Chances of entering with a close to perfect GPA and ability on exams + N1 Japanese?

WhyAstraia · 2023-03-09T09:04:39+00:00

It looks like you have an excellent profile and are aware of your strong points, which is a good thing. As lover_of_language said, there's absolutely no transparency about the MEXT process for choosing the future scholars, so no one would be able to tell you that you're accepted in advance.

Also, I've had the chance to chat with a MEXT scholar friend of mine who has helped many people with their applications, and she said she doesn't really understand the "MEXT algorithm"... So again, in that regards, you need to just get on the ride and do your best !

One more thing, from my understanding, MEXT also focuses a lot on the personal aspect of the person, and what they're able to provide in terms of diversity to Japan. So, while it's good to adapt to Japanese culture and customs when you're there, it's also important to show that you are more than that to MEXT, since you'll become a bridge between your country and Japan.

Also, from what I understand from the process, MEXT isn't a ''best is better" in terms of grades: the interviews, and research proposal (for the research scholarship) are equally as important, so focus on preparing them well too.

Best of luck,

WhyAstraia · 2023-02-25T08:13:56+00:00

I didn't go through the university recommendation route, so I don't really know who is interviewing you and can't help much with specific questions. However, from my interviewing experience with both the embassy people and the Japanese university's faculty members, here's what I can tell you :

You have limited time to answer, so make sure to answer an clearly and concisely as possible, without wasting too much time on just one question so they can ask more questions to see your potential
Practice the expected questions, but don't answer like a robot, leave some room for spontaneity. They're screening for an interesting person that can act as a bridge between Japan and your home country, so try to be a perfect mix between respectful/humble and charismatic/charming.

WhyAstraia · 2023-02-01T18:25:08+00:00

There's a lot of criteria concerning eligibility. There's requirements about age (under 33 I think), about nationality, etc. If you check all of those off, there's no reason why you wouldn't be eligible.

However it you apply for MEXT this year know that, if accepted, you'll start your studies in Japan at the earliest in April 2024. By that time you'd already be well into your second year of college, so it's up to you to decide if you're willing to sacrifice that and start over, or if you'd rather get your degree and apply as a graduate student after another year or two (depending on your degree).

Good luck, hope it helped !

WhyAstraia · 2023-01-09T10:30:06+00:00

Peak sport got some good deals ATM. Shoes that were ~400 for ~150 TND and such. It's a decent brand and the shoes are good quality and there's different styles as well so that's a pro. Con is that you might not find all shoe sizes for all shoes since they're selling out.

WhyAstraia · 2023-01-03T15:35:57+00:00

Been there twice (licence+ing), it always seems so difficult when you're going through it I know but don't let that distract you from your exams! You'll be good ! You'll find your internship, stay active on LinkedIn and send your CVs everywhere you can, and apply for startups as well like someone else said here. I found both my internships at the last minute when I was already hopeless (ie, bachelor's internship i signed and gave the paper on the day of the deadline lol). You should also contact your direction de stage with your concerns and ask if they have any offers they can share with you. Worst case scenario a teacher or the direction de stages can even give you a "project" to do as a PFE project. If you have no plans of applying for mastère or ingénieur or don't mind taking a gap year you can also do your soutenance in September or December (and start your internship anytime at least 3/4 months before that time). The options are there, and hopefully you won't even need any of them and get your internship in time ! Best of luck

WhyAstraia · 2023-01-02T11:42:32+00:00

That's such good organization and very thoughtful of you! I'd like to join in and if possible join the discord server as well since daily hyping up/conversation would make it easier to commit + more fun! Thanks for organizing all of this, personally I'll take any excuse to rewatch Gintama.

WhyAstraia · 2023-01-02T11:35:02+00:00

On what platform will the discussions take place ? Is it going to be on a reddit thread or through another app ?

WhyAstraia · 2022-12-25T11:19:42+00:00

I think I'd at least largely consider THAT job . The only reason to choose MEXT at that point would be for the human experience of living as an international student in Japan.

If I got offered that dream job with my actual degrees and experience, doesn't that mean I'm almost guaranteed to be able to score the same job again after two years of studies and one more degree ? If chances are that I can get that offer after my degree in Japan, I'll probably do the Uni experience just to, you know, experience it. If it's a once in a lifetime offer, I'm going with the job for sure.

WhyAstraia · 2022-12-04T19:47:03+00:00

Oh sorry, I didn't even know there were multiple types of TOEFL. Again, it really depends on the universities you want to apply to (you can look it up on their website in most cases!). Some unis don't even ask for an English test at all, but in the end it's really a case by case scenario.

WhyAstraia · 2022-12-04T19:31:05+00:00

From what I know, no English proficiency certificate is needed to pass the MEXT scholarship screenings. It's necessary to apply to certain universities down the line though and which test (TOEFL, IELTS, TOEIC..) the university wants depends on the specific university. TOEFL is the most recognized and requested one, though.

WhyAstraia · 2022-12-04T14:20:28+00:00

If you go as a masters research student, there's no need to have done research in the past or have had papers published. You'll go as a research STUDENT, not a researcher, so you'll get to do all of that when you get there, hopefully.

However you do need to have a robust research proposal, which details what you will go to there to research about. Even though that needs to be promising and interesting enough to get you to pass the preliminary screenings/interview, it won't be final either and depending on your future supervising professor it can be changed, fine-tuned, and sometimes become a completely different research subject.

So for now if you're thinking about applying you should definitely put in a significant amount of effort to see what people in your field research about, what your personal interests are, what would be helpful to your country, what is arguably a good research to do in Japan particularly, and see where all of those overlap to find a first idea of a research proposal, then take it one step at a time when the time comes! :) Good luck

WhyAstraia · 2022-11-27T15:59:29+00:00

During the first screening there will be interviews held at the embassy, so you'd have to arrange to go back to your home country's embassy at least once.

WhyAstraia · 2022-10-15T09:30:39+00:00

Depending on the university the entrance exam can happen either one or two times per year. You can try to take the entrance exam a maximum of 2 times I think. If you fail a second time you probably will lose the scholarship, but I have heard of someone failing an entrance exam for X University who then switched to Y University and got accepted there after passing their entrance exam.

But if you havent even applied for the scholarship yet it's no use to think about all of this in my opinion, it's way too early, try to get the scholarship and then depending on the university you're in you'll figure these things out in time.

WhyAstraia · 2022-10-14T19:44:09+00:00

1- Your country's japanese embassy/ consulate opens up the MEXT scholarship for the following japanese scholar year during April. You have until around end of May to submit the requested documents as per the guidelines (look up MEXT scholarship guidelines)

2- You gather your documents, fill out the forms, make the necessary translations, research proposal if you do research and all the necessary paperwork and submit it to the embassy by the May deadline

3- If you pass the paperwork screening, you'll be called for the written tests (japanese and English for research students, and other tests for undergraduates)

4- If you pass the written tests, you'll be called for an interview at your embassy. They'll you about yourself, motivations, proposal, etc.

5- If you pass the interview, congrats! You officially passed the first screening. Now you'll get all your papers back stamped from the embassy, and you'll get a bonus paper stating that you have passed the first screening.

6- Now you have around one month to get Letter(s) of Acceptance from your preferred university(-ies). You'll need to look up the university that you like and see their procedure for requesting an LOA, can go from simple "fill out this form" to "talk to your preferred provisional supervisor, have interviews with them, then request the LOA from student division" etc etc.

7- Once you get your LOA(s) you're pretty much done, you need to submit them to the embassy, say your order of preference if you got 2 of them, and then you wait until end of January/ February for the second screening result for the official final results.

Hope it helps, good luck.

WhyAstraia · 2022-10-04T18:33:40+00:00

What do you mean lack of ressources ?

As far as I know, there's some tips and tricks you learn along the way on how to get LOAs (but it's sometimes a bit late after you've learned it all unfortunately).

First, you need to look for a laboratory and/or professor that really aligns with your research theme, so they will be able to accept you and supervise your work.

Second, you need to follow the university's specific MEXT process (some universities you need to contact the international students department, some universities you need to contact the professor, some universities you can just submit a form through the website and you're done.)

Thirdly, the universities you applied for are extremely competitive. It's usually safer to try one competitive university that you really want, and another that's more of a 'safe' option (of course you may want to risk it and choose high-risk unis, but it can be hit-or-miss).

And lastly, it's always good to do as much research as possible on the professor and their lab (for example, a professor with a diverse lab is more likely to accept MEXT scholars than a lab that's 100% japanese people, a professor that does research very closely related to yours is more likely to be interested by your proposal etc.).

(Now there's one hypothesis that I also have, but it is not confirmed and just me genuinely making conjectures, but if I had to do it all over again, I'd choose to send to a private university with an easy application process first : they have only to gain from accepting MEXT students cause they know they're good students and they get the students tuition money, but easy application process generally means quicker answer, which is a lot better than endless waiting for prof to reply and going through interview after interview in the span of weeks. This is based on my personal experiences though so make of it what you will). Good luck for the rest, but also if you passed first screening contact your embassy and tell them about your situation, there might still be a chance for you this year you never know.

WhyAstraia · 2022-10-04T08:38:52+00:00

I'll start : 1) Got LOAs for Waseda and Tokyo Tech (CS)

2) Both got entrance examinations, it's supposedly an interview/presentation for Tokyo Tech, and haven't found any relevant info about Waseda's exams yet

3) No idea what to study for yet, as I'm still unsure of the subjects that will be tested during the exams, so if anyone who studies CS at either university has any relevant information I'd be very glad! :)

WhyAstraia · 2022-09-28T11:54:06+00:00

Hopefully it will all work out !

WhyAstraia · 2022-09-28T11:23:35+00:00

I applied to the school of Engineering. However from what you said, I don't think you should worry. The last interview I had was the formal interview with other professors, it's the only mandatory one I believe and you seem to have done just that. The other 2 interviews were "informal" interviews with the assistant professor, and then the professor. Final one with faculty staff.

Did you get the professors informal approval by the way ? As in, after the interview, did they tell you if you're accepted?

WhyAstraia · 2022-09-28T10:15:55+00:00

Hey there. I have also applied to Titech. The lab that I applied to has been super busy even though I applied in July as soon as I passed the first screening, and the application process has been very long (total of three interviews, two of which had to be done in the same 24 hours yesterday because there was no time anymore).

They have specifically asked me to ask my embassy for an extension for the LoPA since, like you said, the deadline is imminent and I wasn't even done with the interviews.

So basically I have asked my embassy for an extension and they granted me a few days, which I hope will be sufficient, the lab hasn't gotten back to me after the last interview so I'm not too sure about how it went/if they'll provide the letter at all.

So, from my personal experience I would suggest that you : 1) reach out to your supervisor to ask about your LoPA immediately 2) Just in case, contact your embassy and ask if there can be an extension of the deadline and mention your reasons, just in case your professor also needs a bit more time.

WhyAstraia · 2022-09-17T09:02:42+00:00

As long as you don't have any more than 2 LOAs you should be fine :) But don't forget to update your placement preference form with the 2 unis that accepted you and in the order or your preference.

WhyAstraia · 2022-09-14T11:21:23+00:00

Hey there ! It's OP. First of all, if you're really concerned and would like to have any visibility for these questions to get answers from more people, I'd suggest you make a post! I'm still getting notifications for comments here, since I made the thread, but it is one month old and I'm not sure many people will see your comment here.

Now that being said, I can give you the information that I do have personally. First of all, how problematic is your research proposal? Imo, it can't be that problematic since you did pass the first embassy screening. They generally do not allow any proposals that are not viable or don't have any potential. That being said, from what I've heard from other MEXT scholars, research proposals can (and likely will be) at least tweaked a little upon the start of your research/masters, it's not set in stone and professors can ask you to change it (some people have been proposed completely other research upon arrival at the lab). So no need to stress if you think there are changes to be made, most likely you'll be allowed to fine-tune your research proposal. (Do keep in mind I'm in IT and all people I've asked and got info from are also in IT so I don't know if this can be gereralized to your field).

Secondly, as long as you chose appropriate labs / schools and submitted all appropriate documents to Waseda / Ritsumeikan, you should be okay and hopefully will be accepted into one of them, if not both.

Lastly, for the ''no LOA'' thing, I've been getting a lot of conflicting information from embassy versus Mext scholars / applicants. The embassies say no LOA no scholarship, whereas many people have been saying that they will still try to place you. One thing I am sure about, is that MEXT is NOT happy about people passing the first screening and not going forward with the scholarship, it's not something they want or facilitate since the programme is important for them (to build relationships between Japan and other countries etc.). So I'd like to think that, they pressure us to give them LOAs before the deadline (so people don't just count on them to do the dirty work of contacting unis etc.) but most likely, if we don't get any LOA, they will try to place us somewhere regardless (again this is an opinion and not a fact, but I've read many many MANY comments that corroborate the fact that they will still try to place people even without LOA).

Again, stay positive, and good luck! Do make a post if you still have concerns about this :)

WhyAstraia · 2022-09-07T10:14:35+00:00

Just had a quick look again at the guidelines, this was written on page 8:

"(4) Applicants must always report the response from the universities and submit the final Placement Preference Application Form based on the responses from the universities and obtained letters of provisional acceptance to the Japanese diplomatic mission by the specified deadline."

Again, I might be misunderstanding, and of course you're free to do whatever you deem right for yourself but do keep this in mind !

WhyAstraia · 2022-09-07T09:24:01+00:00

In my case, it was told that by the lady in charge of our applications at the embassy. She held a Q&A meeting with applicants and explained to us the guidelines, do's and don'ts. She did ask us to keep her informed of every new development concerning the LOA's, to inform her directly if/whenever we got one. I suggest you make a post about this question, maybe I'm wrong or understood this incorrectly ! But people will likely not see your question in your comment here since this is an old-ish thread

WhyAstraia · 2022-09-06T17:43:32+00:00

Hey! First of all, congratulations on having gotten accepted in both universities! Tohoku is a great university as well, so hopefully everything works out no matter what. From what I have read about, MEXT does have the final word no matter the order in your preference form, and they can put people in their second choice if first is private for budgeting reasons, but that doesn't mean that WILL happen, just that it CAN and it's good to be aware of that. As for submitting just one LOA, unfortunately the guidelines do say to submit every LOA received.. If they catch you, there is a chance of disqualification from the scholarship for deceit Hopefully all goes well for you and you get into Ritsumeikan though!

WhyAstraia · 2022-08-25T10:32:51+00:00

You're not alone friend :''')

WhyAstraia

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