banned for Yemenis to even send an email to. Lets say I was able to send my documents and got accepted for the exam, I wont be able to enter KSA because of the current political situation and other factors. How can I still apply with all these obstacles. Please help.
Hi Rana Almuraqab,
According to the website of the Embassy of Japan in Yemen, it is possible to submit your documents and take the exam in Sanaa by email and to take the exams there.
https://www.ye.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_ja/00_000019.html
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
They are not answering me. I haven’t received any feedback since the application. They should inform me if I wasn’t accepted but they are ignoring my emails. what to do?
Hi Rana Almuraqab,
Did you pass the primary screening last summer and then go through the process of applying for Letters of Acceptance, etc.? If so, then this would be about the right time to get the results of the secondary screening and placement, so I would try reaching them by phone.
But if you did not already receive confirmation from them last July or so that you had passed the Primary Screening, then you would already have been out of the application process for a long time.
Could you let me know where you are in the application process and what steps you have already completed? Based on that, I might be able to offer better advice.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you for this information! Your blog has been a fantastic resource for me. I did have a question about professors, which is actually one that I received myself.
Yesterday I reached out to someone I’m interested in working with, and while they were quite positive about it, they were wondering what specifically sponsors actually do. I actually don’t know the answer myself, as I’ve only heard that what MEXT scholars do during their time in Japan is pretty open-ended and up to discussion between them and their sponsoring professor. If I get the scholarship, I plan to conduct dissertation research while I’m there, and I imagine that my plans for research will already be more or less ironed out before I go–and I suppose that my academic advisor back in my home country will be the one primarily in charge of overseeing my progress, so I’m not really sure what the role of my sponsoring professor would be then. Do you know of anyone who has been a MEXT scholar in a similar situation? And in those cases, what is the role or day-to-day responsibilities of the sponsoring professor?
Thank you!
Hi Joy,
Thank you very much for your kind words!
I am somewhat surprised that the professor you reached out to in Japan was not aware of what an academic advisor does. That seems like a pretty fundamental piece of knowledge to be able to do their job. You being a MEXT scholar would not change how they interact with you versus how they interact with any other student in the same case.
It sounds like you are applying as a “pure” research student, without any intent to matriculate to a degree program, because you are already enrolled in a PhD program in your home country, am I getting that right? In that case, you would be like any other visiting researcher at the university. You would be working out of your professor’s lab and coordinating with him or her for access to the university’s research and education facilities, possibly including attending courses. Ideally, your research should be related to your professor’s so that you could exchange ideas as you went forward and your professor could offer advice in addition to what your home university adviser was providing.
You might also have responsibilities to complete research for the professor in Japan or publish/disseminate your research as part of your studies.
I hope that helps!
Thanks for the great information you put up here.
I was just wondering do you have to have multiple PI’s secured? This is because I already secured a PI from Kyoto University and is 99% certain that I’ll be joining his lab if I get accepted. I’m asking because the application includes a preference list of professors and I only contacted 1 professor right now.
Hi Joseph,
I’m not sure I know what you mean by PI.
Even if you are sure that you will end up in that particular professor’s lab, I would recommend having backup schools on your Placement Preference Form when you submit it to the embassy for the Primary Screening. If you submit it with only one school, then during the document review (when you do not have the opportunity yet to explain your reasoning), it can look like you simply did not do the research to find other schools, or that you are more interested in being in Kyoto than you are about your research. I know this is not the case, but you want to avoid giving that impression.
Since the other schools are only backups and you are so certain about your first choice, I would suggest filling the remaining places with private universities. MEXT almost always prefers to place applicants in National universities over private ones, so the chance of them skipping Kyodai to place you in a Private University are almost non-existent. Ultimately, too, you can only be placed in a university where you obtain (and submit) a letter of acceptance, which will come after the primary screening, so you should have a chance to narrow down your choices or rearrange them at that point!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thanks for your replay!
I have one more question unrelated to this post if thats ok. I kind of wanted to arrive in Japan earlier than the enrollment date (April) because I thought that getting used to the new environment will be necessary. In that case would it be possible to get like a refund for my plane tickets?
Hi Joseph,
If you do not arrive within MEXT’s specific travel window, then you would not be able to use the ticket they pay for.
In general, you do not purchase a ticket and get reimbursed, you give your travel dates (within the specified window) and MEXT’s contracted travel agency arranges the tickets.
You are, of course, welcome to refuse the MEXT-paid ticket and travel early on your own, as long as it is after you receive your visa, but do not expect to get compensated.
Usually, you will be asked to arrive in advance for orientation activities, etc., and will not be starting classes right away, anyway, so there should be some time in your schedule then to get settled in.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi! Can a gap year student who graduated high school but took a gap year apply to MEXT scholarship?
Hi Gantulga,
Yes, taking a gap year would not affect your eligibility in any way, so you could still apply.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis, first of all thank you for this great blog! It is very informative.
I intend to go for U to U and so far i have contacted 3 professors. The first prof i contacted told me to apply to other labs due to his being highly competitive to join. So i listened and contacted 2 more professors. One of these 2 professors responded so quick and he seems really interested in me. I didn’t expect the other one prof would respond to me because it had been 2 days and I hadn’t heard from him, then suddenly this professor also responded and asked me what my intended program is. I know neither of them had actually agreed to supervise me, but my question is what should i do if all of them end up agreeing to supervise me? I don’t want to be rude and cancel one of them. Thank you in advance for your reply!
Hi Vgmb,
Thank you very much for your kind words.
It is great to have professors agree to supervise you, but you should also be thinking about which lab is a better fit for your research and choosing based on your priorities. Professors should understand and respect that decision process. It is practically certain that one of the two labs would be a better fit for your research. I recommend that you be honest with both professors and tell them that you are very interested in working with them when you study at the university, but that you are still trying to determine what lab fits best with your research and so you are in contact with other professors at the same university to learn more, as well.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
First of all, thank you very much for all the information you’ve put on this great blog, really saved me a couple of time!
I have passed the first screening and already contacted 4 universities, but only 3 of them replied back to me, and I still have not been able to obtain a single LoA. Is it OK if I contact 2 or 3 more universities (7-8 in total) to increase my chances of getting a LoA or should I just stick to 4? I’d appreciate it if you could reply as soon as possible since this year we have only until 24th of August to contact universities.
Hi Amir,
Thank you very much for your kind words.
Did the three that replied tell you that they would process your application, or did they decline?
If they declined to offer you a Letter of Acceptance, I would recommend that you contact other universities immediately. If they are processing your application, then I would not recommend contacting replacement universities for those three.
For the university that did not reply, I would recommend sending a polite reminder email about a week later then, if that does not get you a reply, contacting an alternate choice.
Ultimately, you only need to secure at least one LoA at the end of the process, so having 4 applications in progress should leave you quite safe.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
from the other 3, one of them declined me so I contacted an alternate university. the other 2, however, aren’t looking so good since the professors don’t seem interested in my project so far. The alternate one I contacted, Waseda U, told me they’ll send me the results in 3 weeks whether I get accepted or rejected, so not so good looking on Waseda’s side either and it’s not certain that I’ll get accepted and I can’t wait 3 weeks to see if I d0. I only have 2 weeks from now if we consider all the non-work days and a one-week summer vacation. That’s why I was thinking about contacting 3-4 more universities in order to raise my chances and hopefully get 1 or more LoA. What do you think I should do?
Hi Amir,
I’ve heard from other applicants in the past that Waseda says pretty much the same thing to everyone. They have also been notorious in the past for not contacting successful applicants by email with the results and only sending the Letter of Acceptance by post, which can leave you hanging. I wouldn’t be surprised if they still do that. It sounds like they have accepted your application, at least.
If you are fairly certain that the universities that haven’t shown much interest are going to decline your application and can identify 2-3 other universities where there are professors who would supervise your research topic, then it would not hurt to contact them, but I might recommend waiting until next week to give the first group a little more time to respond. At this point, you’re probably not going to be able to contact a third group of universities, anyway, so you don’t lose anything by waiting a little.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Transenz,
Thank you for your good work. I have a question regarding contacting the professors. Actually I want to contact a professor at Kyoto university but the problem is that I couldn’t find his email address or contact number anywhere. I have contacted the graduate school already but they have only provided me with the professor’s contact address, not the email address or contact number. Now what should I do?? I have passed the first screening and there is deadline of submitting the LoA. I’m feeling really hopeless here!
Hi Sristi,
Did you tell the admin office that you were a MEXT applicant and had passed the Primary Screening?
The Kyoto University website specifically says that you are to email your documents to the professor that you want to be your supervisor. I would suggest that you reply to Administrative Office and say that their website requires you to email the professor with your application materials (include the link). Ask politely if the administrative office would be willing to forward your email to the professor or if they can give you the professor’s email address directly, or other instructions as to how you should apply.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hey Sristi!
I saw that you were selected for the MEXT 2019 Research Scholarship written test and interview at the Embassy of Japan, New Delhi. I was also selected from the Mechanical Engineering category and passed the First Screening.
I have formed a Facebook group for all the Indian candidates who passed the First Screening of the 2019 Embassy Recommended MEXT Scholarship.
If you have passed the First Screening as well and would like to join our group please do so. We have shared a lot of useful information in the group.
The name of the group is:
Indian MEXT Embassy Reco Scholarship Research ’19
Hi Afraz Khan,
Thank you for sharing this and your efforts to connect selected scholars! I wish you the best of luck in Japan.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis! Thank you for the encouragement. It is really tough to find those candidates who passed the first screening and ask them to be a part of a supportive network. Not everyone uses social media and there is a limit to how much and how far one can reach to search for them. I was hoping actually to ask you to post some sort of an announcement for those people who follow your posts regularly so that there may be a chance for those few Indian candidates who passed the First Screening to join our group.
Hi Afraz Khan,
I’d be happy to post something on my facebook page linking people to the group, but I’m afraid you’ll end up getting a lot of people who haven’t actually passed the primary screening yet and just want to join. As long as you’re OK with that. . .
The other thing I can do is send a message out asking if there are any other groups out there for successful MEXT Scholars (e.g. from other countries) and then put up an article here with links to those groups. I’ll add that to my next email.
I also remember seeing something similar in previous years on the jref forum. If you read that, you could add a post there, too.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you so much Travis!
You are right, at this moment I do not want those candidates as members who have either not passed the First Screening or haven’t applied altogether.
Thank you for telling me about the jref forum!
Hey Travis !!
I have an URGENT QUESTION
should I contact more than one professor from the same university(just for a backup )……. also since the one I have sent the mail to hasn’t replied yet.
and how long should one wait for a reply? (as I don’t wanna be rude)
And also one of the professors that I have mailed is an Adjunct Professor……will that be a problem… I mean is it necessary to only have Professors/Associate Professors as a supervisor?
Hi Aishwarya,
It depends on the university, so I can’t give you a certain answer. If the Adjunct Professor is not able to supervise you, they should let you know.
You may want to have a back-up in place, just in case.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Aishwarya,
I would not recommend contacting multiple professors from the same university unless the first one replies and says that he or she is unable to supervise you because of a scheduling conflict, research field incompatibility, etc.
For sending a reminder, three business days is plenty of time to wait before sending a reminder, I think. If that does not work, you can try contacting the administrative office of the graduate school and asking for their assistance.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you very much for all the information. There’s one thing I’m wondering about contacting professors.
Would the professors know how they’re ranked in my preference list in the end? If so, shall I let them know my preference upon first contact, so that they don’t get disappointed afterwards?
-Charlie
Hi Charlie,
The professors would only know if the university makes you submit the Placement Preference Form when you apply for an LoA. As long as you have a good reason for your order, there should be no problem.
Ultimately, they also know that MEXT will choose what university from the list to try to place you in and your preference order may not be the deciding factor, anyway.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hey Travis,
Thanks for all the informative posts. I have a question that might be a bit off-topic, but any help is appreciated. I want to contact a professor for networking purpose but have never done such a thing before. Could you give me some idea as to how I can go about it?
Thanks a lot
Bhabesh
Hi Bhabesh,
Unfortunately, that’s a more in-depth topic than I can get into in a simple reply here. I wrote an article about how to contact universities/professors to apply for LoAs that might help, but networking is something I plan to cover in more detail in the future.
Put very briefly, be polite, be brief and to the point, and write a letter than invites a reply.
I’m sorry I can’t go into more detail quite yet.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you very much for providing everyone with such a helpful information. I’ve been getting so much help from this blog and your ebook.
After going through your explanations, I’ve become curious whether the professors on my preference list are going to know in the end whether he/she has been my first choice. If they do figure out that they have not been my first choice, I guess they would be somewhat disappointed and be a little awkward when I see them in a conference or a similar academic gathering afterwards, regardless of the scholarship result.
Would it be better to let the professor know whether he/she is my second/third preference? Or would it be better to leave my second/third preference empty, if my first choice professor was very supportive?
It would be of great help if I could hear from you what you think.
Thanks in advance,
Charlie
Hi Charlie,
I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
The only way the professor would find out if they were your first choice or not would be if you were required to submit the Placement Preference Form to the university when you apply for a Letter of Acceptance. But even if they did, as long as you have a good reason for rank ordering them the way you did – such as prior knowledge of their work, better lab facilities, more appropriate to your research field, etc. – they should not get upset about it.
Certainly by the time you would meet them in Japan, they would have forgotten all about it.
If you already have contact with your first choice professor and are sure you can obtain a letter of acceptance there, then it should be fine to leave your second and third choices blank, but you will have to be prepared to defend that decision during your embassy interview. In the end, the most important thing will be what Letters of Acceptance you can obtain and turn in. If a professor/university is on your list when you first submit it to the embassy, but they later do not issue you a Letter of Acceptance, then that university would not be considered for your placement anyway.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis !
Thanks so much for substantial information about scholarship. I had learned so much from your website luckily. I have one question that in placement preference application form is it possible to put difference professor from SAME university? My first choice prof is really super busy and i’m afraid that he wont notice my email. And i found my second professor while searching about my interested filed and found that he is from “A” university BUT the problem is that i cant find him in that “A” university website faculty. HOW should i put prof ?? Is it possible to change professor even after 1st application? Thanks in advance !
Hi MS,
I would recommend that you only put one professor from each university on the Placement Preference Form. However, it is not a bad idea to have a backup professor as well, in case the first is not available. Usually, if your first choice professor is not available, the university will tell you to choose another.
If that happens, in every case I have heard of, the Embassy will let you change the entries on your Placement Preference Form, too. (In most cases that I have heard of, it is possible to change your entire list of universities later, if you have to).
I’m not sure about what to do with the professor that you can’t find on the university’s website. Maybe it is out of date. You could always contact the administrative office of the graduate school where the professor works to try to confirm.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis, thank you for writing all these posts, you are really helpful to a lot of us.
I contacted one of the professors that I’m interested to, she gave me positive response but we have stopped contacting each other, mainly because I’m still not sure about my research proposal, and it’s not completed yet. What I want to know is that okay to ask professors about their view regarding my proposal? I’m very hesitant because I don’t want to be a hindrance , and I don’t want to give the impression that I’m clueless/helpless about this particular topic. At the same time I want to know her opinion about my research proposal…
Hi Ayu,
Thank you for your kind words.
It depends on your relationship with the professor. If she was enthusiastic and supportive, then it should not be a problem to ask her view. But I would recommend that you don’t go to her with a completely rough draft.
I would suggest that you go over your research plan with a current professor or academic advisor at your university. They should at least be able to help you get it into basic shape. Then, when you contact the professor in Japan, you will not have to worry about seeming clueless!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello,
I wanted to thank you for your help, thank you!
Does the professor I want to contact have to be Japanese or is it enough for the professor to work in a Japanese university even if he is a foreigner?
Hi Sete,
There is no restriction on the nationality of your professor. Obviously, the professor would have to work at the Japanese university you are applying to, but that’s it!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
My question was probably answered before (it was asked by Dina, I guess), but I wanted to know, is it ok to contact more than tree universities and actually get more than tree LOPA, and then chose only the tree we like the most, does it somehow reduce our chances of acceptance? Because after contacting some Universities two of them asked for the documents to issue the letter of acceptance, but yet told me to be aware that I might not get accepted, and due to the approximation of the deadline though I already got one letter I wanted to elevate my chances.
Hi YO,
Yes, it’s OK to contact more than three universities. As you pointed out- there’s no guarantee that your top three choices will all accept you, and there usually isn’t enough time to contact a fourth university if you wait until the results of the first three.
If you have three professors that you have been in contact with from the start of your application and feel confident about, though, I would not recommend contacting more universities.
However, the deadline for contacting universities was August 31, so I think it’s too late for this year.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis!
Your work is impressive and I am really thankful to you for providing such information. I have a question about next scholarship (university recommendation).
Applying for masters with mext schlorship in more than one university is not allowed( If I am not wrong). Let’s suppose I applied in a university with deadline in november and I got rejected and now I found another university offering mext scholarship with deadline in December. So now is it OK to apply there too?
Also, I need more guidance about university recommendation. Is it compulsory to contact professor before applying for admission in masters or post graduate degree?
Hi Amal Sultan,
You are correct that it is not allowed to apply to multiple universities in the same year through the University-recommended MEXT scholarship.
Even if the application deadline for one is November and the other is December, the results for both typically wouldn’t be released until late January, so I don’t think it’s ever going to be possible to apply to two universities.
As for whether or not you must contact a professor in advance, that depends on the university you want to apply to, so please check their website for their specific process. Of course it always helps to contact and network in advance, if you do it well!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
I have contacted a professor and also sent an additional reminder once but there is still no response. The university website also suggests that we should contact the professors directly.
There is another professor that I am interested in his work but he is in the same institute and department with the first one but different lab.
Is it OK or polite to send a request to the new professor?
Hi Karn,
In that case, I recommend contacting the administrative office of the professor’s graduate school. August is summer vacation and professors are often gone, but administrators still have to show up to work.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi transez. Thank you so much for all the valuable information.
I would like to ask you something. Is it possible to contact more than three universities and list the three we like the most? Thank you!
Hi Dina,
Yes, that’s possible, as long as your Embassy hasn’t made you turn in a final list of your choices yet!
Good Luck,
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you and sorry for mistaking your name TRAVIS!
Hello
I want to apply for PhD chemistry in Japan university …… How i can apply online ? in any university of Japan please help me in this regard
Hi Urooj Shahzadi,
Unfortunately, I don’t know of any universities in Japan that accept online or email-only applications. You’re always going to have to send in documents by post when applying directly to universities.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
I have found myself in a slightly confused situation regarding MEXT and was wondering if you could clarify some issues for me. I applied through the Embassy Recommendation and was rejected at the first stage, so of course I still want to consider applying through the University Recommendation.
I have recently heard back from a friend of a friend, a woman who works in my field of interest in Japan, who I had contacted initially about suggestions for universities/professors to apply to. She did not get back to me in time before the application for the embassy was due but she has now. She has said that an acquaintance of hers, a professor at Waseda, “said he could accept you as his student”.
I have not contacted him yet but he works in the Graduate School of Education and the “Faculty of Education and Integrated Arts and Sciences”. Neither of these are English-based programs, and I do not know Japanese very well (I definitely plan/want to learn but have not had the opportunity as of yet). This professor does speak English, however. He actually interned in his field in the community where I now attend university in the U.S.
What I am mostly wondering about is the fact that he has apparently agreed to accept me, but does not teach in an English-based graduate program, would I still be eligible applying to his program as a research student? And if I wanted to continue on to a masters degree with the MEXT scholarship, would I have to stay within the program that this professor teaches and he stay my advisor, or would I be able to transfer to a different English-based graduate program at Waseda for my degree? Additionally, I am not receiving my undergraduate degree in Education. I know that you are supposed to apply to a program related to your undergraduate degree – mine is Interdisciplinary Studies: International Studies focus – but much of my research and my field of study is focused on education in Japan, so would that present a problem or not?
Lastly, I have a professor at Hiroshima University who has also agreed to accept me as a research student should I apply. I’m guessing it would probably be more reasonable for me to apply there than Waseda anyway lol.
Thanks for your time and all that you with this blog!
Hi Christa,
When Waseda releases their application guidelines for the University-recommended MEXT scholarship, it should include the language requirements. In general, a program that requires Japanese language for the degree is probably going to require it for research students as well, since the assumption is that research students will move up to become degree-seeking students.
However, I would recommend that you talk to the Waseda professor directly and ask him if your lack of Japanese ability would be a problem. Maybe he has a solution that I don’t know about.
You have to apply for a degree in a field of study that you majored in “or a related field.” So, if your major was International Studies but your research focus was education in Japan, then a degree in Education and Integrated Arts and Sciences seems to be a related field. I would not anticipate any problems there.
If the Hiroshima program is taught in English, that would seem to make more sense, but I would recommend you at least talk to the Waseda professor first.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
I have relied on your information so far , thanks for that.
Having been interviewed last week, I’m waiting for the results. I know it might be a little late but I’m going to contact professors now. The PROBLEM is my choices being strictly limited because of not having good command of Japanese language and having no other way but going for English-teaching universities. As in my field of study (CIVIL LAW) there is only one university conducting master’s program completely in English, there are only 2-3 professors working on fields close to mine in that university and I don’t know if it’s OK to contact them one after another or not?
And Sorry for asking such a stupid QUESTION: What should I ask them in my emails? Asking for LoA by attaching my resume and showing my enthusiasm is enough?
Hi Eli,
At this point, there isn’t much point in contacting the professors/university until you have the results of the Primary Screening, since you’re so close!
I’d recommend that you read through the university’s website and look for their instructions as to how to apply for an LoA. They may want you to contact professors directly, or they may want you to go through an administrative office, first.
In either case, you are going to have to submit a copy of all of the documents you submitted to the embassy, plus the Passing Certificate of the Primary Screening. I recommend sending them all as one single pdf file, if at all possible.
In your email, I would recommend that you introduce yourself (name, country, MEXT applicant) and your research (past major, 1-sentence description of what you want to research in graduate school). Express your interest in the professor and say that you would be honored to study under him/her. Offer to provide more information if he or she needs it and thank him/her for her time.
I would only recommend contacting one professor in the university at a time. If that professor likes your work but isn’t able to supervise you personally, he or she may refer you to the others.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
THANK YOU dear Travis.
Hey Travis
I probably should have planned this well in advance; I had entered my top 3 choices for labs in Japan on the placement form without having contacted them. I emailed my most preferred professor 2 weeks ago and he hasn’t replied yet. Thing is, that was only an innocent email with questions about his papers and research and had absolutely no mention of Mext or scholarships.
My interview is next week and while I’m confident about passing the interview itself, I’m worried about how I should go about contacting all the professors now. It would be awkward asking my no.1 for an LOA all of a sudden, given that he didn’t reply and that would then give the impression that I had ulterior motives when I sent my first email (even though they were genuine questions). I don’t know if I should just directly contact my no.2 and no.3 for LOAs directly either (this is a very small field so I’m sure the profs are all in touch with each other, and so if I mess up with one of them they’ll probably all know).
Thanks
Hi Mish,
You’re in the same position as the majority of applicants at this point, I think, so don’t worry about being behind, especially if you still haven’t completed the primary screening.
The first thing I would recommend would be to review each of the universities’ websites and see how they want you to apply for an LoA. Some universities want you to contact professors directly, others have a central admin office that handles all of the applications. Make sure that you’re going about it the right way.
At this point, you can’t even ask anyone for an LoA, so don’t worry too much yet. However, since it’s been 2 weeks since your last email, it’s probably safe to say that if the professor hasn’t written back yet, he or she isn’t going to, so I think it’s OK to send a polite, professional reminder message. If you haven’t already, mention that you are very interested in pursuing your degree in Japan and are very interested in the professor’s research, so you would like to study with him/her.
Once you pass the primary screening, then you can let your professors know and ask for an LoA. It’s not an “ulterior motive.” Your ultimate motive is to get to know the professors so that you can apply to study with them in the future. The MEXT scholarship is just a tool to help you accomplish that.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thanks for replying!
I did check with the universities; my no.1 and no.2 want me to email the professor directly, while the no.3 requires me to contact their ‘Division of International affairs’. I think I will send another email asking about some other things I had to ask and also breach the subject of wanting to work with him. However I think I might only contact the other two professors if (and when) I pass the primary screening.
I had another (probably silly) question if you don’t mind. In your experience, is it more common for professors to reject a formal request for an LOA by replying with a rejection email, or by ignoring the request?
Thanks
Mish
Hi Mish,
That sounds like a good approach.
At my university, the international office handled all of the applications and all communication with applicants. Essentially, that was my job for three years.
We responded to every application and sent out rejection letters if we were not able to accept a student, but I can’t say that every university is the same, especially those where you contact professors directly.
If they haven’t replied, I would not give up. If you’ve sent one or two reminders and still can’t get a reply, then contact the administrative office of the graduate school where the professor works and ask for their help in getting in touch. That way, you can at least ensure that the professor got your message.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thanks, I’ll keep everything you said in mind.
Mish
Hi Travis
Just wanted to give an update on the situation. I had previously told you how my first choice professor hadn’t replied when I’d sent him an email asking questions before I’d passed the primary screening. Well, after a 3 week long an d somewhat gruelling, email exchange, he has agreed to send a LoPA. It seems mentioning that I’d passed mext primary screening did indeed make them notice my email haha.
I might have another problem though. You see, my second and third choice profs haven’t replied yet. And the one who did was from Kyoto U. I’ve read that since places like Tokyo U and Kyoto U get a lot of mext applicants there is a chance that there may not be a spot for me (and normally this would lead to me getting my 2nd choice). So if I do not end up not getting any more LoAs, should I be worried that I might be dropped?
Hi Mish,
As far as I know, so long as you receive at least one LoA, you should not be at risk of “being dropped.”
If you want, you could reach out to other schools as well as a backup. I’d recommend that you check with your embassy first, though. Some will allow you to change the list in your Placement Preference Form based on the LoAs you receive.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi
It wouldn’t let me reply to your latest message so I’m just going to reply to this one again.
I just wanted to say thank you so much on behalf of all of us, for maintaining this website and sharing your knowledge with us. Not just that, but for also promptly replying to all the messages you get. You have been of immense help.
Mish
Hi Travis,
Thanks for the valuable information.
Will interview panel question me if I didn’t have unofficial acceptance from potential supervisor?
Is it that necessary to obtain it before primary screening?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Vikram,
It’s not necessary, and in many cases not possible. Some universities won’t help you get in contact with professors until after the primary screening.
But it helps to have unofficial acceptance, if possible. You should certainly at least have made an effort before you go into the interview.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Please a quick one. What if I write a Professors name and I pass the Primary stage, is it possible to change the Name of the Lecturer maybe because he said he could not supervise me or some other reasons. Basically am asking that if I write a lecturers name and am not able to get him can I still change after I pass the primary test.
Hi Ayanbanjo Anuoluwapo,
That depends on your embassy, so I’d recommend you ask there. In most cases I’ve heard of, students were allowed to change professor names or even universities after passing the primary screening.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Can I request a letter of acceptance from a professor even if I didn’t write him as my contact professor in the placement form?
Hi Anna delos Santos,
Yes, you can, in most cases.
In most cases, I have heard that the embassy will let you change your placement preference form after you get your LOAs.
You might want to double-check with them first, though.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello, thanks for your blog! I have a question regarding the acceptance letter, should i submit only after I pass the first screening or with the primary application? Since the embassy told me its better if I submit it with the rest of the documents which didn’t make sense
Hi Sara,
You cannot even apply to universities for a Letter of Acceptance until after you pass the primary screening. I don’t know what your Embassy meant, but they either don’t understand how the process works or misspoke.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Travis,
First and foremost, I wanted to thank you for this wonderful blog! I stumbled upon the 2018 MEXT Scholarship application just a couple weeks ago. As I have been planning on applying to graduate school for Fall 2018, this opportunity was too good to pass up and I have been working feverishly to get all my materials together. This site has been a HUGE help and I feel fairly confident with my embassy’s deadline soon approaching. I was nervous about not having the opportunity to contact and secure a potential supervisor yet, but recently discovered that my schools prefer that applicants wait until after the primary screening.
Questions:
1.) After passing the initial screening and requesting a Letter of Acceptance, what happens if a professor that you listed is not interested in supervising you? Can you seek another professor at the same university? Or do you have to cross that university from your list?
2.) Are there any statistics that show how much lower the odds are for applicants to get into a private university versus a public university?
Cheers,
Ray
Hi Ray,
Thank you for your kind words! I’m sorry it ended up taking me so long to get back to you!
1). In most cases I’ve heard of, the embassy will allow you to change the schools on your placement preference form, but I’d recommend that you double-check with them after passing the primary screening, just to be sure.
(By the way, if you haven’t started contacting universities for Letters of Acceptance yet, I am putting the finishing touches on a new guide for that. It will be out tomorrow, so check back then or, if you’re on my mailing list, you’ll get a direct link sent to you, too.)
2) I recall hearing that approximately 1/3 of MEXT embassy scholars end up in private universities, but I don’t have a source for that. Based on my experience, private universities are equally willing to accept students, it’s just a matter of MEXT giving preference to national universities in placement and there really not being as many top-level private universities as there are national ones!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz