I just got a call from the Japanese embassy and they told me that they had gotten a "Letter of Acceptance" from MEXT. In other words, MEXT has accepted me, but I haven't been accepted by any university yet.
Doesn't this mean that I have a pretty high chance of getting the scholarship?
They told me the final answer from the university would come late July / early August.

Congratulations!

You have the scholarship. The university's decision doesn't affect that. I suppose its possible that a university might turn you away, but there is likely another university that would take you.

Keep us posted -- I knew that it was a possibility to get the scholarship without a specific university, but I'm curious as to how that works. As vix86 said, it seems like you could find some place to take you.

Seriously? If that's the case, then - WOHO!
I got recommended for the scholarship via embassy recommendation. I listed three different universities in my application
1. Kyoto University
2. Waseda University
3. Keio University.
I really want to go to Kyoto or Keio, but I don’t want to go to Waseda anymore since I’ve heard a lot of bad things about the Japanese Studies program there.

Crossing my fingers that I’ll get a go-ahead from Kyoto

Most of the consulates in the US stress that you shouldn't contact universities until you have been accepted by MEXT. So by that point, you really shouldn't have a university picked out when accepted.

I must say though that all you humanities majors make me jealous. Its not so technically difficult to do humanities stuff, but I'll be damned if it doesn't basically leave you tied to either very specific careers or the academia.

vix86 Wrote:Most of the consulates in the US stress that you shouldn't contact universities until you have been accepted by MEXT. So by that point, you really shouldn't have a university picked out when accepted.

I never heard that. I had already contacted the professor I'm working with now before I started my application, and I wrote on my application that I wanted to go to Waseda and work with this specific professor, and I may have even had the professor write a letter.

Maybe they mean you shouldn't be contacting the administration offices, but I think having a university picked out can help your application because it shows you know what you're doing.

From Atlanta Consulate:

Quote:University of applicant's choosing. Please be sure to write at least one university request on your application. If you pass the preliminary selection examination conducted at the Consulate, you will be required to obtain a letter of acceptance and admission to the university of your choice. Do not contact the university until we have notified you of your preliminary acceptance.

Note, the bolding is their doing not mine.

Yeah, I think they're talking about contacting the university administration or acceptance offices, not individual professors at the universities.

vix86 Wrote:Most of the consulates in the US stress that you shouldn't contact universities until you have been accepted by MEXT. So by that point, you really shouldn't have a university picked out when accepted.

I must say though that all you humanities majors make me jealous. Its not so technically difficult to do humanities stuff, but I'll be damned if it doesn't basically leave you tied to either very specific careers or the academia.

Don't most people end up in careers unrelated to what they did in university though? A science major can go into almost anything surely? eg. the sectors directly related to their major, academia, education, software development, finance, consulting... plus anything that doesn't have any stringent prerequisites.

Humanities students can go and do stuff like law or typical business related jobs I suppose... but we can too, right? Nothing's stopping us becoming authors or artists either.

Zorlee Wrote:I really want to go to Kyoto or Keio

I'm a Keio student. Congratulations!

dizmox Wrote:Don't most people end up in careers unrelated to what they did in university though? A science major can go into almost anything surely? eg. the sectors directly related to their major, academia, education, software development, finance, consulting... plus anything that doesn't have any stringent prerequisites.

Humanities students can go and do stuff like law or typical business related jobs I suppose... but we can too, right? Nothing's stopping us becoming authors or artists either.

Its definitely true that most people tend not to go and work where their degree was. But you still can't ignore that some jobs have a bar of entry.

For instance, I'm psychology, I've only had up through Integral Calculus, but I've programmed as a hobby for up to 10 years now. If I only had a year of programming experience, the likelihood that I could get hired to a software engineering job is unlikely. In much the same way, if I wanted to work an engineer's job or finance, the chances are slim because I don't have the math for it.

Humanities are stuck in a smaller field of employment compared to STEM degrees. Its just how it is. Really though my earlier comment was on the fact that writing research proposals in a humanities field is considerably easier than a STEM field. A STEM student could move into say sociology and understand all the concepts after reading up a bit, plus understand the stats involved. Given a library with resources, they'd have no problem building a research proposal. A sociology major though, with only humanities statistics and maybe a Bio and Chem class, is unlikely to be able to move into Quantum mechanics or Biophysics as easily. Even with a library full of materials, they'd probably still struggle to understand ideas in the field because the math would be beyond their grasp. Even the science involved would probably baffle them. I can go into library and pick any Humanities journal off the stack and open it up and read a bit and kind of get an idea of the research/articles. If I go to the hard science floor and pull, say a Fluid dynamics journal off the stack, I might only understand 5% of what the research is about or even the significance of the research.

Sorry, I realise now I misread your post. I thought you meant STEM subjects have limited career options. -_-'

On March of this year I was able to take the test for 1 year Japanese studies program, I didn't passed it, but I will try again next year.
I would like to hear from somone who was accepted, some advice for the preparation of this exam.
I know that there isn't a specific preparation for this exam, but I would be really glad to hear some advice!
At the moment i'm planning to finish RTK and i'm studying with some material for the JLPT.
Early thanks!

Less than 3 months till departure!　（　＾ω＾）ﾜｸﾜｸ

Hi all,
I've a question to you;
I applied this year's mext undergraduate scholarship.
I passed the exam and interview. And they recommended 5 people from Turkey. I'm the only one who did Japanese exam very well. Now I have to wait until December for certain result.
What do you think about it? Isn't 5 too much? Do you think some of us will be eliminated?

Thanks for replies.

I don't know how many places they have but it doesn't sound like you should be worrying.

Thank you for the fast reply. I chose Information Engineering, Mechanic Engineering and Electronic Engineering as my fields. What do you guys think about it? I have a little bit experience on my fields. But I don't know how they're in Japan. I'm really scary of getting a rejection letter =/ Waiting is the hardest part. I did physics, maths and Japanese very well (not sure about chem and english). Hope they'll accept me.

Here's a successful applicant's detailed account of the whole process, complete with a 3 pg. research proposal: http://larsmartinson.com/how-i-got-the-m...rt-1-of-4/. May be useful for those interested...

Just got a call from the embassy - I got accepted by Kyoto University! YAY!
I'm moving in September - can't wait!!

Congrats, see you there I guess!

Zorlee, congrats!

Congrats!

Thank you guys!
dizmox - Are you in Kyoto?

Congratulations Zorlee!

I'll be spending a year in Kyoto myself starting this september. Although we haven't really talked that much before, it would be fun to meet up and say hi! Being fellow scandinavians and all, I reckon we should have one or two things in common

Awesome! I'd love to meet up! I haven't received my ticket yet, so I don't know when I'm going, but I'm guessing around late-September / early October!