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Hello,
First of all, I would like to thank you for your guidance and replies to questions for MEXT applicants! The helpful information on your website (new name/URL now!) really contributed to my passing of the primary screening of the MEXT embassy track 2024/2025!
Unfortunately, as for my request for the Letter of Provisional Acceptance(s) from 2 universities, I was recently rejected from both. And now the period of requesting LoPA from universities is already over for the MEXT Embassy track (2024/2025). So I would like to ask whether is it possible and a good idea for me to:
1. List out a different graduate school (in the SAME university)? As I found another professor who her special field really matches my research plan, in a different graduate school but same university (I did not choose to request LoPA from her at first because another professor from the other graduate school also matches my study plan, however, he might be close to his retirement. Therefore, that may be the reason why I got rejected).
2. If it is possible, should I contact that professor in a different graduate school, the same university, to ask whether she can accept me? (and sending her my research plan and other documents, if requested).
3. If 1. and 2. is not possible or highly discouraged to do so. Should I still contact other universities (ones that I had not contacted for LoPA nor rejected me) to ask whether they can accept me? Or this should not be done as the period for “contacting” university (whether it is for LoAP or not) is already over?
Thank you so much for your hard work and your time for answering,
Pookan
Hi Pookan,
Thank you for your kind feedback. I wanted to move to a new URL that made more sense and was easier to remember. 🙂 I’m glad I could help with the Primary Screening advice, at least, though I am sorry to hear that your LoPA application process didn’t go as well.
1. Whether or not you can reach out to another professor at the same university depends on where you were in the application process when your application got rejected. If you were applying to a university where you reach out directly to the professor for approval (either first, or as the only step), and the professor rejected your application, then you might be able to list another professor from the same university. But, if you submitted your application officially to the university and they rejected it, then you should not list that same university again.
Honestly, I have almost never seen a case where two different professors in different graduate schools at the same university could both be potential supervisors for the same research, though. The only examples I know of is where the two schools are very similar in content, but one has an academic focus (e.g. Life Sciences) and one has a practical focus (e.g. Medicine). So, in any case, really make sure you understand the professor’s research and the degree program in the school you intend to apply to!
2. You cannot get any official acceptance at this point and trying when it is already a month past the deadline may actually hurt your case with that professor (or any professor that you reach out to), since you will look like someone who ignores the rules when they are inconvenient. (I know what you’re trying to do and I’m not accusing you, I’m just trying to picture how we would have responded at my university if we received such a message.)
3. In general, you should just list the universities and professors on your Placement Preference Form and submit it without contacting them. That’s the MEXT expectation and, as I described in 2, I don’t think that asking if universities can accept you at this point will make a good impression. You could contact the professors directly as a courtesy, to let them know that you have applied to the MEXT Scholarship and have expressed in your application that you would like to study under them, but that you were not able to reach out to them before the deadline to request Letters of Provisional Acceptance. You could ask for their kind consideration if MEXT contacts them to formally request them to accept you, but I would not recommend that you request them to give you any formal or informal confirmation of acceptance now.
Good Luck!
– Travis
Thank you for your comprehensive answer to my questions! To elaborate on my question 1. I submitted my application officially through the university, and they forwarded it to the graduate school. Here is the rephrased of their message to me:
“Your application has been forwarded to your desired graduate school, and has been carefully reviewed by the faculty members. However, We regret to inform you that the university is not able to issue you the Letter of Acceptance”.
So, I am not sure whether the university itself rejects me and therefore, I should not list (as you said) the same university on the Placement Preference Form despite being a different graduate school. OR the professor/graduate school rejects me, so I still can put another professor/graduate school within that SAME university on my Placement Preference Form?
I may ask for your opinion/suggestion further on this matter.
Thank you so much again for your throughout and quick reply!
Pookan
Hi Pookan,
Thank you for the update.
Unfortunately, your application would fall into the category of rejected by the university, since you had submitted the application to formally request a LoPA. So, I cannot recommend listing the same university again with a different graduate school.
The only exception, I suppose, would be if you had originally chosen a graduate school that teaches only in Japanese (which would have likely been the reason for your rejection) and you wanted to change to another one that teaches in English, but that’s a pretty rare situation, so it’s almost certain that you’ll have to find an alternative university.
Good Luck!
– Travis
Hello again Travis,
Thank you for your clarification, it is just unfortunate to hear that you cannot put a different graduate school in a same university that rejected to provide LOPA for you.
My main concern is that my research plan is a comparative study of Tokyo and my country’s city. So, I am not sure if it is a good idea for me to put universities outside of Tokyo in my Placement or not? Or that I should put only universities that are in Tokyo or the Kanto area?
I may once again ask for your suggestion on this matter and thank you very much.
Pookan
Hi Pookan,
After our last exchange, I double-checked the Japanese guidelines about Letters of Provisional Acceptance. While the English guidelines say that you “should not” request an acceptance letter from another faculty member or graduate school at a university that rejected your application, the Japanese application guidelines actually say that you “must not.” So I think we can establish that it is not allowed.
As for considering universities outside Tokyo, it depends on how much time you need to spend on fieldwork inside Tokyo and how far away you go. If you are studying Tokyo but don’t need to physically be there for your research activities, then you could be outside the city. If you choose a university with easy access to Tokyo, that should be fine, too. If being physically present for field research is an issue, check the transportation distances from other universities into your destination in Tokyo.
Of course, the most important factor is whether or not the university has a program and professor specialized in your particular research area!
Good Luck!
– Travis
Hello,
Research preference placcement form.
As the form is submitted twice and LOPAs are delivered by the universities but the field you put on the research proposal form is not well clarified as specied by the japanese service of promotion of sciences chart,
Question:
1. If for example during the first screening someone marked ”public Management and policies studies”( it must be in social sciences) as field of what He/She wants to study and during the period of seeking lopas from Universities He/She finds that among the list of Universities in MEXT program of that academic year none has specifically the same field but related ones. despite getting the LOPA in related field for example ” Global business and management studies” , could someone fill the placement form with what marked on the form of research proposal ” in the blank line” of field of study in Japan and detailed field one or put what stated on the Lopa received?
2. If so, is there any negative impact for the last screening?
Regards!
Hi NIJIMBERE Emmanuel,
You only need to submit your question once. I am not an AI and cannot answer instantly, so please don’t keep submitting it if you don’t see an answer right away.
I think you’re overthinking and worrying a bit too much about this form! After you’ve passed the Primary Screening and received your LoPAs, the important part of the Placement Preference Form is the list of universities. What you write in your field of study isn’t that important, as long as it’s close.
1. I’m actually not sure if you can change the field of study when you resubmit the form, so you should check with the embassy to be sure. I know that you can change the list of universities and professors (sometimes it’s necessary!) but your field of study should not have changed significantly. Your field of study should be based on your Field of Study and Research Program Plan, not necessarily on the name of the graduate school or department where you will study in Japan. Unless your LoPA specified a completely different research field than what you originally proposed, then I don’t think you should change this section.
2. I cannot say for sure. If your research field changed, then it might affect the embassy’s willingness to nominate you to MEXT for the secondary screening. They selected you in the primary screening based on your original field, so if that has changed significantly, that could be a problem. For the actual secondary screening at MEXT, though, it shouldn’t be a problem, since they won’t know that it’s a change!
Good Luck!
– Travis S.