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Saturday 12 November 2016

MEXT research scholarship advice, part 2: The application itself


Intro
Part 1

In this post:

-University recommendation

-Research plan

-Other application documents

-Language tests

-Interview at the embassy




University recommendation

At this point the university and embassy recommendation processes differ a lot. The former depends to some extent on the university. You normally have to persuade your potential supervisor to let you apply, then they will help you with the next stages. The university will probably put up information on their website around October  - you usually need to check the individual faculty’s website.

Typical documents required for uni recommendation are fairly similar to the embassy: form with personal info, transcript of your grades, degree certificate or letter saying when you’ll graduate, proof of citizenship or passport scan, TOEFL or similar for non-natives, the health form (same as for embassy). Some universities have a slightly different document list. You will normally have to send all of these to Japan via airmail.

You will need a research plan, the same as for the embassy. They also ask for a recommendation from the dean of your university or above. I’ve been told this basically means a recommendation from a previous or current supervisor signed/stamped by the dean (see also link below). In addition, you need your potential supervisor to write a recommendation for you.

Note that there is a minimum grade requirement for university recommendation. It is, IMO, pretty low (as in, in the UK you probably could not enter graduate school at all with that kind of average because it would be less than a 2.1), but it is worth checking you meet it just in case your country is very harsh on grading. See here for how to calculate your overall grade on the MEXT scale:

http://www.ynu.ac.jp/english/international/accept/pdf/NJGS.pdf 

Then you may be interviewed by some members of the department to see if they’ll put you forward to the university as a MEXT candidate. If you are selected by the department, the university will review the applications and decide whether to submit you to MEXT. If they do, you’re likely to receive the scholarship. But for many unis, this whole process is somewhat cloaked in mystery.

Can you apply for two uni recommendations at once? Well, technically yes, but if both unis submit you to MEXT you will be disqualified automatically. So if they’re both about to, you’ll have to tell one of them very quickly that you’re not interested any more. A bit of a risk.

There is some difference in when you will hear the results depending on whether you applied for “general” or “special” uni recommendation (“special” = a particular program like the International Graduate Program). The results come out in April/May or June/July respectively. The most important difference here appears to be that for special recommendation, you’re practically guaranteed to get the scholarship once your application has been handed to MEXT, whereas with “general” the odds are still good but lower.

And that’s about all I have to say here. The rest of my points are written with embassy selection in mind. If you are not put forward to MEXT by the uni, you can still try at the embassy in April. If however MEXT receive and reject your application you cannot apply to the embassy that year.

There is a lot of detailed info about uni recommendation on this website - this guy worked for the international admin office for uni-recommended candidates so knows his stuff better than I do. But please note that his articles may not all be valid for the embassy recommendation process, which is somewhat different.

http://www.transenzjapan.com/blog/university-mext-scholarship/

Research plan

This is the part of your application where you can do the most to make sure you stand out. Do not leave it until the last minute! You can write it in Japanese if you are brave, but this is tricky if you don’t have someone to check all the technical vocabulary for you. Unless you are doing something like Japan studies or Japanese linguistics I don't think there's a substantial benefit to writing it in Japanese.

If you are applying to the embassy, this will only be judged by the people there (I'm assuming you will already have discussed the plan with your potential supervisors). Bear in mind they will generally not know anything about your field - I’ve read that sometimes they get an “expert” in for the interview, but depending how obscure your research is they might not really be an expert at all. The proposal will also be seen by the university when you’re applying for letters of acceptance (see Part 3) but by that point you’ve basically got the scholarship.

If you’re applying to the university it will probably be judged by people in the department you’re applying to as well as a more general selection committee, so they will be more familiar with your kind of research.

Speaking as a scientist, no one can expect you to come up with a full research plan all by yourself. The best approach is to contact potential supervisors well in advance and ask them what projects they might have available. Then write this up in a way someone who is in a related field but not an expert can understand. Do not ask them to write your plan for you, but you can certainly ask for their advice.

For humanities the popular opinion seems to be: get a fairly solid research plan first and then contact relevant supervisors to discuss its feasibility and refine it.

Just my opinion here - keep the plan short. Some people say writing 7 pages shows your motivation. No, it shows you can waffle for 7 pages and/or you wrote everything you could think of and didn’t have time to edit. No one wants to read that. I’d say 4 pages of text maximum (more if you have diagrams, but do you really need diagrams?). Stick to the most important points:

-Background/introduction for non-experts
-Connection to your previous studies
-Why this field is important / practical applications / benefit to Japan and your country
-Connection to Japan - why not do the research in your home country?
-What you plan to do - in some detail, but don’t go over the top with impenetrable jargon
-Time schedule
-Resources: short bibliography / further reading

In my opinion one of the most common mistakes in the application is to talk only about how much you love Japan and Japanese culture, how great your Japanese is etc. but then forget to make it clear why exactly your research needs to be done there. Everyone who applies wants to study in Japan, so just talking about how much you're interested in the country is not what's going to make you stand out.

I hope this is obvious, but get someone else to check over your research plan. Your supervisor may give you advice but try to get a native speaker to check for any mistakes or awkward wording and give you their opinion on whether it sells you as an applicant.

There is no “correct” structure, but they want to see that you are well-prepared and will spend your time in Japan usefully. Of course, once you are in Japan no one is going to check that you’re following your proposal to the letter, especially if you are researching unpredictable things.

Here is an example from someone whose research proposal looks very different from mine (well, he was applying to do calligraphy not physics!) but he has still addressed most of the points I listed.

http://www.larsmartinson.com/research-proposal/

Another successful proposal I found, for the university-recommended route:

https://asiansalad.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/my-research-proposal-for-mext-monbusho-scholarship/

I will be honest, I don't think this second one is as good an example as the first. It's not structured as clearly, doesn't say HOW the study is going to be carried out, and doesn't specify why the study has to be done in Japan (perhaps not as necessary for uni recommendation?). But it was still successful, so I link it here.

In my plan I described two slightly different projects that I could work on depending on the university I ended up in, since my research is on a large collaborative experiment and I can't just choose freely what I want to do. I was a bit worried about this but it ended up not being a problem at all.


Other application documents

To see what you have to submit, check your embassy website. Some embassies leave the forms up all year, so find one of those and you can see what to expect - I don’t know if they will always be 100% identical year to year, but they haven't changed for a while. For example:

http://www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/english/html/mext-scholarship.html
(scroll to the bottom)

Some embassies will ask you to submit the health form after the other documents if/when you pass the interview. You should verify this with your embassy. All tests are necessary, yes, even the chest X-ray, yes even if you have no known health problems. Yes, it's a pain, but the MEXT process is all about jumping through hoops. I got the check by searching for clinics in London that do visa medicals, since the tests on the form are very similar to those needed for a visa. It cost me nearly £300. I guess there might exist cheaper options but the timeframe was very tight.

You need a recommendation letter: if possible, get someone who has a connection with Japan and has an important-sounding title. Japan does place a lot of weight on titles. However IMO it is always better to get an enthusiastic recommendation from a research assistant than a lukewarm recommendation from a bigwig professor, however many awards he has. So pick someone who likes you. Note: this is different from the uni recommendation - in this case the letter doesn't have to be signed by the Dean, and its contents are more important.

If your documents are not in English or Japanese, you will need a certified translation. This means either an official translation from the university OR a translation with an attestation from a translator - this means a piece of paper signed by the translator saying in English or Japanese something like "I am conversant in the English and Arabic languages and I attest that to the best of my knowledge this is a true and accurate translation". A professional translator will be familiar with this request.

Again, if you have any doubts here, it’s best to contact your embassy and ask them directly as procedures may differ.

Then put all your documents in plastic wallets to prevent them getting damaged in transit and send them by registered post to your embassy. Note that the deadline is for the documents to ARRIVE at the embassy; they don't generally care when it was postmarked. (However if there is some problem like a postal strike, you can always try contacting the embassy on the off-chance they're lenient.)

Language tests

If there is no big problem with your documents, you will be called for Japanese and English tests at the embassy. English is normally optional for native speakers. A poor Japanese result doesn’t usually mean failure (unless your course is largely in Japanese), but poor Japanese and English will. If you can read this post, the English exam shouldn't be an issue.

Japanese questions are fairly similar in style to the JLPT, but there are only written questions. If you’re concerned about the Japanese test, it’s worth going back over the kind of nitpicky grammar points that are in the JLPT. But if you already have a JLPT or other Japanese qualification, you can indicate that somewhere on your application and they will likely take it into account rather than just looking at the test.

Official sample papers:

http://www.studyjapan.go.jp/en/toj/toj0302e-32.html#1

Side note: A lot of people say don’t worry, you can get the scholarship without knowing a word of Japanese, and that is true for some embassies. Some place more weight on it than others. But do you really want to spend 2+ years in a country where you can’t communicate properly and struggle to read anything? No getting around it, learning Japanese requires dedication. The 4-6 month course will NOT be enough to make you fluent or even at a high level. What I’m saying is, learn as much as you can before you go and you’ll have a much better experience and social life. Even if you’re in a big city, and especially if you’re not.

In any case, knowing more Japanese certainly can’t harm your application! Here are some tips for studying Japanese by yourself.

Interview at the embassy

In some countries this is at the same stage as the tests, often on the same day, and in others they have an extra selection stage after the tests. Usually the latter is for Asian countries with hundreds of applicants where they need to  narrow it down.

You probably won’t lose or gain points for being overdressed in the interview, but you may scupper your chances if you’re not dressed formally enough.

Men: Wear a suit in conservative colours, preferably jacket and tie. In Japan, black is always the new black.

Women, others: Similar, dress as you would for a smart office job, in conservative colours. Something I haven’t seen anyone else mention is that Japan’s standard of “low-cut” is much stricter than most Western countries, so make sure your blouse/top is extremely modest.

It might seem over-the-top, but anyone job- or scholarship-hunting in Japan would make the same effort. Suit up.

A question I saw a lot - “Should I say some simple Japanese greeting like konnichiwa?”
My answer is NO. Because that’s not what a Japanese person would say upon entering an interview room, so you’ll only be showing your ignorance. I mean, if you want to start with a “shitsurei itashimasu” or whatever then okay, but don’t start what you can’t finish. Only start talking in Japanese if you know what you’re doing.

Common interview questions are pretty much what you’d expect:

-Tell us about your research plan

-Tell us about your previous research experience

-Why is your research important for a) Japan b) your home country c) society as a whole?

-Why do you need to do the research in Japan?

-Do you plan to stay in Japan after the scholarship period? (Apparently the appropriate answer here is NO, even if the truth is YES, as they’re hoping you’ll return home and foster better relations with Japan from your own country)

-Why should we pick you for the scholarship rather than [e.g. an engineer]? (Especially if your research is in humanities.)

-Why do you want to go to Japan? (Best not to talk about what you like about Japan here, be it food/J-pop/anime/calligraphy, as that’s not the question. This is pretty much the “why do you need to do research in Japan?” again. If you can’t think of anything else, talk about the experience and cultural understanding you can gain and bring back to your country.)

-What interests you about Japan? (Now you can talk about what you like. But don’t ramble about anime too much… talking about the people/culture is probably better.)

-Why did you choose these universities/supervisors?

-What do you like to do in your free time?

-What will you do if you don’t get this scholarship?

-When you return home, how will you act as a bridge between the two countries?

-How and where have you been learning Japanese?

-Are you applying for other courses/scholarships?

-Have you been to Japan/lived abroad before? What difficulties did you encounter?

-Do you have any questions for us?

It’s worth preparing answers to these common questions. I’ve heard they may also try to pick holes in your research plan, but this relies on them actually understanding something about your field - so if you're doing hardcore maths or science you're relatively safe. What you do need to focus on is how your research is beneficial to Japan and your home country and why it should be done in Japan.

Take your time answering questions and don't be afraid if there are silences while the interviewers are considering what you've said. Silences are not necessarily a bad thing.

They may talk to you a little in Japanese if they know you can speak some. Unless your course requires Japanese knowledge, these questions should be quite simple (talking about yourself, jiko shokai etc.). At least prepare some simple phrases about yourself, as you will probably be nervous on the day.

Some useful discussion on this reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/4nxrhk/mext_scholarship_interview/

My experience at the UK embassy:
http://jojiina.blogspot.jp/2017/01/mext-research-scholarship-interview.html


Continued in Part 3

20 comments:

  1. Hello G,
    I am applying to University of Tsukuba in Neuroscience for Master's degree under the G30 program. And in their application form they ask about my research plan more or less in the same way the MEXT do, hence thank you for his great article.
    I wanted to ask one basic question about the research plan. Do I have to design an entirely new topic of my own or can I pick on a published topic from my prospective supervisor?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, thanks for your comment and sorry for the delayed reply.

      I'm afraid I don't know much about the G30 program, but I think that in science it would be strange if you picked an entirely new topic that has nothing to do with the group's previous work. So I really think it doesn't matter as long as you're not completely rehashing work that's already been done.

      Delete
  2. How much of a problem is if I can do really well with the english language test but write absolutely nothing in japanese?

    I'm about to graduate this semester and prepare to apply as a research student however I looked at the previous tests and I feel I'm not even near at that level when I started to learn japanese like a half year ago.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi,

      Sorry I didn't see your comment earlier. I'll answer anyway in case someone else has the same question.

      The answer is, it really depends on the embassy. Most of the people who got the scholarship at my embassy (UK) could not speak a word of Japanese. I was taking the test in a room with around 6-7 other people, and almost all of them gave up on the Japanese test within a few minutes of looking at it. In this case, the fact that you've studied Japanese at all would be a plus.

      However I did see someone online (from US I think?) saying that during their interview the interviewers just wouldn't let go of the fact they didn't speak Japanese, and they felt that's why they didn't get the scholarship. Also if you come from an Asian country where many applicants do speak some Japanese, I'm sure the standard will be different.

      IIRC the Japanese test starts out at beginner level and gets harder, so they absolutely don't expect everyone to get to the end with the most difficult questions.

      Delete
  3. Thank you for the reply, it means a lot regardless! :)

    I'm from Hungary and what I heard during the tests is what most of them who took it are studying Japanese culture and linguistics in Budapest however I'm pretty much going as a grauated, "outsider" from the capital city. However because I done both my bachelors and master thesis in japanese human geography and they have an advantage in the language, I feel I should be even with them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, as it happens I have quite a few Hungarian friends. (I've only been to Budapest but what delicious food you have!)

      Like I said, some embassies really don't care about whether you can speak Japanese or not. They care more about your research plan etc. So even if you're only a beginner it's worth applying. But once you get to Japan it will make your life a LOT easier if you can speak the language, so I encourage you to keep studying!

      Delete
    2. Szia, én is ebben az évben jelentkezem. Ha gondolod, válthatnánk pár szót emailben. Sok sikert!!! petra_pavel.MD@protonmail.com

      Delete
  4. Hi, I am applying for mext this year, does my research plan have to be Japan related? cause mine does not

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It doesn't necessarily have to be Japan-related. But to have a strong application you should explain why you want to do the research in Japan and not in your home country. Examples of convincing reasons are if there are few/no research groups in your country working on that specific topic, or you need to do field work that is only possible in Japan.

      Delete
  5. Hi I have a degree in historical studies, but I want to take International relation for master MEXT, can I do that?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you are applying for the normal MEXT research scholarship, your research topic should be related to your previous studies, as stated in the guidelines. If you can convince them that your history degree is relevant to the research you want to do, you may get away with it. I suggest contacting your embassy if you are really worried about it.

      However, if you are applying through a "special" university-recommended program like the International Graduate Program, rules may be different. I don't know much about those programs.

      Delete
  6. Hi I want to asked about the placement University, I've been told that I need to at least fill in one national university but the problem is none of the national university is offering course...does this means my chance of getting the scholarship is getting? :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi,

      Who told you that you need to put at least one national university?

      If it was the embassy who told you, you should follow their instructions.

      If it was some random person online, you can ignore them. Although only putting private universities (or only listing one university) may lessen your chances of getting the scholarship, there is no "official" rule about this, and there is no point in listing universities that you don't want to go to!

      Delete
  7. Hi.! im reading this because today they told me that this friday i have to take the english and japanese test..im spanish native, and im nervous..thank you for these tips..! pray for me..haha

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for leaving a comment, I hope that the tests went well for you!

      Delete
    2. Thank you..! This 14 im going to know.! so nervous..

      Delete
  8. Hello. I have been selected in the preliminary screening for MEXT scholarship 2019 and now they asked for a research proposal. Is there a specific format for the proposal? And I do not know Japanese, is this going to affect my further processing even though I have good credentials? Please reply as soon as you can.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello..! i have one, in my country they gave me this..

      TITLE OF RESEARCH - FINAL OBJECTIVE: (MASTER / phD)
      CONTENT: breaking down into sub topics that are directly related to The main theme.
      OBJECTIVES: What specific achievements are to be achieved.
      PROPOSAL: what kind of jobs, studies, etc., will be necessary to carry out for achieve the objectives.
      JUSTIFICATION: where the relevance of the project is explained and why you want perform it in Japan.
      BACKGROUND: if there are previous investigations or how is the development of this topic at present.
      EXPECTED RESULTS: Applicability or transfer mechanisms of the knowledge acquired in Japan.

      Delete
    2. I addressed in detail how to write the research plan in the blog post. Please read what I wrote above.

      As I also said, whether Japanese ability matters depends on the embassy. Since you can't do anything about your Japanese level in such a short time, the only thing you can do is go ahead and apply. In the long term, you should make an effort to learn Japanese if you plan to live here.

      Delete
  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete