This article is about the MEXT university interview, but most of the MEXT Interview advice you find online is for the Embassy-Recommended application process, and rightfully so.
In the Embassy-Recommended application, the interview can be a make-or-break part of your application. (See my article about that interview process for more examples of potential questions!)
For the University-Recommended application, the interview isn’t going to “make” your application if your GPA and Field of Study and Research Program Plan weren’t amazing. But it can break your application and destroy an otherwise successful application. So it’s just as important to be prepared.
Will There Even be an Interview?
It depends on the school. For the PGP Scholarship, universities are technically required to interview applicants. For other types, it’s really up to the individual graduate school.
Just because you don’t get interviewed does not necessarily mean that your application was rejected. If you are concerned, you can always ask the office where you submitted your application if there will be an interview process.
But, even if the interview isn’t a sure thing, it’s a good idea to prepare.
University-recommended MEXT University Interview Formats
The two primary interview formats will be skype or email. You’ll need to be prepared for both!
Email Interview
An email interview sounds easier. After all, you’ll have time to think about your answers and write a careful response. But for many applicants, that can also be a lot of pressure to make sure your grammar and response is perfect. Plus, you can’t see any feedback from your interviewer as you’re talking, like you could on skype.
For an email interview, knowing how much to say is important. My general rule is that your answer should be long enough to get your point across and answer the question, but short enough that you’re not boring the person to death.
You’ll also want to make sure that your answer is well formatted in paragraphs with topic sentences, etc., just like you would in an academic paper (or your Field of Study and Research Program Plan). But shorter paragraphs! Nobody wants to read a full page of text.
Zoom Interview:
For a Zoom or Skype interview, you’ll need to respond to questions on the spot, but getting your content across is more important than not making any grammar mistakes.
You’ll still want to make sure your answers are short, to the point, and flow well. Practicing questions and answers in advance is key to success. Dressing up in a suit for the interview is also a good idea if you’re going to be on camera.
How to Approach the MEXT University Interview
As with any interaction, you want to focus on what the other person wants.
What is the Interviewer Looking For?
Think about the interviewer’s perspective. What is his or her purpose in interviewing you?
They want to make sure they can be confident in nominating you for the scholarship. They want to know if you’ll be a good fit for their lab and research, as well as how much work they’ll have to put in to supervising you.
Present yourself as humble and ready to accept the professor’s guidance, but not so humble that you can’t function on your own. You should be confident and independent, as well.
You have a research plan – and should have a post-research goal – in mind already. It’s great to talk about what you want to achieve with your research and show your passion, but be prepared to accept guidance.
What Do You Have to Offer?
Try to think in advance what value you bring to your potential supervisor.
Find out as much about your supervisor’s research and lab as you can in advance. Then think about ways you could help. What skills do you have that you can apply? What research experience or connections can you leverage to contribute to your advisor’s interests?
How might your own research support what your supervisor is focused on?
What the Interview is Evaluating
The University wants to test you as a person and as a scholar. Specifically, they’ll be looking for the items below:
Responsiveness
The interview measures how quickly you respond to messages and guidance.
From the day that you first contact your university to the day you graduate, you should be prepared to respond to any emails within 24 hours. Most Japanese universities will expect that of their students.
This is one area where the interview can destroy your application: If you do not respond, you are out. Even if it is your email spam filter’s fault. (Make sure to whitelist your university’s domain!)
If your university asks a question, or asks for a document, and you cannot answer immediately, write back right away to let them know you got the message and are working on it. Give them a timeframe as to when you will answer and update them if there are any changes.
In Japan, that is common courtesy. Unresponsiveness is laziness and disrespect to the sender. That’s not the image you want to convey.
Language Ability
The interview will also test your Japanese or English ability.
Regardless of the qualifications you’ve submitted or the quality of your Research Plan, the university wants to test your language directly.
Japan is the world capital of high but meaningless test scores. Japanese are used to “studying to the test” for college admissions and language proficiency exams and achieving scores far beyond their actual ability. So they want to see if you can really communicate in speech and writing.
You could have had anyone help you edit your research plan or other documents. The interview, with a shorter turnaround, will see if you can keep up that ability.
Even if your research program is entirely in English, they’re probably going to be interested in your Japanese ability. You might have zero ability now, but it is important to convey a willingness to learn, including studying on your own before you come to Japan.
If you’ve already started studying Japanese, even if it’s just daily conversation level, that’s great!
Research
In the University-recommended MEXT application interview, your interview is going to include experts in your field. Unlike the Embassy interview, which almost never includes experts, you can expect the university to dig deeper into your research plan.
Be prepared to talk one to two layers deeper about your plan than you presented in your application materials. But also be prepared to explain it in layman’s terms.
You should also be aware of any current events in your field of study. Comb through the news and journals in your field before your interview for any developments. Ask your previous advisor, if possible.
You can even use Google’s free service to set up news alerts for specific topics so you get them emailed to you directly.
Reasoning
Related to your reasoning, the university wants to see if you can construct and defend all thought-out arguments. Do your sentences make logical sense and carry a theme? Can you communicate in a clear and concise fashion?
In all likelihood, you wouldn’t have gotten this far if that wasn’t the case. However, I’ve known several otherwise amazing scholars who fall apart when put on the spot. If you think a skype interview will make you nervous, practice so that you can present to your interviewers the confident, reasoning you that you know you are.
Bottom Line: Be As Good in the Interview as You Are on Paper
The chances are good that the university already more or less has a priority list of applicants. It’s going to be tough to leapfrog anyone above you unless you are simply amazing. Your first goal should be not to fall.
In most cases, being as good in the interview – in language, reasoning, responsiveness, and research knowledge – as you were in your application is going to be enough to get the job done.
MEXT University Interview Questions
While I have never participated in a University MEXT interview personally, these are the question types I have seen in other MEXT and scholarship interviews, and questions shared by past applicants.
Questions about Your Research
As I mentioned above, your prospective advisor is going to want to know more about your research plan. The plan you submitted in your application was (probably) only 2 pages long. Be prepared to go into more depth about what you want to cover and what your final goals are. In particular, you may see questions about your field research intentions.
One of the most common questions I have heard is: Why do you want to do this research in Japan? Be prepared to answer not only with relationship to Japan, but why you want to study at this particular university with this advisor.
This is a good opportunity for some minor flattery, but keep it within reason!
Questions about Your Future
What is your goal for your research? How do you want to apply it?
For the MEXT scholarship, you want to show how you can use your research to benefit both countries in the future. Tell them how you want to use your research outcome and/or your personal experience as a student in Japan to strengthen bods between Japan and your home country.
Most universities would love to see that you have a plan to use your research to contribute to your home country’s development and become a leader in that country, yourself. Both MEXT and Japanese universities are most eager to educate future leaders in other countries who will have an affinity for Japan and strengthen the countries’ bonds in the future.
Questions about Your Past
You’ll probably get some questions on your academic or professional (if applicable) experience to date. Think about how what you have studied or worked on in the past has affected your research choice. If you can show convincing passion for your field and a reason you want to make a difference, that is excellent!
You’ll also want to show a track record of success. The university wants to know that you can take on a challenge and see it through without giving up or getting distracted. If you’ve taken on a significant project or leadership position in the past, or if you’ve demonstrated independence, you’ll want to work those experiences into your answers if you can.
For example, if you’ve studied abroad before, that shows the university that you can handle the stress of leaving home. If you’ve interned and leveraged that experience for your research, that shows that you can achieve goals that you set.
Questions about Japan
I don’t mean that they’re going to ask the year of the Meiji Restoration (unless you’re a history major), or who’s on the 10,000 yen bill. They want to know what you know about Japan and how prepared you are to live here.
The university wants to be sure that, if you’re selected for the scholarship, you are prepared to leave your country, job, and family behind to come to Japan. They also want to make sure that you can handle the experience.
If you have experience overseas or living on your own – especially if you have studied abroad in Japan in the past – bring that up as evidence that you can handle it.
Talk to people from your country who have lived in Japan before, if you can. Find out about their experiences so that you can bring it up in the interview: “I know from talking to my senpai that life in Japan can be challenging because of x, but I am preparing by doing y.”
If you get asked, this is also a good opportunity to bring up how you are studying Japanese, or plan to.
If you have a family (spouse, kids) that depends on you, be prepared to answer about what you will do about them. Do you plan to bring them to Japan on a Dependent Visa later? Will they be taken care of in your home country? The university wants to know that you have a plan.
How Was Your MEXT Interview Experience?
Those are all the questions that I can think of. Now, it’s over to you!
If you’ve gone through the interview and want to share anything about your experience (or ask any questions), let me know in the comments below!
Thank You, Supporters!
Thank you to my supporters on Patreon, who help keep this site running through their generous contributions. Special thanks to everyone who has been supporting this site (and its predecessor, TranSenz) for months or years!
You can support this site on Patreon for as little as $1 (or your currency of choice) per month or make a one-time donation through that site. Patreon supporters get one-on-one answers to questions, early access to articles and updates, and discounts on my coaching services/books.
If you want to show your support but Patreon is out of reach for now, please come back again after this site helps you win the scholarship, to help keep it running for future applicants!
Questions?
Feel free to ask in the comments below! I will get back to you as soon as possible.
I’d also recommend signing up for my mailing list to get notified whenever I have updates to any of the FAQs or new articles about the MEXT scholarship!
Hi Travis, first of all Happy New Year ,thank u for all the support u provide here ,
i have my email interview in 2-3 days, i wanted to ask what should be the length of my answers,
and should i give answers in points instead of long paragraph, also while researching about my universities i made friends who are enrolled in that university and got to know about the university more, so should i include this in my answers if a question is asked regarding “why this university?”.
and if a question is asked “what are your plans after graduation?” what should be the correct answers, should i show interest in staying in japan with my answer
Hi Yuvraj,
I’m sure this is not a particularly helpful answer, but your answers should be long enough to answer the question clearly. Don’t ramble, but do make sure you answer thoroughly. For an email interview, I recommend using short paragraphs, but if a list is appropriate as part of your answer, then that is fine to include in bullet format.
Mentioning that you have friends at the university isn’t particularly helpful, but if you can mention the information that your friends have given you about the university, such as its strong features and the opportunities you will have there, that would be good.
As for your plans in the future, the most important thing is to show how you will make use of your experience in Japan to serve society, either in Japan, your home country, or in connecting the two. Whether you want to work in Japan or your home country should be based on which will be more beneficial to your future goals, so focus on those goals, not the location.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello yuvraj. I wanted to ask you specifically because your question was asked in 2023.
After you select university amd contact an adviser, how soon do they ask for an interview as I’m currently in the “contacting adviser phase”. Why was your interview in may? Am i too late? I thought i was early tho. Also, i wanted to ask of advisers are willing to help you with the proposal of you are a student who hasn’t used advance technology for research methodology, so you don’t even know what equipments you can use to conduct a certain study. I have formulated a proposal but without knowing what equipments i can use. Do advisers give suggestions? Can you please help with by sharing your experience?
Hi Talha,
I hope Yuvraj can get back to you, but in the meantime, I think you might have misinterpreted the timing, which is going to affect the answer to your question. Yuvraj’s interview was in January (The date system for the comments is year-month-day). So it was after submitting the application and part of the screening process. It was not part of the informal process of contacting an advisor. So it was also not a point in the application where the potential advisor would have been in a position to give any advice.
In general, your research proposal should be as close as possible to complete before contacting advisors. They might give advice like pointing you in a different direction for your research (to better fit in with their lab), but do not expect a potential advisor to provide detailed guidance on your proposal and/or technical details. The question you had sound like questions that you need to be able to answer yourself before applying.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello,
Thank you so much for all the useful information. I applied through the university recommendation, and I have an interview very soon. It’s only a 10 mins interview, so I was wondering if you could tell me what they might ask.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Lin
Hi Lin,
For an interview at the university, they are likely to focus more on your research and its outcomes, but they could also ask about your academic background and ask some of the common questions about adjusting to life in Japan that you would see in the embassy interview.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello,
Thank you so much for all the useful information.
I have an interview very soon ( university recommended ) and it’s only a 10 mins interview, so I was wondering if you could tell me what questions they might ask in this case ( since the time is less than what you have mentioned).
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Lin
Hi Lin,
Even though the interview time is shorter than what I described here, I would still recommend preparing for the same types of questions. I also have a separate article about the Embassy Interview where I have included the questions that applicants told me they were asked in previous years. There might be some overlap there, too.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis, just wanted to leave a thank you. I came across your blog when I was doing research for the embassy interview in Germany and I passed the Primary Screening. Preparation paid off 🙂 Thanks again,
Cathy
Hi Travis,
Thank you so much for the explanation. I am applying for a University Recommended MEXT Scholarship, and I have already get a schedule for online interview. Since I am applying for an undergraduate program, the university said that it is acceptable if I write a study plan instead of a research plan, so I ended up writing a study plan. I am wondering what the interview questions would be like since I suppose they would not be asking me about research. Do you have any information about that? or maybe you have seen another student who applies with study plan like me? Thank you for your attention!
Hi Angelita,
Thank you for your feedback!
Unfortunately, I have not talked to anyone directly who has experience with the undergraduate interview, but from what I have seen about others posting their experience, I would suggest that you plan for a similar line of questions. Instead of them asking why you want to research your particular topic, anticipate a question about why you want to study your major and what you hope to accomplish during your studies and after graduation. They might ask what preparation you have done for your studies, as well.
The other questions still apply: You will likely be asked to introduce yourself (keep the intro focused on your study theme!), why you are interested in studying in Japan, your knowledge of Japanese language and culture, how you think you can fit in, what you plan to do after graduation, etc.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you so much for replying to my question, that helps a lot!
Hi Travis,
I have another questions, I have passed JLPT level N3, but I am not confident in communicating with Japanese language since I rarely get the chance to do it with someone else, and most of the time I understand what the other people is saying, but I can’t give them a proper reply. Can you please give me some advice about what I should do to improve my communicating skills? And do you know what type of question the interviewer ask in Japanese, like is it usually just a basic daily conversation or will they actually ask questions about my study plan in Japanese?
I am so sorry for asking so much questions, and thank you for spending your time writing blog and answering our questions, reading that really helps a lot!
Once again, thank you so much!
Hi Angelita,
If you’re applying for a degree taught in English, then they are not likely to ask you any in-depth questions about your research in Japanese. Instead, expect that they will ask you to do something like introduce yourself, or about your hobbies, or perhaps explain why your are interested in studying in Japan. The purpose is primarily going to be to test your ability.
They will know in advance that your level is N3 from your application form, so their expectations should not be too high and the question should be relatively basic.
The best way I can think of to prepare is to practice. If you have a Japanese teacher, you can ask them to help you with a practice interview. Or you might be able to find a Japanese language conversation partner online, too.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi, thanks for this informative website,
I want to ask you a question about Letter of Recommendation
My graduation supervisor USED TO be dean of business faculty, and I cannot ask for a LOR from higher position, so I just asked that professor to write one for me. Is it ok?
How they check if my LOR valid? Like Are they tend to contact my university ( Head of uni or someone else) to check?
thank you
Hi Kay,
If your supervisor was Dean of the Faculty when you graduated, then that’s fine.
If he or she was Dean of the faculty in the past, but not when you studied under him/her or graduated, then you would need to get a letter from the current or contemporary Dean. I have advise about how to acquire a Letter of Acceptance in my article about the required documents for the application process.
Your letter of recommendation is valid if the signature block or contents of the letter say that the person is the Dean of the Faculty. And yes, we used to double-check when I handled these letters.
(Of course, if you’re not willing to follow through with that, you always have the option of applying for the Embassy Recommended MEXT Scholarship – that process does not require an LoR from the Dean).
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
thank you vey much for you information I appreciate your hard working
I want to know one thing
if I chose to apply to university recommend, should I pay application fee for the chosen university?
Hi Najah,
Thank you for your kind words.
In some cases, you might have to pay the application fee when you apply, but if you get accepted for the scholarship, you would get that money refunded.
(If you do not get accepted, then you would not get a refund).
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello I am now a JICA participant as a master degree student in Miyazaki University, I will graduate march 2019 and I want to continue my PHD course after graduation. I want to apply for MEXT scholarship. Is it possible for me to apply by university recommendation, so could you till me when can I apply for that and how can I get application form?
Hi Mahmoud,
I don’t know about the rules for JICA scholarship participants, so I can’t say whether or not it’s allowed for that project.
From the perspective of the MEXT scholarship, it would not be a problem in general. However, all University Recommendation MEXT scholarship degrees start in September/October, so you wouldn’t be able to start immediately after graduating in March. If you wanted to be able to start immediately in April, then I would recommend that you apply for the Embassy Recommendation scholarship, instead.
For the University Recommendation Scholarship, you would find the application procedures and forms on the website of the University that you are applying to, typically. The process does not normally begin until the fall, but it is different for each university, so I would recommend that you research your particular university to find out.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello TranSenz,,
I want to do research on Japanese children literature or Children story books. Which university is suitable for me. I Know Japanese. Kindly, guide.
-Surabhi
Hi Surabhi,
Unfortunately, I do not have any particular expertise in that field of study. I have focused on helping applicant find programs taught in English, but even there, I do not have enough knowledge in particular fields to be able to recommend one program over another. All I can do is suggest what applicants should look for when comparing them themselves.
To study Japanese literature, you would almost certainly have to be fluent to the N1 level in Japanese. I would recommend reviewing Japanese universities’ Japanese websites for more information about their literature programs.
You can also try the site below to search for individual professors and researchers by field of study:
http://researchmap.jp/search/
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi TranSenz,
I have joined Kyushu Institute of Technology, as a MEXT scholarship PhD student. But, now I am in a bit of a mess.. I found out here that my supervisor’s research area is not exactly macthing with my area and I got in contact with another supervisor who is working in my field and is willing to guide me. Is there any way to change supervisor withing the same university without hampering the MEXT scholarship..
Hi Subraya,
I think that is more of a university decision than a MEXT decision. As far as I know from my experience working with the scholarship, the university does not need to report the student’s supervisor to MEXT or lock the student into one supervisor only. I worked with some programs where MEXT scholars (Masters level) weren’t even assigned supervisors until their second year, and that was not a problem.
I would recommend you talk to your supervisor and the other professor and see if they are willing to make the change. If not, maybe your current advisor could stay as your advisor of record, but you could work more closely with the other professor, if they agree.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello TranSenz,
Hope you are well. This is the mail that I got from the university “We announced the result of the examination for 2017 Japanese Government Scholarship Student recommended by the university (research student) held in October, but there was withdrawal of candidacy.
Therefore, we are happy to offer a place as a promising candidate to you
Selection Result : Successfully recommended as a promising candidate to Japanese Government.
※ This is an informal notification. The official notification of acceptance and admission documents will be mailed around August, 2017”.
Now, please kindly let me know what is the possibility to get the scholarship.
Sincerely,
Azam
Hi Azam,
That notification means that you’ve been elevated from alternate candidate to primary candidate.
I have never seen a primary candidate not get the scholarship, so I’d say it’s about a 99% chance or better!
Good Luck,
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear TranSenz,
Thank you so much. Your reply make me happy. But I am not notified yet. What may be the causes of that? Thank you again.
Sincerely,
Azam
Hi Azam,
Your university might just be slow. But if you still haven’t received any word, then I’d recommend that you check your spam mail box (sometimes universities’ notifications end up there) and if there’s nothing there, contact them directly to ask.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
thanks for all the work you have been doing. Have you written anything about the “Embassy Recommendation-Interview for Research Students” because i dont seem to find anything.
Hi Alain,
I’m sorry it has taken me a while to answer this. I was actually working on the article when you posted your comment and it is now available here!
I hope your interview went well!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis! Thanks to your guide here I could get through the document screening for Embassy-Recommended Scholarship. My interview is coming up mid July. I wonder if you can give me little insight or advice about what the interview will look like? Thank you!
Hi Ariane,
I’m sorry this reply was not in time, but I hope you saw the article I posted about the MEXT scholarship interview about a week after your comment!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
At first, thank you so much for your guidance. I will do interview via skype with graduate school next week and your information is really helpful. I would like to ask you some questions about the interview and hope will get your responses soon:
1. Should I contact to the professor who will be my advisor before the interview? In my case, I got announcement email from graduate school staff with the inform letter of the dean.
2. How many professor will interview me and how long of the interview? Starting time of my interview is 6pm (Japanese time) so I am afraid that they will get tired in the interview.
thank you so much for your time
Hi Huyenle,
I’m afraid that by now it is probably too late to help you with your question, but I will try to answer anyway, just in case.
1. I’m not sure I understand why you want to contact the professor. If it is just to let him know about the interview, I think he should already be aware and may even be part of the interview committee. If you are in regular contact with him and are worried whether it’s appropriate to keep up your exchange of emails, etc., I think it is fine to keep it up. If you want to ask about the structure of the interview and the professor’s advice for preparation, it really depends on how close your communication has been so far and whether or not that question is in character with your previous conversations.
2. That’s going to be up to each individual school. I would guess around 2-3 professors and about 15 minutes, but that’s purely a guess based on my experience with interviews in general in Japan, not specific to MEXT. In similar situations, I have seen an interview committee of one professor from your specific field (possibly your prospective advisor), the department or graduate school head (for balance across the graduate school), and a professor affiliated with the International Office (for balance across the university). Again, your situation may be very different. There’s no particular standard issued by MEXT, so it’s up to each university to decide.
In any case, I wouldn’t worry about them getting tired. 6pm is still quite early in the evening.
If I’ve already missed it, then I hope your interview went well (please let me know!). If you haven’t had it yet, then I wish you good luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Huyenle,
Just curious about what school you applied to for the university recommended MEXT?
I applied to Tohoku University and still am waiting for the results.
Thank you
Hi Travis
First of all, thanks a lot for the info, it has been really useful for me.
I would like to ask you, if my Uni, and my Faculty have a PGP program with the Japanese Uni i have applied, does the interview matters?
I mean, with the PGP program “i have one slot for me”, right? ( since no other student from my uni applied).
Once again, thanks a lot.
Cheers!
Hi Fernando,
The interview always matters (if you have one), even if you think you have a “sure thing.” It’s your chance to make a good first impression, and that should be reason enough.
Also, if you blow it off or clearly aren’t trying, there’s a chance that the receiving university could choose to not recommend you, after all.
I’ve never heard of a PGP program that was for one university, only. Officially, I don’t think it would be possible to limit a program to only one university like that, but PGP rules are somewhat vague and mysterious, so I can’t be sure. I’d recommend that you double check the situation.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello TranSenz,
I’m expected to have a Skype interview with my prospective advisor this week and I’m a bit nervous regarding the questions he might possibly ask. Do they usually ask questions relating to the university I’m applying to or only related to the field of study, japan and research proposal?
Thanks in advance
Sincerely
Maryam
Hi Maryam,
They may ask why you chose that particular university for your studies, but that answer should be related to your research proposal, anyway.
I don’t think the supervisor is going to quiz you about what year the university was founded, or who is the president.
Knowing a little bit about life in Japan, and why studying in Japan/at that university is important to you would certainly be valuable.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello again Travis!
Thank you for your updated information!
I want to ask your opinion related to my circumstances. I have submitted my hard copy application for university recommendation scholarship.
Is it normal for the university to ask your original certificate of graduation and academic transcript?
I have received the original back but I am curious whether it is actually necessary or not…
Is this a bad sign for my application?
I am a bit anxious…
Thank you Travis!
Hi Evan,
Yes, it’s normal for the university to ask for the “original” certificate of graduation and academic transcript. It’s actually required, since they have to provide those documents to MEXT. But there is some flexibility as to what counts.
Typically, when I handled these applications, we would accept a copy that was certified by the issuing university’s registrar in place of an original. We would also accept a certificate of grades that mentioned the degree awarded and graduation date as counting for both the certificate of grades and the certificate of graduation.
At a Japanese university, graduates can get as many original certificates of grades or graduation as they require. They just have to write into the school and pay a small fee. As a consequence, Japanese universities and MEXT don’t understand that other countries don’t work that way, so they think that it’s no big deal to ask you for an original.
In your case, it’s possible that the university made a copy and certified it themselves so that they would have an acceptable “original” then mailed the original back to you. In any case, the university having seen the original for itself should suffice.
I would not read too much into the meaning of it being returned to you one way or another.
I hope you will be hearing good news soon!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
I have passed the primary screening from graduate school in OU. The assistant of my professor said however that the scholarship is very competitive and thus there is another screening from the university.
I am anxious again to be honest. If I have passed this so called “primary screening” from graduate school to be recommended as a candidate, is this a good news?
At this point, is my chance of failure still big? Thank you so much Travis! I am sorry to ask you these questions. Reading your kind reply and informative blog help me a lot!
Hi Evan,
Thank you for your kind words. Please don’t ever hesitate to ask questions.
It looks like OU uses a different system to decide scholarships than the one we used to use at my university.
They narrow down the best candidate(s) from each graduate school and choose the final nominees from that group, depending on how many slots they have. If you pass the next screening at the university level, then you would be nominated for the scholarship.
Unfortunately, it’s hard for me to say what your chances are at this point. It depends on the strength of your application and those you are competing against. It’s not about passing a threshold, it’s ultimately about beating the other candidates.
You’re one significant step closer, certainly, and it is good news to make it to this level. I hope you will hear further good news soon!
Good Luck,
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
I have been recommended by Osaka University to MEXT 🙂
Thank you for your support and guidance. I am truly grateful for your advices!
They say the final result will be out in May from MEXT. Do I have a good chance if I have got this far?
Thank you Travis!
Yours sincerely
Dear Evan William Chandra,
Congratulations!
I have never heard of someone being nominated by a university and not getting the scholarship in the end, so I would think you have a very chance at this point!
Good Luck with your studies in Japan!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thanks Travis for your information!
Also, I want to ask about some rumours… is it true that top 7 imperial universities have higher chance of acceptance in MEXT scholarship via university recommendation?
Thanks!
Hi Evan William Chandra,
I have never heard that.
For the University-recommended scholarship, each university has a specific number of students they can nominate. That number is determined by the number of international graduate students they have, not by whether they are a former Imperial University or not.
Once you’re nominated, your chances of getting the scholarship are equally high, regardless of the university. Up until that point though, I would think that applying to the former Imperial universities might reduce your chances, since they are the most famous and will likely draw the most applicants, despite not having more slots. The competition level is going to be higher!
Good Luck,
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you for the informative website. I just finished three rounds of email interviews with the university that I applied to. My questions are: 1) Does being interviewed mean I am being considered by the university for admission and for the MEXT scholarship? and 2) What happens after the email interviews? Thanks!
Hi Ian,
Thank you for your comment and congrats on making it this far in the application process.
1) If you have been interviewed, you are being considered. It does not necessarily mean that you will receive the scholarship, because there are too many other factors to guess at, but you are still in the running.
2) After the interviews, the review committee will make their final decision and release the results. Unless they’ve asked you to update some of your documents, all you have left to do at this point is wait!
Please let me know how it goes.
Good Luck,
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Many thanks for answering my questions. I just got an email from the university. The university admitted me to the graduate program and I would be recommended for the MEXT Scholarship. The notice about the MEXT Scholarship will come out late May. Is that there any chance that the notice will come out earlier than May? Many thanks again!
Hi Ian,
Congratulations!
The notifications used to come out in April (General program), but they keep getting later and later. I think when it comes to MEXT (or any Japanese bureaucracy), the possibility of “earlier” is nonexistent.
On the other hand, universities know how many recommendees will get accepted and the MEXT evaluation is not a competitive one. It’s just verifying that the university did all their checks right, etc., so even though your results aren’t final yet, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. I have never seen a recommended scholar not get the scholarship.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you, Travis! My university did request that I be patient in waiting for the MEXT notification. I will update you once I get it. At least I do not have to worry about anything. Many thanks again!
Hello TranSenz,
Please explain some question of Email interview as below:
1.Describe what parts of Japan you are interested in and explain why.
2.Describe your understanding of Japanese industry in general.
3.Describe a situation where you faced difficulty in the past, and how you overcame it.
I could not understand what did they mean? I need your explanation immediately. Thanks in advance.
Sincerely
Rashid
Hi Rashid,
Thank you for sharing the questions you received!
The questions you shared seem fairly straightforward. The best advice I can give is to keep your answers relevant to your planned studies in Japan.
The first question is likely intended to ensure that you have researched Japan and have a reason that you want to study there, besides just being able to get a scholarship.
For the second question, this is a chance to relate your planned field of studies in Japan to specific examples from Japanese industry.
For the third question, describing a challenge that involved cultural differences would show the university that you are prepared to move to Japan and adjust to living in the culture, etc.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz