How to Get the Japanese Government Scholarship (Monbukagakusho): Securing a Certificate of Admission

After the interview, it might take a month-long waiting time before the embassy notifies you that you qualify for the next stage. If the panel interview is the scary part of the process, the next stage is the tedious part.

You have to pick up a set of your applications documents in the embassy which they marked with their seal together with a letter endorsing you as a possible candidate for the Japanese Government Scholarship. Take note that everything from this point on is tentative. Even if you keep on progressing to the next stage, if the embassy has not informed you of the final results, it means it is NOT GUARANTEED. Again, there are a lot of surprises so you’ll never know what you’ll get next – some universities might not accept, you might be placed in another university, additional documents might be requests, and so on.

After you get the copies of your documents, you have to reproduce them and send them to your desired universities in Japan. You are allowed to submit to the embassy a list of three universities according to your preference. You also need to note the name of the professor you are targeting and the department where he belongs to. Also understand that the certificate of admission that you are requesting from the universities only offers tentative admission. MEXT will decide in which university you will be placed, although I have to say that MEXT is quite generous and they will really try to place you in the university which you indicated as your first choice. I was placed in Waseda University, my first choice.

Each university has a strict rule when it comes to MEXT applicants so you should directly get in touch with the university and check their requirements. This process takes a long time so I advice you that you send your documents to the universities as early as you can to give them ample time to process your papers. Remember that Japan is such a bureaucratic country so expect your papers to pass several levels of screening and approval.

If a university accepts you, they will send you in hard copy the actual certificate of admission, which you will have to submit to your local Japanese embassy. At this stage, your role in the application process officially ends. After submitting the three copies of the certificate of admission, the rest is up to MEXT and your local Japanese embassy to arrange. All your application documents, including the certificates of admission will be sent to Japan for further screening by MEXT. This is why, there is still no guarantee of receiving the scholarship at this point.

Tentative results will come out around late December or early January. Receiving the good news is a great Christmas gift or a New Year’s present. Final results will likely come out sometime around February (or maybe early March if it gets a little delayed).  For this fifth and sixth stage, you can do nothing else but to sit back, relax and wait, wait, wait. At this point, indeed, patience is a helpful virtue.

Now that you’re done reading about all the stages of the application process, maybe, it’s about time to start preparing your own application packet. This journey to Japan will not be an easy one, but I can say that it will be a worthwhile one. Don’t be afraid to try and fail, fail and try again. If you believe in your heart that you will fulfill your dream to go to Japan, then make the first step and prepare your documents. May God bless your application and I hope to see you in Japan sometime soon!

がんばってください！

How to get the Japanese Scholarship (Monbukagakusho): Panel Interview

The third stage of the Research Student Scholarship application process is the panel interview. It is held a week or two after the written exam. My panel was composed of six people. They sat around a small table right across me. Half of them were Filipino and half were Japanese. They were all very friendly throughout the interview. No one lashed at me, growled at me or grilled me with intriguing questions. I was surprised at how small the interview room was, how close the panel was to me and how nice and all-smiles they were. This setting made me a little more nervous.

I love interviews. I enjoy talking to people about random things. I never get nervous during interviews. Well, I do, before the interviews. I would hear my heart doki doki inside me. But as soon as I am settled on my seat and the interviewer starts asking questions I usually become more at ease. Well, not on this interview, at least.

You know that feeling when you really, really want something that you can’t explain why, you just feel it. That’s what this scholarship is for me. This is what Japan is for me. There are no exact words why I want to go there, it’s just that I know I have to be there!

Unlike my other previous posts, I won't be giving some definite pointers on this post because honestly, nothing can prepare you for your interview. It would help you if you know a little about how the process goes so you would have a picture of what to expect when your turn comes. I would just like to share my experiences during the panel interview and how things transpired. 

I guess, it would be helpful if you review your proposal beforehand because it is a surefire that the panel will ask about it. Show them that you know what you are talking about and you have a clear picture of what you want to do in Japan. If it pleases you or if it eases your nervousness a few days before the interview, you can anticipate some possible questions and practice answering them. I did this because I don’t want to feel too lax about the interview. But honestly, it didn’t help much. When you’re there in the middle of the interview, you wouldn’t even remember a thing you practiced! But it pays to have these answers stocked at the back of your mind just in case they come in handy. As I said in another post, there are a lot of surprises in the application period, especially in the panel interview. Some questions that you don’t expect to come out, come out, and some questions you feel would likely come out, don't come out.

One of the moments wherein I was caught off handed during the interview was when one panel member asked me: Why do you want to study in Japan? This is a question I keep on hearing, I keep on practicing to answer, but I keep on failing. One of the panel members told me that if I have a stable career in my country, why would I want to go to Japan where I don’t speak the language. No one will listen to me, he said. I know he’s right. This is where my Ms. Universe answer comes out, “Everyone is entitled to a new beginning. And I am ready to face whatever it takes,” I said. It’s not a practical answer, too cheesy, too rhetorical, but I guess it worked because here I am in Japan now.

But seriously, I was in the verge of tears at that time. I felt pressured to answer correctly. I don’t want to make mistakes. I felt pressured to express myself correctly. I don’t want to give a wrong impression. The moment I came out of the interview room, I felt like I failed in both of them. But thank God, I was wrong. 

The next stage of the process is securing a certificate of admission from your desired university which can be read here How to Get the Japanese Government Scholarship (Monbukagakusho): Securing a Certificate of Admission

How to Get the Japanese Government Scholarship (Monbukagakusho):Written Examination

Taking the written examination is the second stage in the Research Student Scholarship application process. You will only reach this stage if you qualify in the document screening so make sure that you prepare your applications documents with care. For this category, applicants are only asked to take the English and the Japanese examination. For other categories like the undergraduate and the professional training school, additional subjects are required like math and science.

Applicants in my country are only required to take the English exam, which I have to say is very basic. You can answer the English exam even if you are half-awake. Yes, it’s that easy – just basic subject-verb agreement, a few items on reading comprehension and some fill-in-the-blanks. If you are proficient in English, I bet, you will finish the exam under the allotted time.

The other exam is Japanese. I am glad, this is not required. If you intend not to answer it, you can just write your name on the test paper, leave it on top of your desk then go. Yes, it’s that easy! But if you have some background on Japanese, you might want to challenge yourself and answer it. Since this exam is only optional, the results of this exam will not affect your chances of moving to the next stage. Even if you answer it or not, you still have a fair chance of passing this stage. So maybe, now you’re wondering, what is this exam for? The embassy said it will be used to evaluate your Japanese language ability so they can place you in the proper Japanese class when you arrive in Japan. I have a very basic knowledge of Japanese at the time of my application but I didn’t bother to take the exam because I might just mess up if I try to answer it

. What was even crazier was that I had a flight to Puerto Princesa, Palawan right on the same day! I carried my luggage to the exam room, ran as fast as I can after the exam to hail a cab and went straight to the airport right after my exam. What an easy exam but what a stressful day. 

Since this stage is very easy, there is no preparation required, except of course if you need to brush on your English grammar rules on the subject-verb agreement or if you plan to take the optional Japanese exam.

However, the next stage of the application process takes its toll. For me, is the scariest of all – the panel interview. See this link for details How to Get the Japanese Government Scholarship (Monbukagakusho): Panel Interview

How to Get the Japanese Government Scholarship (Monbukagakusho): TheResearch Category

The Research Student Scholarship under the Japanese Government offers applicants the opportunity to spend 18 or 24 months conducting independent research under a Japanese professor. After this period, the research students can continue their studies as a regular Master’s or Doctorate students provided that they are accepted to their desired university’s regular program and that the extension of their scholarship is approved by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Technology and Sports (MEXT).

Any field of study is eligible for the scholarship, but applicants should find a Japanese professor in a Japanese university who is willing to supervise their research. However, it is important to note that finding a professor does not guarantee that the applicant will be placed with that professor because in the process each applicant will be asked to provide names of three professors and their respective universities. It is up to MEXT to decide on which university the applicant will be placed.

There are (roughly) six stages in application process: Document screening, written exam, panel interview, securing a certificate of admission to the desired university, waiting for the tentative announcement of results, and the last stage, an even more stressful waiting time for the final results.

Below is a very rough estimate of the timeline of each application stage. This is based from my experiences in the Philippines so the application period in the other countries might slightly differ.

Late March to early April: Application opens

May: Application closes

Second or third Week of June: Written examination

A week or two after the written examination: Panel Interview

Last week of July: Notification of pre-qualifying results

August: Time of application to the desired universities

Late December to Early January: Notification of tentative Results

February: Notification of Final Results

Late March: Departure Orientation

April: Departure of successful applications who will enter the Spring semester

Late August: Departure Orientation

September or October: Departure of successful applications who will enter the Fall semester

In the application, applicants are asked which on which semester they desire to enter the university in Japan. I chose Fall semester so I arrived in Japan on the first week of September.

The first few stages of application from document screening to the panel interview are pretty quick and intense. Just  a few weeks after submitting the documents, applicants who qualified for the written examination will be notified immediately by phone or by email. And just a week after, qualified applicants will be notified again and scheduled for a panel interview. The period of notification between these two stages is pretty short so expect for a call from an embassy within a week's time or maybe shorter. If you took the examination and failed to receive a message from the embassy after a while, I suggest you call the embassy to inquire about the status of your application for your own peace of mind. It might be a little embarrassing to do so, but I believe there's no harm in trying. It's either you get the truth straight or you get a little glimmer of hope if they tell you that the results have still not been finalized. However, take note that you should be professional enough and regulate your calls. Please don't call the embassy staff everyday!

Please see the links below for a more detailed discussion of each stage:
How to Get the Japanese Government Scholarship (Monbukagakusho): Document Screening
How to Get the Japanese Government Scholarship (Monbukagakusho): Written Examination
How to Get the Japanese Government Scholarship (Monbukagakusho): Panel Interview
How to Get the Japanese Government Scholarship (Monbukagakusho): Securing a Certificate of Admission

For an overview of the Japanese Government Scholarship, please see my earlier post How to Get the Japanese Government Scholarship (Monbukagakusho): An Overview