Does your English exam result affect your second screening?

I was able to get a lopa, but I remember my Embassy telling me that my English exam score was low, I mean I did pass the minimum, but I barely did, but they told me I did really good in the interview and my research proposal was good that’s why they will recommend me despite my low English score. Now I’m worried that in second screening Tokyo evaluate your English exam score again just like what they do to the UG, STC and others.

[Embassy recommendation - Research]

Hey! I know it’s still pretty early, but is anyone here planning to apply for MEXT in 2028 for the 2029 intake? I’m from Brazil and I’m finishing my degree in Psychology. I’m planning to apply for a Master’s through the Research Student route, so I’m starting to look into everything already.

I thought it would be interesting to find other people who are also applying in 2028, so we can keep in touch, share information, ask questions, talk about our research proposals, and help each other out throughout the process...

Hello, this is my first post, as an alias you can refer to me as propeller cat.
Im currently in 9th grade and i do want to get in a good college, mainly via scholarship, but im really stuck on which do i prepare for and how so? I just entered highschool and im completely lost, this is not really mainly related to mext as a whole, but if yall got any guides/scholarships i can prepare for, ill really appreciate, im just lost in highschool, not really as a fomo, just that im sitting empty, wasting my grade away i feel like i am wasting the life too, is it really what i wanted to be? perhaps not but in really the post here i just need help figureing out how should i spend my highschool and is Mext scholarship as a whole worth to prepare for?, if not then any other recommendation?

Hi everyone, i'm from Brazil, I’m currently waiting for the final results of the Undergraduate MEXT Scholarship, roughly how well do you think you performed on the written exams (Math, English, Japanese, Sciences, etc.)? Any insights or past experiences on how you felt right after the exams vs. your final outcome would be greatly appreciated.

I've been trying, sending mail to professors but getting no response.

What I've been sending is not just directly asking for consent but first looking at research, journals, then sending a mail with some context behind their research, what matches my background with their department and some new researches within the field.

What are the mails scholars and accepted students sent for a response?

And how much follow ups?

Hi everyone! I'm a research applicant from India. I'm a BA Political Science graduate applying for MEXT University Recommendation for a Master's in Economics. Like most Political Science undergrads in my country, I have no internships and no publications, that's just not how the program works here.

My research proposal (comparative institutional analysis, central bank policy) is developed and specific, but I'm wondering how much weight internships/publications carry relative to the proposal itself for UR route specifically.

For those who got LoPA/were selected — did you have internships or publications? Did their absence come up as a concern from professors or in interviews? I'm trying to understand if I should be worried or just focus entirely on the proposal?

So I am from India and I will be applying for MEXT Scholarship next year and I am willing to study psychology because that is what my UG major is. How hard it is to get MEXT for psychology? How much mandatory JLPT is for this course? And my result usually comes in between August to September I will be completing my second year of UG next year so technically third year by August 2028. So I will have to proceed with 2028 October session right?

Hi, I have applied to Osaka University for a LOPA and I'm unsure how to proceed. Today being the deadline to reach out to the University. I have already gotten the informal approval of a professor and submitted all the required documents to Osaka University's AAD (Admission assistance desk). The AAD replied to me saying go ahead and talk to your professor which I did and have secured his approval. What is the next step, if anyone is familiar with the process please help me out. I have mailed them yesterday and a reminder again today regarding this. It seems they are super busy today. I just wanna make sure there is nothing left to do by my end before this September 1 deadline. I asked the professor as well and he said he wasn't really sure but he said that he doesn't issue the LoPA directly and that I needed to confirm with the authorities. (India, Embassy track)

Due to limited number of seat, I wasn't lucky enough to register for JLPT! So thinking about NAT test instead.

Is NAT a good alternative of JLPT for MEXT scholarship application?

This is information from Japan Embassy: JLPT, Japanese NAT-TEST, JFT Basic are listed as acceptable Japanese proficiency exams.

I reached out to professors at a few universities and got positive responses from three: YNU, Waseda, and Shinshu. It seems odd, but none of them asked for an interview. The professor at Waseda said he could be my prospective supervisor if I apply, and asked me to let him know if I finally decide to go ahead. The professor at Shinshu said he would email me when applications open. The professor at YNU told me to apply directly through their portal.

I noticed that YNU uses a central application system and you don't need to contact a professor before applying. I'm not sure which university to choose. Does anyone have advice on what I should think about when deciding where to apply, since I can only pick one?

Country: BD

I am a applicant from Bangladesh shortlisting professors for the MEXT. When exploring their profile on ResearchMap or JGlobal an error of "page not found" appears. However, few months prior everything was completely fine.

Is anyone else facing similar issue? This problem is bothering cause some Japanese researcher does not maintain a google scholar or researchgate profile.

Is it because their servers are getting too many requests or something else? If this is the cause, how to solve this?

From the USA. Research Student to PhD path, MEXT first screening recipient.

I just wanted to share for those who are being discouraged if they have not received a LoPA from their school yet. I was chatting with the representative from my consulate, and though I have received an LoPA, she mentioned that there were scholar who were unable to receive a LoPA and were still able to go over the Japan "just fine".

So, please keep going and trying your best, but if you do not receive one, not all hope is lost. Make sure to fill out the second screening ranking list by the mid-September deadline (September 1st is just the initial contact deadline). That way Tokyo can still try to reach out to your top choices and try to secure a Research Student spot for you.

I assume all countries do it this way, but please note that I am from the USA, so reach out to your individual embassy/consulate for the best perspective.

Keep going.

Hey everyone, I'm from Myanmar and currently preparing to apply for the 2028 MEXT COT.

Since the COT Physics paper uses fill-in-the-blank boxes instead of MCQs, there's no option gap to eliminate. Having spent all 3 years of high school relying on a calculator, the heavy numerical manipulation (e.g., long division, decimal rounding, scientific notation) is completely destroying my time management.

​For anyone who scores high on these past papers:

how do you deal with manual math quickly without making stupid arithmetic mistakes?

Do you keep everything as fractions until the absolute last line, or do you have a specific scratch-paper workflow for these calculations? Thanks for your time.

I finished 11th and 12th standard in nios. I want to apply for mext scholarship so any tips?

Hi everyone,

I am currently a Class 11 student from India (PCM stream) planning to apply for the MEXT KOSEN (College of Technology) scholarship next year.

Since I am starting early, I want to use this year to build the strongest possible profile specifically for the initial document screening phase.

My current situation:

- Academics: I am maintaining strong grades in Physics, Chemistry, and Math.

- Extras: I have basic involvement in school technical/science events, but nothing extraordinary yet.

- Language: I have zero Japanese knowledge right now, but I am willing to start learning the basics.

My questions for KOSEN alumni or successful applicants:

1. What specific things do the screening judges look for in the KOSEN application short-answers?

2. Are there any specific extracurriculars, online certifications, or projects I can do this year to make my technical profile stand out?

3. How much weight does having a basic Japanese language certificate (like JLPT N5 or NAT 5Q) hold during the document screening stage for KOSEN?

I am fully prepared to self-study for the written exams, but I want to make sure my paperwork doesn't get rejected in the first round. Any advice on how to build my profile over the next 12 months would be highly appreciated!

Thank you!

Hi everyone I'm from cambodia! I'm applying for the MEXT Undergraduate Scholarship under Natural Sciences-C (Medicine), but I'm having a really hard time finding people who actually got selected for Medicine and are now studying medicine in Japan through MEXT.

Does MEXT really select undergraduate medical students through Natural Sciences-C? If you were selected for Medicine (or know someone who was), I'd really appreciate hearing about your experience.

I'm especially interested in:

• Which country you applied from
• Whether you were actually placed into a Japanese medical university
• How difficult the selection/interview was
• Whether you had any problems finding a university willing to accept MEXT medical students

I know Medicine is listed officially under Natural Sciences-C, but I rarely see actual MEXT medical scholars online, so I'm wondering how common it really is.

If anyone here is currently studying Medicine in Japan through MEXT, please share your experience! 🙏

Hi everyone! I currently hold a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and want to pursue a master's degree in Japan.

However, when looking up information about the scholarship, I notice that almost all the comments come from people in STEM or engineering fields. Has anyone had the experience of obtaining the scholarship with a degree in the social sciences?

Thank you, looking forward to read y'all.

Aiming for next year's Masters in Tsukuba and sent a mail to a professor who matched my professional background. Sent the first mail on 31 July, then 14 August and one to the administrative office for verification of the professor mail. They told me that it may take weeks, now should I send a 3rd follow up or just give up Tsukuba? I'm also aiming for other universities and can anyone tell me what is asked in the interviews?

Many thanks!

\*Side note, sent a mail to a professor in University of Tokyo, got a response in just 4 hours, it was regarding some research he did back in the 2000s.

I'm an international student from Southeast Asia studying in Japan.

I'd like to connect with other international students from my school.

Does anyone know how to find university-specific international student group chats? I've tried searching on Discord, Facebook, and X, but haven't found anything.

At the moment, I'm mainly interested in meeting people through my university rather than general social apps. I tried Meetup before, but since people usually lived far away and had very different lifestyles, it was hard to keep in touch and build lasting friendships.

Just to clarify, I'm only asking for advice on how to find group chats for international students at my own university. This isn't a friendship or meetup post. I hope the moderators won't remove it again.

Hey everyone,

I read multiple times how to apply and im still abit confused on some stuff.

1. Is it too late for me to start contacting professors in September for university track? I want to apply to Osaka Uni for OSIPP.

2. I read on some site that for the university track i can apply in November 2026. Is that true?

How to convert my grade to mext scale? Should i use the 4 level scale where grades below 60% is considered fail or 5 level letter grade bucket system?

Hi everyone! I’m planning to apply for MEXT Research Student for a Master’s in 2028 (applying on March 2027). I’m studying Mechanical Engineering and I’d like to focus my research on Materials Engineering, especially sustainable materials.

I’m just starting to brainstorm my Research Plan and I’d love to hear from anyone who has experience with MEXT, especially in STEM.
What makes a Research Plan really stand out to professors/universities? Do I have to put a BIG focus on Japan and WHY Japan? What are the Embassies looking for in the students?

My GPA isn’t the strongest part of my application, so I really want to make my Research Plan as good as possible 😭
Any advice would be really appreciated!

Hi everyone! I'm a student from Belarus, currently in my 1st year of college (I'll graduate in July 2028). I'm planning to apply to three Japanese universities for English-taught undergraduate programs:

1. University of Tsukuba (BPGI)

2. Nagoya University (G30)

3. Tohoku University (Gateway College)

I'm aiming for the MEXT scholarship, but I'm really confused about the exam requirements, especially the SAT/EJU thing.

My main question: If a university says "SAT is not required," does that mean I automatically have to take the EJU instead?

For example, Tsukuba told me SAT isn't mandatory, but I can't figure out if they'd still expect EJU from me (since I'm applying to English programs). I don't speak Japanese yet, and studying for both TOEFL and EJU at the same time feels impossible for me right now.

Also, I have a few practical questions about MEXT:

1. How does the tuition refund / travel reimbursement process actually work? Do I pay for the flight myself first?

2. What about health insurance — do I pay for it and then get reimbursed?

3. How long does it usually take to get the first stipend after arriving?

4. Do I need to have a lot of cash with me for the first month?

My family has a very tight budget, so I'm trying to understand what to expect financially before I commit. Any advice or personal experiences would be super helpful. Thanks in advance! 🙏

Hey guys!
I hope all of you are fine :) I wanted to just get some clarification on some stuff— maybe ease my nerves?

So I am from the Netherlands and got through the first screening (yippie)! And am in the process of getting the letter one needs to bring to the embassy for the second round.
Now the deadlines for the uni’s I’m applying for (Tama art uni, and Geidai) are the same 1st of September :3. I was wondering if someone has some experience with these two universities and getting the letter on time. I have applied for it already and am waiting as of now. Only the deadline for the universities to give out the letter of provisional acceptance is on the 24th for us, I applied last Friday (some personal stuff delayed my whole of August sadly).
Do you think I’ll be alright, or pushing it? Like I’ve done research online, and ofcourse it differs per university. But just maybe to get an overall estimate would calm my nerves a bit. Or just getting some information would help a lot.
Again thank you🌻hope yall stay educated and we’ll make it together to Japan!

I M a student from india and I'm currently in class 11 and wants to apply for stc next year ( when I will be in 12 ) but when I ask chat gpt for eligibility criteria it says that your age must be 17 but sometimes it says that you can fill my date of birth is august 2011 . So please help me and provide me appropriate information that I will be eligible or not

And also I want to pursue degree of btech in cs / ai in big public university of japan so which option will be best for me kosen route or stc route as I am above average student

Please help me and provide me answer to my query 🙏🏻🥺